Halloween is just around the corner! If you’re looking for a fun and creative way to surprise your coworkers, friends, or neighbors, then you might want to try the “You’ve Been BOOked” game with our BOOkish boo box ideas! You’ve probably participated in or at least have heard of “You’ve Been BOO’d.” This game operates in a similar way, but it involves secretly gifting books to your chosen book-loving recipients and asking them to pay it forward to someone else.
Not only is this game a great way to spread Halloween cheer, but it’s also an excellent opportunity to promote literacy and encourage a love of reading. And we’ve got free gift tag printables and a list of spooky book ideas for you so this game is easy peasy to participate in!
In this post, we’ll explore the “You’ve Been BOOked” game in more detail and provide some gift ideas and tips on how to make it a success!
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Encourage The Love of Books with the You’ve Been BOOked! Game
What we love most about this BOOkish twist on You’ve Been BOO’d is that it is a specific game of fun for all the BOOkish folks out there! Imagine sneaking a BOOked box onto the doorstep of one of your book club friends!
How to Play You’ve Been BOOked!
The “You’ve Been BOOked” game is a modern Halloween tradition that involves leaving a surprise gift of books for your coworkers or neighbors. The game is simple: you choose a recipient, put together a gift bag of books and Halloween-inspired goodies, and leave it on their doorstep or desk anonymously. Along with the books, you include a note explaining the game and encouraging the recipient to pay it forward by doing the same for someone else. (This is where our cute printable BOOkish gift tags below come in handy!)
The goal is to spread the love of reading and promote literacy in a fun and creative way. The game can continue throughout the Halloween season, with each recipient passing on the gift to someone new. It’s a great way to bring some Halloween cheer to those around you.
What to Put in a BOOkish Gift Package
Your BOOkish gift basket can include any type of Halloween style treats your heart desires! You can go with a cutesy theme or a spooky/creepy theme. I like to tailor the rest of gift contents to the book I’ve chosen. And then I choose a tag that kind of goes along as well. For example, if I chose a haunted house book, I would choose some cute ghost things – a ghost soap or ghost earrings, for instance – and the ghost tag (seen below).
For example, if I am going to play You’ve Been BOOked with a younger group of teens, I might choose some light-hearted scary haunted house type books and put some a small cute ghost sign and a gourmet ghost-shaped cookie.
If I’ve chosen a really creepy, dark novel for an adult, I might choose a dark crow decoration and some dark chocolate.
If you are playing this game with children, you will probably want to stay on the cutesy side of things.
Presentation of a BOOkish Gift Package
Presentation is everything! Isn’t that the old wise saying? As you can see below, I often just stack a book with a couple boxes of candy and tie on an orange tulle ribbon.
Other times, I layer things in a basket for some extra charm.
Either way, don’t forget your labels!
What to Print and Give with the You’ve Been BOOked Package
Speaking of labels, let’s go over what you need to print for the basket. You want to make the process as easy as possible for the gift recipient so he or she will feel encouraged to carry on the game by gifting someone else a Halloween book gift package.
- Print our free “I’ve Been BOOked” sign and instructions for your gift recipient to display on or near her door so someone else doesn’t come around and gift her again. You want to spread the spooky love to as many book lovers as possible! This PDF also includes a second page for instructions. You also give this page to your gift recipient.
- Print our BOOkish Boo Box labels so your gift recipient will have some labels printed and ready to go to gift to the next person. This free download comes with instructions on what the gift recipient should do next, in addition to a list of great Halloween book choices to choose from for the game and other gift ideas. If you print the labels on card stock, they will also make for cute little bookmarks!
- It might be helpful to include a list of coworkers or neighbors who enjoy spooky books. I was sneaky and enlisted the help of my school librarians to send out a survey to the staff to collect a list of staff members who enjoyed mystery, thrillers and suspense, and horror books. Boom! I knew instantly who would be good candidates for this game!
This Time Regifting is A-Okay
This may be the one time in my life where I come and publicly give my support of the controversial regift! But here’s the thing. It is possible someone will gift you a book you have already read. Why let it go to waste when you can pass it along to someone who can enjoy it (and, hopefully, hasn’t read it yet)?
Also, you may have a huge stack of already-read spooky books at home that you have been trying to figure out what to do with. The time is now! You might even write a clever little inscription in the front cover, mentioning that you loved the book so much, you are sharing it.
Best Psychological Thrillers to Gift Grown Ups this Halloween
The printable you will download has a list of book suggestions by age group. Here is a list of some other psychological thrillers we recommend for using in this game!
- Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak is highly rated in my psychological thriller book groups!
- Summer of ’77: A Horror Story by Sean Kidd combines thrilling plot with horror and twists.
- The Housemaid by Freida McFadden has been a hot topic in my book group (which is operated by McFadden, herself). Most seem to love it, but there have been a few McFadden naysayers out there. That will also be the case when it comes to authors, though! (This is one of the books I bought for my BOOked game! When I first read it, I finished it is less than one day.)
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a twist-y gothic story set in 1950s Mexico. It is a New York Times Bestseller book.
- The Stepchild by Nicole Trope is one of several of hers that receive high reviews for gripping storytelling.
- The Girl Who Survived by Lisa Jackson is a suspenseful read based around an old tragedy that has reared its ugly head again.
- Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena centers around a mysterious murder of a wealthy family. Lapena has long been one of my favorite authors of psychological thrillers!
- Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica is all kinds of twisty and curvy! This is an editor’s pick book for good reason!
- The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry is one with page-after-page entertainment and super dark vibes centered around a rage-filled six-year-old.
- The Block Party by Jamie Day is a thrilling party you don’t want to miss!
- Creep by Jennifer Hillier brings thrilling deadly attraction with an improper affair and big regrets.
- Freak by Jennifer Hillier goes right along with the previous title!
- The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier centers around the Beacon Hill Butcher murders and the mysteries left behind.
- The September House by Carissa Orlando with its ghosts and haunting storyline might be considered more of a paranormal thriller – perfect for a Halloween read!
- The Good Lie by A.R. Torre is for those who love a good psychological profile and serial killer vibe!
- The Myrtlewood Mysteries by Iris Beaglehole bring a whole witchy mystery series and what better time to gift and read this series than in spooky season?
The number of people you choose to gift is up to you! But let’s face it. Books are cheap these days – unless you find a great deal at your local thrift store or library sale (always an option). I like to gift 2-3 different people and hope the game carries on from there!
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