My Big Helper has been talking about this month’s Chris Grabenstein book club event for weeks. She’s been counting down the days, then the hours, all while bouncing off the walls and carrying her invitation around with her endlessly.
We love Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. There are so many things you can learn from it – but even better are the wacky adventures and myriads of mysteries scattered throughout the pages.
She immediately began planning how we could turn our house into the Alexandriaville Public Library and begged to have an escape game similar the one that Mr. Lemoncello hosted.
So we got to work. I designed labels for Lemonberry Fizz and created a recipe for the drink that Mr. Lemoncello loves to guzzle. I also built the Wonder Dome, decorated the house, and filled in many other book details.
I printed out an anagram game that we could use for a Super Dooper Challenge and planted clues around the house. One of these bonus clues became the prize for the challenge.
Of course, we had to eat, too. Since the main characters attended a fancy gala to celebrate the library’s opening at the beginning of the book, I opted to serve a ‘fancy’ dinner. I made two kinds of fondue and served it with sautéed chicken, steamed veggies, and bread cubes on a color-coordinated table. The girls drank their icy water out of glass goblets and giggled every time they stuck out their pinky fingers.
Dessert had to be fondue, too, since it’s such a fun way to eat – although there are several dessert options in the book. My Big Helper loved the fruit platters and chocolate fondue; judging from the amount of chocolate on the other faces I saw, they liked it, too.
Throughout the course of the event, we played as many Lemoncello games as I could create. I made Indoor-Outdoor Scavenger Hunt cards, and the kids raced around the neighborhood to collect their items first. I created a label for Mr. Lemoncello’s Anagrams (get these labels FREE here!), and the girls raced to see who could make the most words with alphabet cookies. They also played our version of Hurry to the Top of the Heap with Lemoncello trivia.
Eventually, late that night, one team pieced together enough clues to escape the house – and they did so with lots of whooping and hollering and running around in the dark.
Their prize was to choose their parts in the next-day’s commercial. I gave them the task of creating a commercial to ‘sell’ Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library to other kids.
Click here to view a rough copy of their commercial.
I’ve had myriads of technical difficulties in trying to share this. Their commercial plays well on my computer – I had to video that in order to show it to you. I apologize for the issues that remain.
Of course, we ended the party with a birthday cake, and since My Big Helper’s big day is close, we sang to her.
I spent hours designing the games, creating labels, and putting the details of the party together – so I’m happy to share them with you.
You can find everything you need to print your own 68-page Lemoncello party pack here. Want more Lemoncello? Find lots of printable resources here.
Happy escaping!
What are your kids reading now?
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We haven’t heard of this book before, but I know my girls would love it from what you’ve described. I’m downloading your party pack and will be getting the book asap! Thanks so much for linking up at Booknificent Thursday this week on Mommynificent.com!
Tina
Hi. Our family read this book (and the sequel) and loved them both! Now we’re planning a Lemoncello birthday party. So we purchased and downloaded your party pack when we discovered it by googling for ideas. We like your tips and printables. Thanks!
However, the part that’s missing from your party pack (that we’d love help with!) is the whole section of unscrambling/solving clues to escape the house. Where are those?!?
We were hoping for a lot of help with that part!
Thanks.
Hi, Gina,
I wanted to include clues for escaping the house the way that the kids escaped from the library in the book, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do that so that it might be possible for everyone to use it. We printed pictures of authors and taped them to the ceiling, I hid clues in books, wrote others on the back of a 100-piece puzzle for the kids to solve as they pieced it, etc. My clues were personalized to what we had in the house and took the same form as the clues written into the book, and I couldn’t figure out how to share them. I’m sorry!
I wish you luck as you create your clues, and I hope you enjoy your party!
Amy
Hoping for help with the clues…
What do you need?