A Pillow Fort Book Bash

Thanks to Tiny Prints for sponsoring this post!

Remember the joys of pillow forts? Remember rainy Saturday afternoons spent building a giant castle of sheets and blankets? Remember how you would hang a "No Boys Allowed!" sign in front of your creation and spend hours curled up under it with your American Girl doll and a good book?

Of course you do. Pillow forts were the best part of everyone's childhood. That's a fact.

And just because you are an adult now with responsibilities and a routine and a checking account -- that certainly doesn't mean you need to stop creating these glorious structures. In fact, you can probably build a better fort now than you ever could as an eight-year-old.

Case in point...

Now tell me you don't want to cuddle all up in this bad boy! This epic pillow fort was erected right in my living room last week, and it made my life positively magical. I enlisted my husband to help me build it, and by "help me", of course I mean that he built the whole thing while I took pictures. 

Yes, yes. WE are doing such a good job in this picture.

We didn't just make this thing for funsies, though. No sir. This fort was the setting for -- get this -- a PILLOW FORT BOOK BASH!

Now, what exactly is a Pillow Fort Book Bash, you may ask? Well, every month, a few friends and I select a book and meet up to chat about it (thanks to my friend Tara for initiating this wonderful tradition!). This time around, I thought: where better to converse about books than in a pillow fort?! Hence, Pillow Fort Book Bash (or PFBB, if you're into acronyms). 

So you may be wondering to yourself: how exactly does one host a PFBB? 

Well, first things first, you'll need to pick a book. We decided on "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler, and if you're planning a PFBB, I highly recommend it. There are a lot of wonderful conversational nuggets in there. But more on that later.

Next, you'll need some fantastic invitations.

These invitations from Tiny Prints inspired such a happy response from my guests! I am always amazed by the creative selections they have to offer, but even so, I never thought I would find such perfect book-themed invites. If you are ever in the market for stationary -- from the very general to the highly specific -- you better believe they've got something for you.

While the concept of this event was simple (build a fort, talk about a book), I wanted to be able to provide my friends with something a little special. 

I mean, what is a book-themed pillow fort party without book-themed pillows? Tiny Prints lets you customize these pretties online, and I loaded mine up with literary sayings and quotes from prolific authors (but seriously, you can design these pillows to say pretty much anything). They were used as seats for my guests, and I also gave them out as favors when the party was over. While the fort itself was pretty stinking cool, these pillows were definitely my favorite element of the party. 

In terms of food for this shindig, I'm not going to lie, I just ordered pizza. After all, for a party centered around a beloved childhood past time, pizza seemed like the obvious choice. But don't worry, I still did something a little swanky in the beverage department.

These monogrammed mugs were a cinch to make (I just used a Sharpie over letter stencils and baked them at 400 degrees for 40 minutes). We filled them with hot chocolate and delicious artisan marshmallows by Butter, and we all felt so cozy drinking them underneath our fortress of sheets.

As for the book chat portion of this party, we all seemed to receive "Yes Please" in different ways. Some of us were all about it while others felt a bit surprised by Amy Poehler's candor in certain sections. Still, it inspired a lot of beautiful conversation. We talked about our "currency" as individuals, our dreams, and our sense of self-worth. We also talked about motherhood and pregnancy, a topic the book covers in great detail, and also one by which I am probably too fascinated. The pillow fort was the perfect setting for such a warm, intimate conversation.

When it was time for my lovely friends to head home, I had to laugh thinking about them walking the streets of New York with their book-themed pillows. But hey, at least they would be comfy on the subway ride home.

By the way, the best thing about a PFBB: you get to keep the fort up for as long as you want.

My hubs and I may or may not have turned this fort into our whimsical home office for the next three days. Is that okay? I think so.

Thanks again to Tiny Prints for supplying some of the lovely items used to create this event! Just a heads up, if you're thinking to snatch up some of these custom pillows or stationary (or maybe some festive holiday cards), use code: 40SWSALE to get 40% off your purchase (offer ends 12/9). 

Also, special thanks to Alex of The Shellhammer for helping with the photos for this post! Go show her some love, folks!