One of our staff members had the idea to do a circus costume parade this summer! It was a really fun one! At the last minute, we moved our parade to the local retirement home because of rain. It was a really good partnership and I honestly can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner! If we had paraded outside, only the adults who came with the kids and maybe some random passersby would have seen the kids all dressed up, but parading in the retirement home meant all the residents could see the kids too! It was wonderful.
We walked up and down the halls of the retirement home and waved to the residents. They had such a fun time seeing the kids and the kids loved having an audience!
At the end of the program, we had them all sit on the floor for a photo and we announced the winner of our costume contest! The winner was chosen by library staff, and she won a ticket to the Peru Circus! They were kind enough to donate several to us to give away, and this was the first one! I wish we had had categories for costumes and given out more tickets, because the winner had a joint costume with another boy. She was the ring master with the elephant, and he was the guy who cleaned up the elephant poop! He had a pooper scooper and everything. (you can see it in the bottom of the photo below) It was hysterical!
This was a really fun program and I would absolutely do it again! We are always looking for ways to partner with the retirement home, and I think this was a really good fit.
Miss Meg's Library 