Alice WONDERs Through The Looking Glass: A Mad Hatter's Very Merry unBirthday ParTEA

My daughter’s 6th birthday theme was Alice WONDERs Through the Looking Glass. She had a Mad Hatter’s ParTEA. I was excited to plan this party for her, especially since she graduated from Kindergarten a couple of weeks prior.

INVITATIONS: I made my own invitations in the shape of a playing card. I used K with the heart instead of Q because her name is Ka’Miyah. The invitation read: Don’t Be Late! For a very important date! Queen Ka’Miyah is having a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party with Alice in Wonderland in celebration of her Very Merry 6th unBirthday! Follow the White Rabbit Down the Rabbit Hole at 3p.m. Saturday, May 21, 2016 and Directly you will be Directed to Address was provided RSVP the Queen of Hearts @ (my number was provided) or OFF WITH Y OUR HEAD!!! She had AIW address labels and stamps. The stamps I personalized and bought from Zazzle.com. I enclosed an AIW bookmark I made from Vista Print that read READ ME on the front with pictures of the characters and Ka’Miyah’s very merry 6th unBirthday with Alice in Wonderland on the back. I also included red and white plastic rose petals in the invitations. Each guest had their name filled out on the front with hearts and the back was sealed with a bottle sticker that read OPEN ME.

ATTIRE: My daughter took professional pictures and I made a video trailer from my iPhone of Ka’Miyah in Wonderland. My daughter was dressed as Alice and wore a blue and white corset with a matching tutu. There was black and white harlequin décor and a heart on the corset. She had harlequin gloves, a matching top hat headband, matching ruffle socks, and black flat ballet shoes with the heart, spade, and diamond on them.

At the actual party, she wore a t-shirt with Alice on the front that read her name and age, a top hat headband, and a matching tutu, ruffle socks, and Skecher shoes. Her little sister dressed as the Cheshire Cat with a purple and pink tutu dress and headband with cat ears with matching ruffles socks and Skechers. Her god sister was the White Bunny and had a red jacket and grey tutu skirt with a bunny top hat headband. Mommy and Daddy wore matching yellow shirts with red suspenders on the front and Tweedle Dad and Tweedle Mom printed on the back. We both had on red shorts and red caps. Maternal Grandma had a shirt that read Queen of Wonder. Paternal Grandma’s shirt read Queen of the Birthday Girl, and Maternal Great-Grandma shirt read Great Queen of the Birthday Girl. They each had a different picture of the Queen of Hearts printed on the front.

DECORATIONS: I used the gym at my job for the location of the party. Upon entering the building, guests were greeted by 6 of Hearts Cardboard Guard and behind him were signs that read: That Way, Up, Wrong Way, Ka’Miyah’s Mad Tea Party, Down There, Over There, Turn Around, This Way. There was a banner above the entryway that read HATS OFF TO KA’MIYAH’S 6th TEA-rrific unBirthday Party! The White Rabbit made out of cardboard with his time watch set at 3pm was placed on the side of the door to the gym.
I bought a black/white-checkered tablecloth and taped it to the wall and added the following characters on there: Caterpillar, Tweedle Dee/Dum, bread butterflies, mouse in the teapot, the March hare, rocking horseflies, and the cards that painted the roses red. I bought two balloon columns to place on each side of the tablecloth and it became a backdrop for photos.
The cake table was draped with a Mad Hatter tablecloth (purchased from Birthday Direct) and the top was decorated with AIW, Tea, and Checkered balloons, plush White Rabbit, AIW paper plates, Marshmallow Cheshire Cat Tails scattered, stacked porcelain tea cups with a top hat on top, Queen of Heart napkins, plush Cheshire Cat, and blue and pink plastic utensils. Above the cake table was a sign that read Welcome to Ka’Miyah’s Very Merry 6th unBirthday Mad Hatter’s ParTEA! There were two Tea Pot hanging decorations placed on the side of the cake table sign.
I made a sign for her gift table out of black cardboard. I used red and white cut out hearts to put on the side of the wording: OFF WITH HER GIFTS! OFF WITH HER was in red letters and GIFTS with the exclamation point was in white with a red undertone. A die cut of the Queen of Hearts was glued on the right side of the wording. The guests also had a sign for their Gift Boxes. The cardboard was orange and read: ParTEA Over you Mad or Nah? The letters were in multi colors and a die cut of the Mad Hatter was placed near the center/right side of the sign above their gifts.

FOOD: I had pizza for the kids and adults to eat. Juices that read DRINK ME and chips with a sign that read EAT ME. I also had tea shaped cookies that matched the birthday girl’s attire. I had 12 cupcakes that symbolized roses. 4 cupcakes were vanilla with white icing; 4 cupcakes were chocolate with red and white icing that looked like they were being painted red; and the last 4 cupcakes were red velvet with red icing. I drew out the birthday cake and the bakery brought my idea to life! The cake was a blue Top Hat with black and white harlequin around the lower part of the hat and a heart in the center of the harlequin. It read Happy unBirthday Ka’Miyah. The card on the side was K/6, instead of the original IN THIS STYLE 10/6. The top of the hat had roses around the edges and I placed a small blue tea plate and a red teacup (from my daughter’s tea set) in the center and added her #6 candle, which was decorated in black and white harlequin print with a red heart and red rose.

GAMES: The first thing the guests did was slide down the rabbit hole in the inflatable obstacle course. They played a game of Croquet with wooden flamingos that I purchased from eBay. They were painted as flamingos with the hedgehog balls. The P.E. teacher volunteered for the kids to use some type of flat cycle and race around the gym. My supervisor outlined the Cheshire Cat on a white poster board from the projector days before the party and I colored the Cheshire Cat on a white poster board with pink, purple, and black marker. It took me 3 hours to color it. They didn’t get the chance to play Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat due to surprise guests!

ACTIVITIES: The first guest to arrive was the Queen of Hearts! She played croquet with the unBirthday girl and took individual pictures with guests. Luckily, everyone had all of their heads before she left.The second guest to arrive was Alice! She was able to tell her story, allow guests to volunteer and be a part of her adventure in Wonderland, and take individual pictures with guests. Alice provided the birthday girl with a present before leaving the party.

PARTY FAVORS: For my daughters’ birthday parties, I made it a tradition to give the first guest to arrive a special gift(s). The first guest that arrived to Wonderland received an Alice tote bag, Checkers, AIW Beaded bracelet, Hardcover AIW book, Tweedle cap, and 8×10 deck of cards. Since we didn’t get to play Pin the Smile on the Cheshire Cat, I gave the second guest to arrive the gift(s) that would’ve been provided for the winner of that game. I bought a small sky blue bag and put a white silhouette of Alice on the front and it included Checkers, AIW Beaded bracelet, Hardcover AIW book, Tweedle Cap, and 5×7 deck of cards. Each girl guest received the following in a pink box with purple circles to symbolize the Cheshire Cat: a White Rose Cardboard to paint, a paintbrush, a teacup with straw, AIW Chap Stick, clock ribbon necklace, tea ribbon necklace, a wooden heart wand, a red & white heart sucker, and a magic color scratch heart. Each boy guest received the following in a checkered box: a top hat, a deck of cards, a paintbrush, red and white heart suckers, and WHO R U?! Bubbles. I made the stickers from Vista Print and attached them to the bubbles with the caterpillar and the previous wording. Attached to the gift boxes were TAKE ME tags I made on the computer with a heart and an Alice silhouette.

THANK YOU CARDS: I ordered my Thank You cards from an ETSY shop and had them to personalize it in my liking. The card was blue and black harlequin with Alice looking out of the keyhole in the front. The card read: WE’RE ALL MAD HERE!!! By Royal Order of the Queen of Hearts, the par-TEA has come to an end. I enjoyed celebrating my unBirthday with WONDERful friends. THANKS so ‘much more muchier’ for going BONKERS with me at my wacky, Mad TEA-rrific Party! Don’t wait to turn back the hands of time from the past. I hope you come this way(with an arrow )next year THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. Your Queen of Wonderland, Ka’Miyah Inside of the Thank You cards were a key and a small magnifying glass to reference the keyhole and Through The Looking Glass.

• What People Ate

  I had pizza for the kids and adults to eat. Chips with a sign that read EAT ME. I also had tea shaped cookies that matched the birthday girl’s attire. I had 12 cupcakes that symbolized roses. 4 cupcakes were vanilla with white icing; 4 cupcakes were chocolate with red and white icing that looked like they were being painted red; and the last 4 cupcakes were red velvet with red icing. I drew out the birthday cake and the bakery brought my idea to life! The cake was a blue Top Hat with black and white harlequin around the lower part of the hat and a heart in the center of the harlequin. It read Happy unBirthday Ka’Miyah. The card on the side was K/6, instead of the original IN THIS STYLE 10/6. The top of the hat had roses around the edges and I placed a small blue tea plate and a red teacup (from my daughter’s tea set) in the center and added her #6 candle, which was decorated in black and white harlequin print with a red heart and red rose.

• What People Drank

  Juices that read Drink Me

• Party Favors

  The first guest that arrived to Wonderland received an Alice tote bag, Checkers, AIW Beaded bracelet, Hardcover AIW book, Tweedle cap, and 8×10 deck of cards. Since we didn’t get to play Pin the Smile on the Cheshire Cat, I gave the second guest to arrive the gift(s) that would’ve been provided for the winner of that game. I bought a small sky blue bag and put a white silhouette of Alice on the front and it included Checkers, AIW Beaded bracelet, Hardcover AIW book, Tweedle Cap, and 5×7 deck of cards. Each girl guest received the following in a pink box with purple circles to symbolize the Cheshire Cat: a White Rose Cardboard to paint, a paintbrush, a teacup with straw, AIW Chap Stick, clock ribbon necklace, tea ribbon necklace, a wooden heart wand, a red & white heart sucker, and a magic color scratch heart. Each boy guest received the following in a checkered box: a top hat, a deck of cards, a paintbrush, red and white heart suckers, and WHO R U?! Bubbles. I made the stickers from Vista Print and attached them to the bubbles with the caterpillar and the previous wording. Attached to the gift boxes were TAKE ME tags I made on the computer with a heart and an Alice silhouette.

• Activities / Games

  Face painting...The first guest to arrive was the Queen of Hearts! She played croquet with the unBirthday girl and took individual pictures with guests. Luckily, everyone had all of their heads before she left.The second guest to arrive was Alice! She was able to tell her story, allow guests to volunteer and be a part of her adventure in Wonderland, and take individual pictures with guests. Alice provided the birthday girl with a present before leaving the party. The first thing the guests did was slide down the rabbit hole in the inflatable obstacle course. They played a game of Croquet with wooden flamingos that I purchased from eBay. They were painted as flamingos with the hedgehog balls. The P.E. teacher volunteered for the kids to use some type of flat cycle and race around the gym. My supervisor outlined the Cheshire Cat on a white poster board from the projector days before the party and I colored the Cheshire Cat on a white poster board with pink, purple, and black marker. It took me 3 hours to color it. They didn’t get the chance to play Pin the Grin on the Cheshire Cat due to surprise guests!