Once a quarter we have a Family Movie Night. This is an after-hours event where we set up the projector and sound system in the main part of the library and show a movie on library walls. There are crafts, games, snacks and the movie.
This quarter was the classic Disney musical - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
And since there aren't an overwhelming abundance of themed activities for this movie we had to wing a lot of the crafts!
TOP HATS
Since top hats were a fashion staple for the 1910s, it only made since to have a hat-making station.
This station required one person to work the hot glue gun, but we also had Elmer's glue available. For attaching ribbon though, hot glue worked best. We pulled out foam shapes, stickers, ribbon and paper to use too. Of course, it also required that a number of hats be made up ahead of time.
Credit for the cardboard hats comes from a Pinterest link to
this webpage (Just Imagine).
Teddy-Bear Cookies
Another librarian had the idea to decorate gingerbread cookies. In the Chu-Chi Face song the Baron and Baroness Bomburst are singing about their love for each other and at one point, one characters refers to the other as a teddy bear.
Since this program was right after Christmas we were able to stock up on Little Debbie Christmas Gingerbread soft cookies to use.
Icing was store bought white icing, spooned into ziploc bags and colored. Nothing special.
Surprisingly, there were NO incidents from this table. Since we'd gotten new carpet a couple months prior, we almost didn't have the icing available, but it worked out like a charm.
We'd decorated cookies before like this successfully, but the new carpet has had us extra extra extra careful with our crafts and snacks lately.
(On a side note: Of course, who would have thought that the first accident we had on our carpet would be from a new marker bleeding everywhere. I didn't think that actually could happen! What are the odds...)
Flying Cars
If you're looking for party ideas from Pinterest then you've probably seen this
intense paper-car-craft. It's very impressive and major kudos to whoever took the time to figure out how to create that, but it's just not a realistic craft for elementary aged kids. I'm twenty-*
cough* and I couldn't even figure it out. So I re-made it and this is what I came up with:
It's really self explanatory. It does use
mini boxes which we bought from Oriental Trading.
Cut out the pieces, fold along the tabs and where instructed. Begin with the body of the car and once that is shaped, attach it to the box. Tape the wing tabs to the underside of the car body. Glue/ tape wheels to the sides and that's it.
Of course, it wasn't supposed to be it. Originally we were going to attach the car to balloons so they could actually fly like in the movie but our helium tank wasn't too fond of that idea 😞
It worked out alright in the end though. One less thing to get ready. And blowing up balloons can get annoying anyway.
So this craft may not be perfect but it is kid-friendly.
Coloring sheets were also available and several people personalized their cars with the markers from the un-photographed other-end of the table.
Photo-Ops
Some of the girls from the Reference Department went all out and made a life-size version of the fling car and Truly's hat! I get to work with some REALLY talented ladies 😁
That's all I've got to share today! Lots of luck if you're planning a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang party. Hope something inspires you! 😘
To construct the base forms, we used small cardboard boxes and mini gift boxes previously ordered from Oriental Trading.
TOP HATS
Another librarian had the idea to decorate gingerbread cookies. In the Chu-Chi Face song the Baron and Baroness Bomburst are singing about their love for each other and at one point, one characters refers to the other as a teddy bear. 
They had to bring the packages to the table and unwrap together, then I let them decide what the best way to divide their loot among themselves by themselves. And actually, they divided it up so there was even some left over for me to share with some kids who came into the Children's Dept after the program! Of course, I don't think they intended for that to happen. 
Throughout Harry Potter Book Club at the Library, trivia has been a HUGE crowd pleaser! After a while though, making up trivia questions and answers can get old.
