Come for Lunch, Stay for a Foam Party!
By Dani DiAmico, Children’s Librarian
Bay County Library System
The Sage Branch Library of the Bay County Library System (BCLS) in Michigan had an unprecedented turnout for their first-ever Foam Party. They host “Meet Up & Eat Up,” a Summer Food Service Program, on Mondays and Wednesdays,
while librarians offer activities for families who come for the meal. On average, 75 lunches are served at each event. However, on the day of the Foam Party, 126 lunches were served, and it was estimated that around 200 people attended the event. This is a
record attendance at a lunchtime event. After posting pictures of the Foam Party on Facebook, several patrons, disappointed to have missed it, contacted the library to ask if they would be hosting another one! Due to the community's interest, high attendance,
and the ease of hosting the event, BCLS is now planning to schedule Foam Parties at each of its four branches next summer.
Sage staff thought they took a risk when booking the Foam Party because they weren't sure how to effectively describe it in marketing materials. Apparently, schools and campgrounds frequently host Foam Parties, so there was little
need for explanation or additional marketing. The cost of the program was under $400 (from Cruise Control Mobile Gaming of Saginaw, MI) for an hour of foam and included staff to run the machine, a large speaker, and a music playlist. The library needed to
provide electricity and water. Pulling in a crowd of 200 people is a huge success for this small library branch!
Dani DiAmico, Children's Librarian at Sage Branch Library, has compiled a list of tips to support coworkers and other librarians considering hosting future Foam Parties:
-
I'm glad I danced in the bubbles with the kids, and not only because they got a kick out of it; the foam can be disorienting when your face gets blasted and completely covers the kids, so you can't see them. I think it is no-tear
soap, but it can sting your eyes a little bit. Not a single child got overwhelmed or cried from stinging eyes, but I'm glad I was there in the middle, checking in to make sure everyone was safe.
-
Next year, I will advise families to bring swim goggles.
-
The soap leaves a residue. I brought an extra change of clothes, and washed off with a rag in the bathroom, but I was really looking forward to a shower when I got home.
-
Next time, I will bring out a kiddie pool to fill with foam to put off to the side for babies and littles (Caution, the performer reminded us that the bottom of the pool will be slippery).
-
1 hour was the perfect amount of time.
-
30 min after the event, the grass had already started to recover. You can hardly tell where the party was held.
-
We put a sign on the front door reminding people they need to have shoes on and asked them to wipe their feet off. We left a bucket full of towels next to the door with a sign that said, "Towels for Feet." Our circulation staff
only had to ask two people to wear shoes inside afterwards. 
-
The company we hired required a waiver. I printed it out, created three extra pages of lined paper, and had parents sign their names and write the names of their kids. After they signed, I used a pink Sharpie to make a smiley
face on their kid's hands. I had it at the table where kids collect their lunch so that parents could do both things at once.
Foam Parties are gaining popularity, and rental companies are jumping on the bandwagon; be sure to search for one in your region. This was an affordable way to spend our programming funds locally and support a small business owner
in Michigan, and most importantly, it drew a large crowd to our “Meet Up & Eat Up” summer food program. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Dani DiAmico at DDiamico@BayCountyLibrary.org.
|
Chapter 3, pg 100
