Planning an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party

The first thing we worked on were the invitations for the party. There aren't any official Alice in Wonderland invitations or party goods so we looked around eBay for some inspiration. We decided to make them ourselves, this is right up our alley. We all liked the movie ticket style invitation, so with that in mind my daughter and husband got to work. This is how it turned out...

I absolutely love it. I liked it so much I asked my husband to start selling them. So if YOU love it too, just ask and we'll work with you to make a custom invitation. The images above are not actual size. They are 7 5/8" x 2 5/8" and fit in #10 envelopes (4 1/8" x 9 1/2"). You can either print them out yourselves, or we'll print them on 110 lb white card stock and mail them to you. We can personally go through Paypal, or if you are more comfortable, we can set up a 'Buy It Now' eBay auction.

Send me a note if you are interested.

Use tables of various sizes covered in mismatched lace tablecloths. Surround them with random chairs, the more unique the better. In the movie they are on top of large oriental rugs placed on the grass. The table is set with teacups and saucers, teapots, sugar bowls, cake stands, and half melted candles. Mix & match everything. This is a mad tea party after all.

We went to discount stores walking the aisles looking for unique items that give off the Wonderland vibe. On our first outing we got a stone upright frog (like the Red Queen's servants), a tea set (teapot, 4 mini teacups, and tray), a glass candy jar with an ornate lid, paper plates that look like china, tags, pins we'll turn into personalized favors, and a few grassy type elements that will help with the worn darn garden look. (If you live in MA, NH, or RI... we got these things at a Building 19.)

On our next trip we found a metal flamingo yard ornament, a flower w/ butterfly yard ornament, napkins, and little candles in ceramic holders. Then we swung by a second hand store and snatched up 4 vintage folding chairs (plush and gold and fabulous), and a tea cup & saucer set of 8.

In addition to shopping thrift stores, make sure to raid your parents' or grandparents' attics and basements too! You never know what strange and wonderful treasures you'll uncover. We found an old crystal decanter, some candle holders, and other odds and ends we can add to the table as decoration.

We also made signs to place in the yard saying things like "Mad Hatter's Tea Party" and "Into the Rabbit Hole".

An idea I like, but one we skipped, is having life size cutouts of the Wonderland characters. They make a great background for photos too. Each stand up can be mounted to a wall or door, or can stand by itself. The Mad Hatter Standup is 3'-1" x 6'-6", the Alice Standup is 2'-11" x 5'-5" (both are pictured below). There are also Standups for the Red Queen and Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.

       

My daughter's birthday is in the Summer so we served different flavors of ice tea. Sweet tea, lemon, raspberry, and peach. For anyone not wanting tea there will be apple juice (we used to pretend that was tea when my daughter was little) and ice water. We had tags on each pitcher that said "Drink Me" on one side and the type of drink on the other.

Other ideas are to offer little cakes with "Eat Me" written on top, tarts, finger sandwiches, cookies, and candies. For a healthier option we had berries too. Remember this is a tea party, not a meal.

My daughter's very first idea for the party was that she wanted to paint white roses red. I was thinking that we'd buy paper roses, but hubby decided he could make those too. Having given a few attempts and not liking the result I searched online for some tutorials, both text with photos and videos. I found our favorite paper flower tutorial on a blog named dozi.

We had white roses ready ahead of time, and the girls each painted one red. I looked at small vases, but my husband decided to make metal stands for each of the kids.

We used this black dragon pinata as the Jabberwock and a stick as the Vorpal Sword. You might opt to use a toy sword instead of a broom stick.



Dragon Pinata
$15.99

For ages 3 and up.

Please note: This Dragon pinata's candy compartment is smaller than in most other pinatas.






Lion Knight's Sword
$8.99

This well-crafted plastic sword is 36" overall in length.