Party: Meet Miss Val to pick up a holiday party-in-a-bag on December 17, 20, or 21. Miss Val will hand out bags to kids ages birth-5th grade from Noon to 5 pm on December 17 & 21 and from Noon to 4 pm on December 20. Come to the downstairs desk and ask for Miss Val! While supplies last; items are subject to availability. While there is no minimum age limit, the bags are designed primarily for kids ages 3-11. Each bag will contain:

Letters to Santa: While picking up your holiday bag, write a letter to Santa and send it to the North Pole through the library’s Magic Mailbox.

Dec Our Walks: The library’s sidewalks (aside from the painted front walk) are bare. Bring them to life for the holidays! Ask for a chalk bucket at the downstairs desk and Dec the Walks. A laminated sheet of design ideas will be provided, and adult supervision is required.

Go on a Candy Cane Hunt in the library! Now through the end of December, you may hunt for candy canes every day the library is open. Here’s how it works: Find a paper candy cane in a book from the children’s or young adult sections. Bring it to the front desk, along with the book so our staff can record which title was found. Get a real candy cane in exchange for the paper one! Limit 1 per day per person. No age limit.

Candy Guessing Contest:How many pieces of candy do you think are in this year’s Holiday Candy Jar? If your guess is the nearest to the correct number, you will win the whole jar! Share it with your loved ones or enjoy it all by yourself. In the event of a tie, the candy will be split evenly (as possible) between contestants. The contest will be open for entries from November 15 – December 15, 2021. Winner(s) will be notified within 2 days of the contest’s end. Entries missing critical information or made after the contest end date (Dec. 15 @ 11:59 pm) will be disqualified. Limit 1 entry per person. Must be able to pick up at the Fort Scott Public Library after the contest ends. Library staff and their immediate family members are not eligible to participate. Fill out this form to enter: https://forms.gle/4RgkLSZ32Ki9jM6VA

For 6th – 12th Graders: Our first indoor, in-person event at the library since March, 2020 will be this year’s Holiday Teen Party for middle and high school students!  The party will take place in the upstairs main room of the library on December 20, 4-5 pm. Pre-Registration is REQUIRED for all attendees. Go here to register: https://forms.gle/ms84YVtHAJLJMhAQ9 Due to covid concerns, we need to keep the crowd small, so registration will be capped at 25 people. Parents are encouraged to drop their teens off and pick them up at the end of the party, rather than stay in the party area for the whole event. MASKS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

6-12th Grade Group: The self-named Dragon’s Nest Teen Group meets on Wednesdays at 4:30 pm. Most meetings are held online via Google Meet, but this week will be a hybrid Book Discussion meeting, held both in person at the Keyhole AND online on Google Meet. To register for December meeting bags, fill out this form. If your middle or high schooler would like to join the in-person meeting, they may show up at the Keyhole at 4:30, Wed., December 15 ready to discuss books. Next week’s (online only) activities will be Word Games and Creative Writing/Drawing, and the following week, we will create our own versions of “Wreck This Journal” for the new year. Necessary supplies are provided in the bags. ear the end of each month, we distribute the bags for the following month, so keep an eye on the library’s Facebook page or other social media for our new month’s registration form.