We were so glad that some of our friends joined us in reading “Pollyanna”! We were even more glad when they accepted our invitation to watch the movie and enjoy a themed lunch together!
Step 1: text friends to see who wants to join in the fun
Step 2: read or listen to the book
Step 3: highlight all the fun foods and other tie-ins that are reasonable to reproduce for the party book club
Here are some that I found (but were didn’t use all of them): bread & milk, red gingham, straw hat, gladness game, flies, fudge, fig cake, calf’s foot jelly, chicken, lamb broth, beans, gladness Bible verses, prisms, and rainbows.
Step 4: use AI to generate brainstorming ideas
Step 5: prep food and decor
Step 6: welcome friends and enjoy time together
Our group was mostly boys (7 of them) ages 8-16 and only 2 girls ages 12-13. Because this could be considered a “girl’s book” due to the main character being a girl, I looked specifically for ways to bring the boys into it.
The first thing I noticed were the flies! I bought fake flies on Amazon to use as decor and party favors. Though parents may not be totally thrilled with the pranks that ensue, each child/tween/teen left my house with an organza bag of 6 fake flies.
Next, calf’s foot jelly. We made our own dye-free Jell-O with unflavored gelatin, pomegranate juice, cran-grape juice, and a bit of sugar – but I labeled it “calf’s foot jelly”.
I also found a pack of prisms on Amazon and bought enough for each of the book club kiddos. We hung them in the living room for the party book club and they each got to take one home.
We used our red gingham tablecloth and for lunch we had “Aunt Polly’s punishment milk & bread“ with Mrs. Snow’s chicken salad, Mrs. Snow’s calf’s foot jelly, and fruits & vegetables from old Tom’s garden (my mama friends brought these). There was also a jar of Bible verses about being glad.
My favorite chapter of the book was Chapter 22: Sermons and Woodboxes, and here’s one of my favorite quotes from the book:
“He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it – some.” page 190
🌈 What are you glad about today?
heavens to betty 
How wonderful! I chuckled that flies ended up being a way to include boys! Hahaha 😂! I love your themed ideas, especially around books! 😍♥️Hopefully, I can get my living area back (from remodeling) and maybe be able to have some friends over eventually! ♥️😭I adore your gingham table cloth! I used to have a blue one, but we left it? on a vacation I think! We were using it as a picnic blanket. 🙃
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They loved the flies! My boys are totally used to reading “girls books” but one of my friends has only 3 boys and they cringe at anything too sweet/cute. The flies were magic!
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