Young Writers Club-Christmas in August

One of the biggest challenges that I face each year with the Young Writers Club is keeping it fresh, fun, and not too educational. These are kids that are taking time out of their summer vacation to come to the library and WRITE. If I want them to come back each week , it is essential that the kids laugh, goof around, and never feel like they are sitting in a classroom.  This summer I have an amazing group of kids in the Young Writers Club.  They are creative, humorous, cheerful,  and they always manage to surprise me.
Now, I am not above using bribery to get kids coming to writing club and sugar is always a great motivator. Today I made the kids cupcakes and I am sure that you are wondering why they are Christmas cupcakes.  I promise that I baked these fresh today, they were not fossilized left-overs from last December. Not only delicious (if I do say so myself) the cupcakes served as an inspiration for a group writing activity.

I asked the kids to imagine that Christmas takes place on August 25th rather than December 25th. How would homes be decorated, what traditions would there be, what would Santa ride in and what would pull it, what would Santa wear, who would be his helpers?

The kids worked in groups (because what fun would writing club be if they always worked by themselves) to brainstorm ideas and create a complete back story and setting for a summertime Christmas.

Judging by the absurd amount of giggling all of the kids seemed to really enjoy this exercise. After about a half an hour each group shared their vision of Christmas in August.

Now I was expecting to hear about decorating palm trees with sea shells, making Christmas sno-cones instead of cookies, and Santa riding a surf board pulled by dolphins. I did have two groups that at least had Santa wearing a Hawaiian shirt, but flowery shirts were about as happy as Christmas in August got. Forget peace on earth, goodwill toward men, or presents under the tree. These young wordsmiths went the grim and sometimes downright ghastly route.

My first group was Tyler, Gussie and Ruthie and they created what they called the Odd Christmas which is a futuristic dystopian spin on the holiday.
The year is 2099 and Santa Clause has legally changed his name to Mark James the Fifth. To keep from freezing to death, Christmas has been moved to August 25th. His new workshop is in the basement of Tom's Food Center where hypnotized, mind-controlled sales people are his elves. Mark James grew a mustache and dyed it green with purple polka dots. He wears a baseball cap, a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and sandals. He drives a motorcycle pulled by bunnies with a turtle in the lead. People decorate bushes and kids are enslaved by their parents till they are 50 year old so the kids do all of the decorating. Also Emerson is president (Not quite sure what that haves to do with Christmas, but hey this is their world).

Emerson, Kyle, Iggy, Evey, and Preston were my largest group and Emerson is president in their world too (surprise, surprise). This group definitely laughed the most; probably because they worked poop into their Christmas scenario.

It is the 24th century and Santa lives in Frankenmuth, MI which is no longer a happy place to visit. It is always gloomy and raining and there are deadly star bombs falling from the sky. Santa rides a motorcycle and rides around pranking people because he is jealous of everyone who is happy. Instead of presents he leaves flaming bags of poop on doorsteps. 

Instead of Santa Claus David and Zander have Banta Claws
Banta Claws pilots a ALO-G  Warthog which is a bomber plane with gatling gun in front. Banta Claws is a werewolf that wears a suit of ice that never melts. He likes to bomb people and eat them. His elves are zombies and he lives in an underground cave. Also Jack the Ripper comes back from the 1700s to help him. 

My final group surprised me the most since they were all girls and they had the most horrific Christmas in August back story. Sophie, Quincy, Ella, Natalie, and Kayla used creepy pasta for inspiration.
The color scheme for Christmas in August is purple/yellow/black. Santa Claus is actually Slenderman and he rides around on Smile Dog so children hide on Christmas eve. His elves are broken garden gnomes. 

So this was our fun and ultimately morbid group activity to warm up our imaginations.