Surely one of our all time favorite parties we've created - an Alice In Wonderland party!
The Alice In Wonderland theme was decided easily for our grandma/mom! She has always been a lover of the Disney movie and the book by Lewis Carroll, AND tea parties, so we couldn't have been given a better theme to celebrate her. Our brainstorming process starts with many ideas. It was really hard to narrow it down, but, that's what Alice in Wonderland is about....a sense of imagination, fun and craziness. We are in fact..."all mad here."
Here's an inside look at our planning process for this party together and our final decorations!
Brainstorming and Planning
Our brainstorming process is always the most fun (and maybe a little chaotic, too). We sit down together and throw all of our ideas on paper. We're no stranger to Pinterest, but this theme was easy for us! There were many components from Wonderland we wanted to include, but the tea party element was our main focus. We decided on a garden party/mad hatter tea. Once we have the theme, we nail down our vision of centerpieces and tablescapes.
Tablescapes/Centerpieces
When deciding on how we wanted to set up the tables for the room, we used inspiration from the "mad hatter tea party"...our focus of this event. We went with long tables designed with lots of whimsical things to look at! The stunning gravity defying pouring teacup and stacked teacups were some of our favorite items to create!
We found all the teacups at different Goodwill stores and thrift shops in our area. We grabbed moss from a local craft store to bring in the garden tea party aspect and then we cut out different shapes and objects using our Cricut to add a little something extra. Curling ribbon, faux flowers and playing cards were all incorporated into EACH of the centerpiece stacks. EACH one was unique and different.
The other components of the tables consisted of playing cards scattered randomly, but also placed very carefully to look like a burst of them. We also made up colorful mushrooms for the tables made out of materials from the dollar store. And, would any tea party be complete without tea party towers with sweets to nibble on?
Photobooth/Backdrops
Every party has to have plenty of opportunities for photos! For this one, we created TWO separate photo backdrops.
The first one we placed behind the guest of honor. She was at the head of the room, looking out over her party. Since she was the QUEEN for the day we anticipated lots of pictures taken. The display consisted of a black and white backdrop that we embellished with giant flowers made from hand cut petals of poster board. We also incorporated card "petals" into some of these flowers for an extra touch.
The other backdrop was placed to the side of the room where we encouraged family and friends to take photos. It consisted of a fun balloon arch and some other Alice-esque details like a handmade stopwatch and the infamous Wonderland arrow sign. We also provided some on-theme props like a decorated frame, "painting the roses red" bushes, "card soldiers," and giant tea cups made out of plastic planters. (We also had these tea cups placed around the room for decoration.)
Costumes
We love when a theme allows people to dress up in costume and we love it even more when people take part! We also provided fun hats for anyone who may have forgotten their costume.
Other Special Touches
Annnd as you know...we always have special touches ~ the cherry on top ~ to make it extra special.
The CAKE made by our dear friend, Alisa.
The card soldiers - all made by hand by us with poster board! We had several of these around the party space.
Party favors - a teaspoon with candy Hugs and Kisses. These teaspoons were perfect and came with mesh bags, we designed the tags and printed and attached ourselves.
Guest of honor, special head table with special queen of heart decor
Framed quote from the book, replacing Alice's name with our guest of honor's name and at her seat.
Other mod podge quote boards made on canvas with pages from the Alice book, bright tissue paper and tea party embellishments.
Giant tea cups made from planters (planters were from the Dollar Tree) for added decorations around the room
We asked guests to come prepared with a special memory of our Queen, and they did not disappoint! Throughout the meal, people stood up and shared their story, which made it extraordinary, hearing how she has touched everyone's life with so much wit, wisdom, acceptance and love.
The Crowning of the Queen!
Probably our favorite part of this party was the surprise entrance of our beloved grandma/mom! She had no idea that we were planning this and that so many family members would be in town, including all of her children and many of her grandchildren that live around the US. Because she was unexpecting, we of course had to provide her with her very own queen of hearts costume and crowned her upon her arrival. It was a very special day!
