Our elementary school (1-4) does a Ice Cream Social/Book Swap. It has been a successful event for the past 3 years. We do not charge for this event. Most of the icecream, bowls, spoons, toppings etc. are donated). Very little cost to the school.
Children are asked to bring in books that are in good/excellent condition the week before the event (advertised in our weekly newsletter). For every book the child brings in to swap, they get 1 ticket in return to bring in the night of the swap to get a new book. So for every ticket, they get one "new" book.
Many of our parents bring in multiple books and don't take home as many as they donate. So there is always enough books to go around.
A few things that are helpful:
1. put the books into catagories (animals, mystery, etc.) or group by age level.
2. quickly go thru the books to make sure they are in good condition.
3. If a child forgets his/her ticket, thats ok. We would never turn away a child who wants to take home a new book.
4. We have some families who have financial difficulties. Our school nurse has a list (mainly the families who need assistance with lunches & field trips etc.) We always send home a ticket with those children so they will attend the event. We have rec'd many thanks yous from those families.
5. Any books left over are either given to the school library or donated to a local charity.
We are planning to have a book exchange at our elementary school. I have never done one before and would like suggestion and comments about what we should and shouldn't do.
