Mad Hatter Tea Party

Today, my sister and I hosted a Mad Hatter Tea Party.  I had read about hosting such a party in the Hallmark magazine (which is no longer published, unfortunately).  We had so much fun preparing for the party.
We woke up to a surprise, though.  It was raining!  It never rains in sunny California.  Or, that is how the song goes.  But, never fear.  John ran out and got plastic to cover the patio roof (it is normally a lattice.  Lots of holes), and we busily decorated.

Those of you who know how Chapter 7 in the book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" starts know the table is correct.  It just isn't under a tree.  The first line of the chapter says "there was a long table set out under a tree....."

Our table was long and with lanterns and flowers, along with mismatched china and silverware we had quite a festive looking table.

Everyone arrived with fun hats, that was a requirement, and dressed in typical "tea" clothes.  I had set up a table inside with stuff to decorate hats if needed.  We didn't let the dampness slow us down.  We ate, drank tea and talked.

The menu included White Rabbit Tea Sandwiches, Mad Hatter's Party Pinwheels, Cheshire Cat Nibbles (fresh veggies), Cryphon Chopped Salad, The Queens Cream Scones,  Looking Glass Cake,  The Kings Clotted Cream,  Alice's Lemon Curd,  The Knaves Ginger-Lime Marmalade,  Curiouser Green Tea,  Tweedle Dumb & Tweedle Tea,  Nonsensical Tea and Dormouse Lemonade.

My sister wired gloves which held the menu's.  Such a clever idea.

I was also excited that peonies were available here in San Diego.  They are my favorite flower and not seen too often here in warmer climates. 

We put the flower arrangements in tea pots and served tea in wine carafe's.  After all, it was a mad tea.

Being a doll maker/fiber person I had to make name tags from fabric for everyone.  The prototype was a real pain to turn.  The Patti C. you see had pointed tips to the hat.  You can see on Susan's that I rounded out the hat, which made it much easier to turn.

I used my trusty Bernina 440 to free motion stitch with decorative threads.  This made the name tags really stand out.  I could have machine embroidered everyone's names, but we had a few last minute changes in attendee's, thus I decided to hand write each person's name with permanent ink.

We had such a great time that I think I'll have to host another tea later in the year.  Maybe a fairy tea next time.

Comments

[Julie Stenning]

what an excellent idea, the fairy tea party sounds like great fun as well.

[Judith McCarthy]

Patti, this is absolutely gorgeous.I bet you had a lovely time together with your friends.A "themed" event is so much fun.Lovely "post".

[Kaerie Faerie]

Great Party, that is so funny, I'm going to a Mad Hatter Tea Party at afancifultwist.typepad.com
this June, bug parade to a grand tree for tea, thanks for sharing your party
Karey

[shashi.]

What a great idea! Looks like you had a great time. Love the name tag it is beautiful.

[Jenny Woolf]

Would be lovely to know what the recipes for some of these mad menu dishes were!

[Jenny Woolf]

In fact I'm going to do a link to this from my blog, which is all about Lewis Carroll ...

[Iced Green Tea]

I always love to organize the tea party!!!!!!