Junior Friends Party

Yesterday marked the end of the school year meetings for our Junior Friends of the Library.  We used to try to have our parties later in May, but the kids have so many banquets, parties, sporting events, and activities that we moved it up this year to accommodate everyone’s schedule and boy did we have a great time!

Our Junior Friends group is a middle school community service organization for students in grades 5 – 8.  They help us with bulletin boards, have their own newsletter, book discussion groups in the summer, and a host of other activities that are more than I can count.  Mostly, the kids enjoy getting together outside of school and hanging out with us. 

Our last meeting is always a party and I try to think of something that will be fun for the kids and easy for me to put together and host.  This year we created tie-dye t-shirts and tank tops using Sharpie markers and rubbing alcohol and we also played some games from the television show Minute to Win It.  You can find specifics for tie-dye on a number of websites, but Martha Stewart’s website had a great explanation.  You can find game blueprints on NBC’s website for the Minute to Win It games.Everything was a HUGE hit.  The kids had a lot of fun and I was so happy to see all of them hanging out, laughing, and just relaxing.  I think many people forget that kids that are even in middle school are still just that, kids and want to have a good time without worrying about grades, how their peers see them, and arguing with their parents.  I hope they can see me as a role model and someone they can confide in when they need to.  It was an exceptional group of kids, I had the pleasure of working with this year and I am so excited to see many of them come back this summer and to see how the 8th graders fair in high school!