Bookworm Birthday Party

The best birthday party themes are the ones that show off your kids personality.

My daughter’s 8th birthday was just that. At this age kids have strong opinions and a pretty good grasp on their interests. Peyton loves to read. We call her our little bookworm and I guess the nickname sparked inspiration for her! She requested a Bookworm birthday and we had so much fun planning this party together.

This party was bright, colorful, unique, and had so much of my girls personality in every aspect. Enjoy a look into how we put together the theme and some inspiration to throw your very own BOOKWORM BIRTHDAY PARTY

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Invitations

I have looked high and low, digging through old email and searching Etsy, but the original digital invitation we used for her party is no longer available.

Since the invite was the main inspiration for all the decor and overall theme I felt this post could not be done without it. And I LOVED this birthday party too much not to share.

Therefore, I recreated the invite with my own creative freedoms thrown in. I made it into a FREE Canvas template for you! It has the same feel and likeness but without being a complete copy (not my design to steal and share ;)).

All colors and words can be edited in Canva to fit your own needs.

**Disclaimer: Some of the graphics used are from Canva Pro, which is a subscription. To utilize the design, try a free trial, download your design, and cancel if desired.

When you have the invitation to your liking follow the video below to download and send to your party goers!

Cake/ Cupcakes

By the time Peyton’s 8th birthday came around we had been using our neighbor/friend/professional baker for the kid’s cakes for a couple years. She is so gracious with all their ideas and amazing at bringing their visions come to life. Peyton’s bookworm cake was no exception!

We gave her an invite for the colors and Peyton drew out her idea. Look at that smile of pride! The cake turned out great and served as a delicious representation of our birthday girl 🙂

Now for her friend party, one hill I will die on is cupcakes are the best solution for kid parties. I do this with all four of our kids for every friend party they have. Blowing out candles doesn’t spread germs onto an entire cake. Cupcakes are easier to pass out and no utensils are needed. Left overs, in my opinion, stay more fresh being individual. There is so many benefits for cupcakes for parties!

Peyton is a July baby, and this year we happened to be living at my parents cabin in the middle of moving. Lucky for her, that meant she had access to their pool for her friends to come swim. Knowing it was going to be an outdoor water party we went a little extra simple on the food/dessert.

We did a variety of cupcakes with simple bright frosting in her themed colors. We also added pre-scooped vanilla ice-cream in toss away cups. Looking back I would have loved to do more theming on the tableware. I found these amazing sets on Amazon that would really highlighted the food you may serve at your party. Click the image to buy.

Decorations

As I stated above, we were in the process of moving and staying in my parents cabin during Peyton’s birthday. We didn’t have as many places needing decoration so we kept it simple.

However, every birthday needs some type of “Happy Birthday” banner!

For this party a simple DIY with my Cricut and some bright neon paper did the trick. Low cost and packed a punch with color to carry the theme, my favorite kind of banner! We added color coordinating balloons to frame the banner.

One of our many family traditions for birthdays is the number balloon. They serve as both decor and a great photo prop.

Some parties I go all out. Some parties are extra simple. All parties are meaningful and a reason to celebrate!

I hope this simple decor goes to show that even though nothing was extravagant it served its purpose and the birthday kid loved it, which is the real win.

Thank You bags + Activities

I have said in other posts the my love language is “Gift Giving”. Peyton 100% inherited this from me. Our girl loves to give. She puts so much thought and creativity into her favor bags it’s like a gift to her!

One of my favorite things she came up with was “bookworm lip balm”. She wanted to make lip balm sticks into little reading bookworms. Kids and their amazing ideas!

Using a graphic from the invites, I made a thank you card to secure the lip balm too. We then cut out the book graphic to tape onto the cap. Peyton drew on all the little worms! Still to date, one of the most creative favor item for any of my kids 🙂

Since the invite and graphics are no longer available, I made a template for these cards as well. Follow the same steps as the invite and create your own bookworm lip balm.

Something I love to include with favor bags is a water bottle or cup that the kids can use throughout the party. We found adorable tumblers at Walmart (shown in picture below). They were so colorful and girly, perfect for Peyton!

We had a piñata at the party which provided the snack/treat portion on the favor bags.

The main activity (besides swimming) and take home for the guests was making book bags! Peyton’s second passion after reading is art. She loves all different kinds of being creative and artsy. This activity was the best combination of her.

Canvas Totes | Acrylic Paint Set | Paint Markers | Paint Pallets | Paint Brushes

All the materials needed can be found on Amazon. Click on any of the links above to make your own custom library/ bookstore bag.

This activity was a hit! It took up a good amount of time and the girls had a blast getting creative. This activity can be used for many themes and parties.

One last activity we did was a game of “pin the tail” but with a twist for our theme. Peyton, once again, had a vision of “pin the book on the bookworm”.

Starting with a simple tagboard sheet, I then cut out circles and glasses on my Cricut with leftover neon card stock. Peyton drew on the face. Enlarging the same book graphic from the bookworm balms we had everything we needed for this childhood favorite.

The game ended up being pretty easy but it was fun nonetheless. This would be better for a younger aged party but our girl loved the idea nonetheless.

This party was the beginning of Peyton’s creativity and big involvement in party planning. I love sharing this with her and having her put her twist on everything.

Birthday’s are a time to celebrate the birthday kid. With four, we go big because it is hard to get specialized time sometimes. On your birthday the day gets to be all about you!

A lot of the pieces to this party were inexpensive and easy. Nonetheless, our birthday girl had a permanent smile on all the day! With a little time and creativity you too can make big memories on your little ones birthday.

Happy planning!

Shop the Party

Miss a link within the text? I have set them all up for easy party planning!

Dessert Plates | Tableware Set | Cricut | Neon Card Stock Paper | Rose Gold Number Balloon | Eos Lip Balm | Sparkle Pink Tumbler | Canvas Totes | Acrylic Paint Set | Paint Markers | Paint Pallets | Paint Brushes