My husband and I love to read. And while our daughter enjoys books in general, I wanted to inspire a greater connection to them by making it a family activity and something that she would really look forward to. I was inspired by an advertisement I saw for a company that ships you a book a long with a few packages to open as you read through it. With that concept in mind, I began putting together my own kits for our family.

This is how we hold Family Book Club at the Orr house: First, I chose 4 classic read aloud books. For Christmas I wrapped up 4 large boxes. Each box contains a wrapped book, and about 8-10 packages. Before wrapping the book, I added post-it notes at various places throughout giving instructions for which package to unwrap (Open Package #3.) Packages range from puzzles, supplies for a craft activity, keepsakes, or even simple printables like crossword puzzles or coloring pages. Each Friday night, we curl up in the living room together with coffee (or cocoa), and our book. We take turns reading a few pages at a time and it lasts for about an hour to an hour and a half depending on our mood and schedule. So, while one of us is reading, the others might be working on a craft, puzzle, etc that ties into that book’s theme. 

After finishing each book, we have a movie party together so some of the packages relate to that. For example, we’ll decorate the living room with candy banners, giant lolly pops, and everlasting gobstopper center pieces for our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie party, so 3 of the packages are the supplies needed to make these decorations. 

We also have a meal at the movie party that relates to the story. That could be as simple as naming regular foods funny names, eating the foods that the characters in the story eat, or eating cultural foods related to the story setting.

All of these ideas are included below. I hope this inspires you to create something similar for your family!

Family read aloud books have never been so fun! Scroll below to see what’s in store for 2024. I’m a poet and I dint’ know it!