Steampunk Party for Teens

Hello everyone, Sara here!  Time for another installment in the "Fairy Twins Do Teen Programming" series of blog posts.  This summer, our library district developed a Steampunk Party Program-to-Go Box to go along with the "Spark a Reaction" theme.  I did reserve the box, but ended up asking our Friends group for money to amp up the program a lot.  We ended up spending about $230 for all the supplies.  Without further ado, here is how we pulled off our super successful Steampunk Party for teens!

1.  Publicity

I find that for teen events, the way you promote the program is SUPER important.  It's one thing to put up posters that say "Steampunk Party for Teens!" (you'll probably get all of the hard-core Steampunk fans clamoring to get in), but what really worked for us this time was creating a poster with images of all the crafts that we were going to create.  Having a concrete visual to show teens EXACTLY what we'd be doing at the workshop ('cause even though we called it a party, it really was mostly a craft workshop) was fantastic, because if people looked at me doubtfully and said, "What exactly will we be DOING at this Steampunk party?" I could point to the poster that was sitting on the desk.  We ended up signing up 15 people and having a wait list of 6ish --  all the wait-list people got in due to cancellations, and 14 teens showed up to the program, which was a PERFECT size!

2.  Activity Stations

ACTIVITY ONE: Mini Top-Hat Fascinators

My library is lucky to have a steampunk expert on staff.  One of our circulation staff people has her own Etsy shop and makes mini top-hat fascinators professionally, so I enlisted her help for the program.  I am a HUGE proponent of using on-staff experts -- if you have someone who isn't in your department but who is AMAZING at something, there is no reason to not check with their supervisor and see if they are able to come and help at your programs.  Having her on hand was fantastic.  Here are photos of the set-up, before a crafting tornado came through.

 We had plenty of hot glue guns on hand, and the courier box on the right was filled with fabric scraps, lace, and other trimmings.

 I ordered these felt top hats from JoAnn fabrics -- they cost about $3 each, and I bought 15, enough for everyone who registered to make on.

Amazon is filed with awesome Steampunky doodads.  I bought a bunch of bags of "Steampunk Gears" (if you just search that phrase on Amazon you'll come up with some great options), and a few bags of tiny metal keys to add as hat embellishments.

 This is an example of a finished hat created by our amazing Steampunk staff expert.  She helped the teens make similarly awesome stuff!

ACTIVITY TWO: Steampunk Goggles

This was one of the main draws for this program.  Another teen librarian in our district created a really great how-to procedure for...well...how-to-do this, and I followed her instructions pretty much exactly.  I bought the goggles on Amazon (they're welder's goggles), and got some metallic spray paint.  Emily and I spent an afternoon spray painting the different goggle parts (after we took them entirely apart) different colors.  Then, at the station, the teens could just pick which parts they wanted and mix-and-match the colors. We also had more hot glue guns and gears for decorating after the goggles were assembled. Here's some photos of the station!

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And of course the lovely Fairy Twin Emily modeling an assembled pair of goggles (minus gear embellishments)

ACTIVITY STATION THREE:  Duct Tape Bow Ties

This activity was part of a different Program-to-Go box, actually -- the Dr. Who Party one -- but I thought it went perfectly with our Steampunk theme.  I ordered a bunch of different metallic duct tape from Amazon (they make chrome and gold colored duct tape!), and that's all we really needed.  We also ordered little magnets from our supplies person, so you could attach a magnet with a hot glue gun and use another magnet on the inside of your shirt to hold it on.  Easier and less invasive than safety pins!

ACTIVITY STATION FOUR: Self-Designed Temporary Tattoos

Included in the Program-to-Go Box for this program were instructions for how to make temporary tattoos using tracing paper and gel pens.  Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble getting this method to work,so I went ahead and ordered something magical off of Amazon -- Temporary Tattoo Paper. This stuff is awesome.  It seems pricey, and you only get two sheets, but two sheets really is plenty. I cut it up into about 2x2 inch squares, and everyone had the opportunity to create 2 or 3 of their own tattoos.  Emily printed out Steampunk tattoo image inspiration and put it on the table, and the teens went to town! We provided scissors, a folding bone, and black sharpies.  It's also good to have a roll of paper towels and bowl of water so you can have people put tattoos on without having to leave the room (our meeting room has no sink).  There are instructions on the package, and it's really easy to do as long as you follow them.  I would definitely use this stuff again for future programs.

Emily modeling her Steampunk glasses inspired temporary tattoo!

Aand those were all the activity stations!  We also had a stereo out tuned to one of the Spotify Steampunk radio stations, and some Steampunk books to serve as inspiration.  This ended up being one of my favorite ever teen programs.  It was the perfect size to have a chance to really get to talk to each of the attendees, and I feel like we really had the opportunity to get to know some of our teen patrons.  The teens were SO excited about the high quality craft-stuff they got to make and take home with them, and most of them stayed the entire two hours the program lasted.  One teen even said, "You know, the library is actually really awesome," and offered to help us put posters up for future "alternative" programs.

I am excited, after this event, to try more niche interest programming like this.  It's really really great for establishing that libraries are great for community building and have meaningful events that teens will actually be excited about.  Very few of the teens in the room new each other at the beginning of the program, but it really seemed like they had all kind of found "their people" by the end of the afternoon.  All in all, a totally magical event I'd do again.

--Sara

Teens + Anime = LibrAnimeCon

So, as you have probably noticed, Emily and I have been very quiet on here lately.  Mostly, the reason for this is Summer Reading.  Which is insanity.  Our programming volume goes up tenfold, and the sheer volume of running around getting stuff ready has meant that in non-work time, blogging is not the priority (I'm currently more likely to collapse and watch ten episodes of Degrassi after work ends.  Yes, I watch Degrassi obsessively -- that's probably a topic for a different blog entirely.).

Another reason the blogging is slow during the summer is we actually take a big break from doing storytime.  Which is really sad (I MISS IT SO MUCH), but due to staffing levels at our branch and workload, we just can't manage to run Summer Reading and do our regular storytimes at the same time.

BUT, I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to talk a little bit about the fact that the Fairy Twins are not exclusively children's librarians.  In fact, Emily and I are both SUPER into teen programming (and reading books written for teens). And so I am going to talk a little bit about one of my faaaavorite annual programs that we do -- LibrAnimeCon.

Starting last year, the three biggest (and closest together) libraries in our system decided that it would be a good idea to pool our resources and put on a MASSIVE teen event during the summer.  We decided to put it on at one of our libraries each year and rotate around (last year it was at our library, this year we rotated to a different one).  Partnering means that we have three times the staff power and three times the budget, so we can put on a HUGE event.  This is how LibrAnimeCon (short for Library Anime Convention) was born.  There are a ton of teens in our three communities who are just totally obsessed with Japanese comic/cartoon culture, so it seemed like a perfect way to bring teens together at an event.

How The Event is Organized:

--Each of our three libraries contributes one staff person to be on the core planning committee.  From my library for the last two years, I've been the person on the committee.  Another member of the committee from one of the other libraries is the amazing Rachel, who is basically a library celebrity (if you've seen any amazing library displays on Pinterest, they're probably by her).  We have several planning meetings starting in the fall or winter so we have plenty of time to get our acts together and figure out what is happening.

--We also meet a few times a year with all the youth services staff from all three libraries.  The main planning committee organizes the meetings, and we delegate work to the staff people who aren't on the committee.

--Planning consists of figuring out all the things:  Food, activity stations, logistics, space planning, ordering supplies, event timing, decorations, etc. etc. etc.  It's kind of like what I imagine planning a wedding is probably like.

--As far as the budget goes, each library asks their Friends groups for money, and contributes towards different things.  For example, this year my library was in charge of purchasing the candy for the candy sushi station, and also for hiring one of the guest artists.  Another library was in charge of food, and the third library paid for a second guest artist and prizes for the cosplay contest.

What Happens at LibrAnimeCon?:

--We start giving out tickets for LibrAnimeCon at all three libraries as soon as Summer Reading begins.  When teens sign up for Summer Reading (at our libraries, teens are anyone going into 6th-12th grade), they are also offered free tickets to the convention.  This year, each library gave out tickets that looked slightly different from each other so we could tell which libraries teens were coming from for the event.  My library gave out about 100 tickets between the start of Summer Reading and the date of the event.  I'm pretty sure that between our three branches, we gave out about 300 total.  As we handed out tickets, we encouraged kids to attend the event dressed in cosplay so they can participate in the cosplay contest.

--On the night of the program, we open the doors at 5:30 PM.  The library is normally closed at this time, and only teens are allowed in for the event!  It's awesome.  We get to bounce parents at the door.  It's a teen safe and teen exclusive space.  When the teens enter, they turn their tickets in, and receive a conference badge/lanyard (just like a real conference!  This is a new touch we added this year.).  The back of the badge has the timing for the evening, as well as a list of all the activity stations.

--From 5:30-6:30 PM teens are free to roam the library and participate in all the activities.  This year, we had the following stations available:  Catered snacks from Panda Express, Candy Sushi Making, Anime Viewing (a projector connected to a laptop showing YouTube clips of anime theme songs and the like), Manga Drawing Tutorials from a manga artist, Animal Ear Headband Making out of recycled materials (run by a local recycled material artist), DIY Makeup Station (complete with scar and wound tutorials), and Video Interview Booth (one of our librarians interviewed kids about why the loved anime and manga and is editing it together).  We also had a professional photographer wander around the library taking candid and posed photos that she will send us that we can post on our Facebook pages and Teen Tumblr page.

--During the first hour, we also had library staff encouraging teens to sign up for the cosplay contest. If you've never seen anyone dressed in cosplay -- you should do a google image search.  It is amazing.  Teens get SO INTO making their costumes look JUST like the characters in their favorite anime/manga.  We had 41 teens sign up for the cosplay contest/fashion show, and they all looked AMAZING.  Each teen received a number to pin on themselves if they were signed up for the fashion show.

--At 6:25, we gathered all the teens who had signed up to participate in the fashion show.  The library staff person in charge of these taught them all how to walk down the runway, where to pose, etc. She also lined them up in numerical order.

--At 6:30 PM, ALL of the activity stations shut down.  We corralled EVERYONE into the part of the library where we had set up a runway and chairs for the audience.  This is the main event of the evening, and we want EVERYONE to be involved.  We actually also let parents back in to the library at 6:30 so they could come and watch their teens take to the runway.  Also, so they can vote for their kids -- more on that in a second.

--On each chair for the audience, we left a ballot and a golf pencil.  The winners of the cosplay contest were decided entirely by the audience.  There was space for them to write their first, second, and third favorite cosplayers' number.

--I acted as the MC for the fashion show, and called out each participant's number, followed by the name of the character they were cosplaying as.  The teens came out to thunderous applause, paused at the marked places on the runway, had their photo taken by our photographer, and the moved on.  Then, at the end, they all walked the runway again so the audience could see everyone a second time and write down their top three costumes.

--After the fashion show ended, the ballots were collected and manically tallied by library staff.  It took about ten minutes to count all the votes, so we let the teens and parents socialize and await the results with bated breath.

--Finally, after we had the winners, I announced the top three vote-receivers.  They each got to pick out a prize (gift certificates to local comic shops and book stores), and have their pictures taken one more time.

--And then, that's it!  The event is over!  The entire thing ended around 7:15, and all the teens were out of the library by 7:30. LibrAnimeCon 2014: success!

Why LibrAnimeCon is Amazing:

--The first reason this event is amazing is the sheer VOLUME of teens we have.  This year, we had 139 teenagers in the building for the evening.  Once we allowed adults in for the fashion show, the number grew to about 180.  I have never held a teen event that drew as many people as this one does.  The joint effort of all three libraries doing publicity and encouraging their teens to attend REALLY works.

--It is just a magical event.  The teens spend SO much time on their costumes, and are SO excited to spend the evening surrounded by people who love the same things they love.  I truly believe libraries have a unique power to unite people who are passionate about something.  We give teens a venue to gather with other like-minded teens, and we celebrate and squee about their fandoms with them.  We provide them a safe place to unabashedly love the things they love, and shout it out to the world.  It is powerful, and magical, and wonderful.  If LibrAnimeCon had existed when I was a teenager, I would have felt less alone.

I apologize for the wordiness and picturelessness of this post.  I feel really passionate about this event and how it fulfills our mission of serving teens, and wanted to share it with the world!  I hope everyone else's Summer Reading Programs are going well, and I really do hope to start posting more regularly.  I'll make it a goal to replace an episode of Degrassi with a blog post instead every once in awhile :)

--Sara

ZOMBIFY YOUR LIFE! Celebration of the undead for all ages, Halloween 2013!

So, this post is basically going to be one giant picdump, because LOOK AT THESE PICTURES, AREN'T OUR KIDS AWESOME?!!! 

On Halloween, we hosted a drop-in zombie make-up and Barbie-infecting party. Kids, teens, and families of all ages were welcome to come and destruct Barbies and get their free zombie costume business on. It was pretty easy and relatively cheap, we had a lot of make-up left over from a zombie program last year, so we just had to purchase acrylic paint, x-acto knifes, a bit more makeup, brushes, and a whole lot of used Barbies and dollar store knock-offs. Throw in some donated stuffed animals, Halloween snacks, cheesy Thriller-filled spotify playlists, radical teen volunteers, and we were READY TO GO.

First, we bring you the infected doll zone. It is not a nice place.

Poor Barbie, what happened to your eye?

Bruised and muddied, this poor doll was mutilated by our youngest participant.

And oh, the fairies and dolphins!

So much for wedded bliss :/

The dogs tried to fight it, but were ultimately proved too weak. Fluff carnage.

Where the dark went down.

Transitioning to our awesome make-up artists, there was some great work done with spirit gum, foundation, fake blood, face paint and bruise wheels. Lots of injuries and rotten skin and sunken eyes and LOST eyes and blood and gross.

Oww, our handsssssssss.

This program was crazy and cute and fun and hilarious and easy and highly recommended. 

Happy programming, friends!

-Emily & Sara