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These tips are for book friends celebrating in a home. If you do not have a volunteer to host then enjoy the same festive literary ideas in a restaurant or venue of your choice to celebrate one of the best book clubs of the year!

This seasons holiday book pick

Every year it's the same question. What do I read for the holidays that will get me into the festive spirit? Thankfully, my book club decided for me and so far it is a winner. A debut novel by Samantha Silva on Amazon.com and may I say her future novels look merry and bright!

Falalalala book party ideas

Holiday Book Club on Go Beyond Book Club

  • Plan a gift exchange - Bring a wrapped gift (No name on the present) with an agreed spending limit
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  • Include a book exchange - Wrap a used or new book (same as the gift exchange do not put your name on the gift).  Side note- not everyone has to participate in both exchanges
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  • Ornament exchange - Purchase or create an ornament based on your favorite read, a Christmas book club selection or a festive book quote 
 
  • White elephant gift exchange - Bring on the laughs with goofy, unwanted and or recycled gifts. If it's book related even better!
 
  • Favorite's gift exchange similar to a cookie exchange - Bring multiples of your favorite thing (one for each book friend and that's within the agreed spending limit), a basket or gift box to put all the favorites you will receive from others as each person will place their gift(s) into everyone's basket or gift box. In the end everyone will walk away with a festive variety of sweet gifts from their group.  Read how to play the favorite's gift exchange and see Go Beyond Book Club favorite things on Amazon.com for gift ideas
How to play the gift exchange game
Start alphabetically by name. Letter A goes first and so on. Do that with the gift exchange and for the book exchange start with Z and go backwards.

​The gifts will be laid out and one person picks whichever wrapped gift they choose. The next person then picks a gift either on the table or takes the gift from anyone holding an opened present. You need to decide how many steals are allowed. Usually two to three is the norm and then that person's gift is safe and can no longer be taken. Book exchange is done the same way.
 Holiday book club tips on Go Beyond Book Club
Let the host go last on the gift exchange. They will have a good chance of choosing (or stealing) a gift they want. It's an easy way to say thank you for hosting one of the merriest book clubs of the year!

Gift ideas for the gift exchange

The gift exchange is a ton of fun but finding gifts for under a certain amount can be hard. Amazon.com has gifts that are book lover perfect and fit the price. More ideas on Shop Bookish 

Bookish Ornaments on Etsy

Holiday Book Selection

affiliate links will take you to Amazon.com
A Christmas Carol almost needs no introduction. It is a timeless classic that has many editions and movies produced of the old miser Ebenezer Scrooge. This a wonderful novella for the holidays.  Read it now and get into the Christmas spirit with the ghosts of the past, present and future! 
A BOOK CLUB RECOMMENDATION!
Fannie Flagg author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe wrote this sweet holiday tale, A Redbird Christmas, with a colorful cast of characters in a small fictional southern town. Includes recipes in the back that you might want to make for your holiday party
A murder mystery on Christmas Eve? Detective Hercule Poirot always solves the crime in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas.  A little outside the seasonal book club box but who doesn't love a good holiday theme mystery? Kindle version on Amazon.com
Mystery, humor and even romance. Follow the ex-miser Ebenezer Scrooge in Scrooge The Year After as he navigates his new, transformed life and embarks on a quest to find out the truth behind his sister Fran's death. A holiday read with twists and turns
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers will give fans of the movie, The Sound of Music, insight into the true life of Maria Augusta Von Trapp, the Captain and her children. Read how the the Von Trapps settled in America and celebrated Christmas in their new home
Jane Austen the sleuth in Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas a murder mystery set in 1814 Regency-Era with Austen herself out to solve the crime! 
Our book club loves to read true stories.  The 13th Gift is a memoir best seller and touted as funny, inspiring and even a bit of a lighthearted mystery  
For the Christmas Carol fans:  Jacob T. Marley is the story behind Ebeneezer Scrooge's miserly business partner Jacob Marley.  If you have never read A Christmas Carol you can read both with this lovely set Jacob T. Marley and A Christmas Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens 200th Anniversary Gift Set 
A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children​ is not a good children's story​ ​​in the slightest
​~ C.S. Lewis
Consider reading a children's story that has a sweet Christmas theme and or scenes:  Anne of Green Gables (this book edition includes stills from the 1985 beloved movie),  Little Women, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and Daddy Long Legs. All of these novels have the holiday spirit and are solid enough in plot for a cheerful book club discussion. A must during a busy holiday season! 
 End you holiday book club with a group photo and don't forget to choose your next read for the new year!