So in heart with...: Turning 5 : Alice in Wonderland

Riiiiiiiight from the very beginning, and as we approached Lula's 1st birthday, Warren & I naturally discovered our strengths in the party planning process. We fell in to our respective roles when it came to the preparations with no discussion required as to who was in charge of what.
Warren is the master baker & cake sculpture extraordinaire. And my specialty is theme coordination, decor & bunting!

And it has been that way for all of her birthdays ever since.

★

We have had a Lollipop, Rainbow & Cup-Cake party, and then this year, we thought an Alice in Wonderland theme would be cute.

I look so forward to these dates; to have a special day with our squish & friends obviously, but also it's a great excuse to make some stuff & do a mood board ha ha ha. (I had no idea a few years back that having a child would be so much fun!!!)

There is so much inspiration out there for Alice in Wonderland & Mad Hatters Tea Parties on Pinterest & Google searches. These along with this fab book, Everything Alice, which I received last year for Xmas that's filled with wonderful craft projects, meant I was ready to go.
With a couple of props, it was really easy & fun to pull together. I actually wish I'd had time to make more stuff, as it's such a lovely theme, but it was a little last minute & rushed so it was what it was!

A sweet little email invite:

The key fun decor elements for me were:

* Keys (Bought for a few rand @ a junk shop & threaded on ribbon to hang round the teapot etc)
* Playing Cards (R6 from the Chinese shop & used scattered on the table)
* Eat Me / Drink Me labels
* Tea Cups & Teapots
* Red roses
* Sugar cubes
* Pink plastic flamingoes for the garden
* Giant clock (I was luckily enough to borrow one, but a giant cardboard one would work just as well)

You can make bunting by printing out large cards or just threading ribbon through standard playing cards punched with a hole punch. Stack some old books & find some interesting bottles to decant the drinks in to.

We kept the food list simple with a Queen of Hearts Tea Party feel:

* Jam sarnies
* Tea Cakes with marmalade
* Strawberries & meringues
* Jam tarts (or jam biccies in my case)
* Ice Tea, Lemonade, Juice & Tea
* and a beautiful heart birthday cake

And for entertainment, we kept it super easy by printing & cutting out Cheshire Cats to stick on to chocolate coins for a garden Treasure Hunt. And then for a twist on the egg & spoon race, we had a tea-cup race (Lula's toy cup/saucers with sugar cubes balanced inside)

Here's a few pics:

An Alice In Wonderland Mad Hatters Party, to celebrate turning 5.
♥