Start a Book Club Tea Party with Your Friends

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How to Start
a Book Club Tea Party

If you are wanting to start a book club tea party group, read through these pages to easily see the things that need to be done and the questions that need to be discussed with your friends.

Things to Do to Help You Start a Book Club
Who - First decide who you would like to form a book club with. Friends from work, school, and church are a great place to start. Your club will usually start small and can grow as more friends wish to join.

Once your book club is well established, and most of your kinks worked out, a way to encourage your group to grow is to have members bring a guest to a special meeting. Most often one or two will wish to join. Make sure your friends provide an extra copy of the book you are reading to each guest they invite, so they won't feel left out and can join in on the conversation!

What - Decide what to read. Types: classics, best sellers, new releases, or styles: mystery, westerns, true stories, historical novels, 'how to' books(like:'How to Hostess a Book Club Tea Party"...

Generally your friends will have similar likes and dislikes in books, but there will always will be one or two who dislike a book or style of book. This is actually what you want -- if everyone is agreed that they liked the book, it leads to low key, non-involved discussions.

When - Trying to pick a convenient time for everyone can sometimes be a challenge. Sometimes the first day and time selected just won't do and another will have to be chosen. Do not give up! Bumps like this are bound to happen when you first start a book club. Your group will be the better for the challenges. As my Mother always said, 'Challenges build character.' A group with character will stand the test of time.

Where - Discuss among your friends if you want to alternate where you have your meeting or to have one set location. This comes into play more when you wish to have your meetings at a tea shop or a book store. It could also be an issue if one or more of the members have family members or roommates who aren't also members. The location can also be something to be patient with when you start a book club.

Things to Discuss at Your First Meeting

Discuss:

who should the leader for each meeting be -- should you have one discussion moderator or should it be each month's hostess? Some are naturally able to keep everyone focused than others. This helps the group not go off on tangents for extended lengths of time.(some tangents can be good!)

elected members - this is totally optional, but some ideas are:

President - Moderator for the year
Treasurer - takes donations for special refreshments or events you may want to attend as a group like a local theater production of a book you are or are going to read.
Secretary - makes notes of book read, discussion questions, members present... She can also be in charge of updating a blog or website that the group wishes to use to document their meetings.

what you would like to name your group.

frequency of meetings - once a month is usually enough time for a normal book, but if you decide on 'War and Peace or 'Les Miserables', you may want 6 weeks to 2 months. (or more)

the extent of refreshments. Do you want a high tea or a low tea?

food (we know there will be tea!) Who will provide? Will it be each hostess when it's her turn or do you want each meeting to be pot luck style? Also take into consideration financial means of all members.

the expense of books. New Releases can be expensive, while best sellers and classics can usually be bought reasonably or checked out at your local library(and renewed once or twice!) ;-)

what procedures to take if a meeting has to be canceled due to sickness or unforeseen events. You might like to set an alternate date for each meeting or default to the next scheduled time.

the idea of featuring a 'tea of the month' where you try a new tea along with old favorites. You might expand your culinary knowledge and appreciation as well as your intellectual knowledge.

what to do if a member doesn't finish the book. Some groups 'banish' them from the meeting, some don't let them ask questions, and some don't care - it's their loss and they won't be able to fully participate anyway.

The tea party will naturally fall into place when you start a book club. Refreshments are usually served at book club meetings and some go so far as to have a complete meal(high tea)over which to discuss the current book. Learning all about tea etiquette will happen over time, and is a fun and tasty way of learning how and what to do. A book geared along these lines might be a consideration for your first book to read???

How to Start a Book Club Tea Party

How to Start
a Book Club Tea Party