A couple of years ago my husband's friend asked if I did some kind of book club for kids. Immediately, I imagined a bunch of kids sitting in a circle, sharing their favorite part of a great new book. It made me giggle. She explained that she had been looking for someone to ship a book each month to her little nephew who lived in Virginia. What a great idea! Of course I could do that! And at the end of the year, her nephew would have a nice little library of great books started! Kids love mail! It's the perfect birthday, Christmas or Valentine's Day gift idea!
So we decided that each month I would pick a book out and ship it. She would pay for the book and the shipping, and any packaging that I needed to buy. On occasion, she suggested books that she thought he would like, and twice a year I took advantage of our Winter Sale and Summer Sale and sent multiple books. The best part about offering to do a monthly "Book Club" for a child is that it's really simple, and not very expensive. All-in-all, it costs only about $10/month to ship a board book or paperback each month, and about $20/month to ship a hardcover story book (using Media Mail, of course). With Valentine's Day around the corner, be sure to offer this service to your customers. I find the ones most likely to do something like this is grandparents and aunts. They can even do something fun like have the book shipped to them, record themselves reading it, and then ship it off to the child. What a sweet way to stay in touch with your favorite kid(s) even if you are far away!
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| Who doesn't love getting a special package in the mail? |
Fabulous idea!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! Hope I have some takers one of these days.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Valentine's Day, do you have any cute packaging/display ideas? I'm doing an event next month at a children's store & would love a way to encourage Valentine sales, whether individual books/gifts or to kick off a book club. Maybe red heart gift bags & candy hearts? What do you think?
Thanks!!!!
How about having kids make book marks with hearts on them for their new books? Or heart coloring sheets? I would highlight books like The Boy Who Grew Flowers, The Gift, and Bear in a Square because it has hearts in it too. :) Skip through the Seasons is great because it has great seek-and-find pages, it has snowy pictures, and helps kids build their vocabulary. It's one of my faves, and is also ON SALE! ;)
ReplyDeleteI love it!! Blooming Readers are interested in sharing this idea with all our young reader's parents. Funny how I love the idea of sitting in a circle reading and enjoying all your barefoot books!
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