First Annual Mad Hatter Tea Party 2014

Yesterday I shared one of my favorite shows from this past TV season, "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland".  Today I'm sharing my First Annual Mad Hatter Tea Party.  I've joined Vanessa at a Twist of Fate other bloggers on sharing my Tea Party posts.  If you want to see the other blogger's creations  click on the picture below.

A Fanciful Twist

I've been wanting to create my own tea party and last year I was getting ready for our Grand Vacation so I had to post-pone it another year.  We got new neighbors and thought having them over for a tea party was a perfect way to get to know them.  I created an invite and had them come over on Friday.  This was the perfect opportunity to get the house gussied up and have some fun.  

On the back was written:

Katharine and Natalie invite you to our

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party

Friday, July 11^th at 3:00PM

I also printed this sign and we colored it in and framed it (see below on the table).

I had bought this fun fabrics years ago when our Walmart still had fabric.  It was on the clearance aisle and knew I just had to have it.  I love to play cards and have gone to Bunco Parties so I thought it would be perfect for that.  I found an old red round cloth I've used at Christmas time and put it on top of that. Don't you think it's perfect for an Alice in Wonderland Party?

I found this dish while thrift shopping a few years ago.  I used it with carrots, celery and ranch dressing dip.

I also created a new garland that I can use for Valentines too.  I'll share how I made that soon too.

The blue and white checked table cloth was bought at IKEA close to 20 years ago.  I sewed the ends to make a tablecloth.  I was going to buy paper plates and thought why not use what I have.  I took out my grandmother's and mother's china from Sweden and used plastic plates for the kids.

I ordered a cake to say "Painting the Roses Red" and made finger sandwiches.  I served iced tea and lemonade instead of serving hot tea.  Next to them I had cute tags and tags for the food too.  I bought a digital file for under $4 and used that to create the tags and other signs.

Here are the digital papers I bought:

I also created this picture that was on the wall near my front window:

 When my guests arrived they found this on our our door:

 I used my digital Alice paper and added the clock using the overlay program in Picmonkey.  I got the clock graphic from The Graphic Fairy.  When you go to her site just type in clocks under search.

I created a few coloring crafts for the guests to get the party started.  My neighbors came over and I got the young guests started with Alice in Wonderland Coloring Books I created for them.  

We drew faces and colored them in. Then we colored in the tea set.  I will share how I created the talking flowers next week.

While the guests colored pictures there was a sound down the hall.  I yelled hey we have special guest.

My daughter and 2 friends came in dressed up as Alice, the Red Queen and the Cheshire cat.  The girls were more excited about the kitten they were holding.  We had been kitten sitting that week.

We sat down and had our sandwiches, carrots, celery and dip and best of all...cake!  My daughter's friend, who played Alice, took pictures and is sending them to me.  I was hoping to get them by now.  Next year I'll have the tea party ahead of time so I can finish the party's post early. 

It was lovely visiting with my new neighbors and watch the kitten play with the children.  The kitten went home that night and I'll admit I cried when it left.  I held my Shasta and she let me hold her for a long time.  

Monday I'm sharing some other Alice in Wonderland tea parties.  Then on Wednesday I'm sharing some great crafts too.                             

Thanks for joining me at my first tea party.  I hope you return next year.