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Alice in Wonderland Tea 4yr - Paper Lanterns

March 2008

Brenda in Lithia, Florida, USA

Special Mention

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party -  My daughter’s birthday is not until October, but we started planning her party in early March. It worked out well to plan so early because I was able to find a lot of party items on sale after Spring. Everything was purchased on sale or at local dollar stores.

Invitations -  The 5x7 cardstock invitation was done on the computer in color. On the left side of the invitation was a clip art picture of Disney Alice. The invitation read: Don’t be late for a very important date!  Please join us for Emma Caroline’s 4th Birthday Celebration in Wonderland. A Mad Hatters Tea Party for you & for me, with sandwiches, cake, cookies & tea. The party details followed. A black satin bow was glued to the top. The invitations were mounted to blue cardstock with a magnet strip on the back. The invitation & a porcelain hinged teapot trinket box were placed in a white lunch sack. The top of the sack was folded to resemble a tea bag & stapled shut with a white string connected to a tea bag tag. I made the tea tags by dry embossing a teapot on vellum & mounting them to blue cardstock. Each girl also received a copy of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. The tag on the book read It will be so Wonder-ful to see you at my party! Love, Emma.  I was so excited to find the inexpensive storybooks because it gave the guests who were not familiar with Alice a chance to read the story with colorful illustrations. Each mom was also invited.

Decorations -  The front yard was filled with signs made from cardboard that read You are here, White Rabbit went that way, Up, Down, This Way etc. I placed vinyl rabbit tracks on the ground leading up the walkway into the house and throughout. The foyer table was decorated with an Alice doll seated at a doll tea table. In the party room, the bottom half of the walls were lined with green plastic tablecloths & hot-glued 150 tissue paper flowers all over to resemble the garden of talking flowers. Paper lanterns hung over the party table. Each table had several tissue paper topiaries that we made using instructions from HGTV. In the corner of the room I placed an artificial ficus tree covered in pink twinkle lights & a plush Cheshire Cat in the branches overlooking the table. The best part was my daughter dressed in her Alice in Wonderland costume! Activities -  As the girls arrived they were led to the kitchen table for a craft.

Each girl decorated a straw hat with silk flowers. One mom used a hot glue gun so that the hats could be worn right away. The craft area was decorated to look like the Queen of Hearts Kingdom. There was a black plastic tablecloth & black & red streamers hung from the ceiling. Red hearts & playing cards were alternately strung on fishing line to create garland & hung from a tension rod in the kitchen windows.  Next the girls sat down for tea. Another table was set up nearby for the moms. Each girl’s chair was decorated with blue tulle & a velour smiling face flower. At each place setting was a flower placemat, a small flowerpot, napkin rings made from paper towel rolls, ribbon & flowers & hand-decorated sugar cubes on miniature silver trays. The sugar cubes were a huge hit!  In the background I had the Alice in Wonderland CD playing. 

Party Snacks -  We used inexpensive clear glass dessert plates & darling clear plastic teacups. I found a great tea punch recipe online. The food consisted of a variety of tea sandwiches, including cucumber, ham salad, chicken salad, Creamy Dreamy (strawberry Marshmallow Fluff & cream cheese) & peanut butter & jelly, grapes, cheese cubes on butterfly shaped crackers, chocolate covered maraschino cherries, teacup shaped cookies & mini mushrooms made from a marshmallow, chocolate and vanilla wafer. 

Games -  After everyone finished eating, we went to the back porch for games. Tea Bag Toss -  I purchased a giant ceramic planter in the shape of a teacup & set it on a small doll table on the ground. Each girl was given 3 tea bags (made from white sachet bags filled with brown beans & stapled to resemble a teabag) & had to toss the bags into the teacup. The girl who threw the most in won a prize. The prizes included mini tea sets, mini porcelain dolls, & silk fans (all from dollar stores). Each girl also received a consolation prize after each game (plastic flower face rings, colorful bead necklaces & polka dot bracelets). Pin the Watch on the White Rabbit -  Using an overhead projector, I traced, painted & cutout a large foam board White Rabbit. I then cut out pocket watches from poster board & decorated each with gold pipe cleaners. Each watch had the girl’s name on it & double-stick tape on the back. The girls were blindfolded one at a time & had to put their watch in the rabbit’s hand. The closest won a prize. Musical Flowers -  I taped a green plastic tablecloth onto the ground & placed flower placemats on the cloth. We played the game like traditional Musical Chairs using the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack.

We led the girls to the backyard for two more games. The first was Lost in the Rabbit Hole -  My husband made a giant string maze in our backyard using different colored yarn. At one end of the yarn was a tag with each girl’s name. The girls had to follow their own string to find a prize at the end. The prize was a White Rabbit stuffed animal. To make the White Rabbit I purchased white stuffed bunnies. I glued small gold eyeglasses on each & created a felt tunic with a red felt heart & ruffle at the neck. I tied a small cardstock pocket watch to each rabbit using gold ribbon. These rabbits looked just like the White Rabbit from the Disney movie. Queen’s Croquet Game -  In the other half of the backyard we set up croquet game using bent white wire hangers for wickets. The croquet field was decorated with giant trees I made from refrigerator boxes.

The trees were cut, painted and staked into the ground. I dipped white silk roses into red paint & attached them to the trees to look like the roses that are painted red by the Queen’s playing card army. We also made giant playing card soldiers out of foam board & staked them in the ground. Each girl received a flamingo mallet & hedgehog ball. I made the mallets by screwing a wood dowel into an empty tin can, covered the can in hot pink felt & hot-glued google eyes, pink feathers & an orange foam beak to the can to resemble a flamingo. The hedgehog balls were pink rubber balls covered in soft bumps. Each girl was given a heart wand at the end of the croquet match. The wands were made by gluing red ribbon to 12-inch dowels, red heart foam shapes to the top & decorated each with hanging ribbon in yellow, red and white.

Cake -  After croquet it was time for cake & ice cream. I made a teapot cake using a round pan & made an individual teacup cake for each girl. The teacup cakes were made using a jumbo cupcake pan. Each cupcake was placed on a frosted sugar cookie saucer & half a chocolate covered pretzel was stuck in the side to look like the handle. After cake and ice cream, the birthday girl opened her presents.

Favors -  Each guest left with their prize, velour flower, heart wand, straw hat, White Rabbit plush & a goody bag. The goody bags were small straw purses filled with a Kool-Aid squeeze bottle with a Drink Me tag attached, a homemade teapot cookie with an Eat Me tag & variety of party favors. Each mom received a white sack goody teabag that included the Kool-Aid squeeze bottle, teacup cookie, & a copy of the Alice in Wonderland cd. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time and my daughter still talks of her Alice party.

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