Chapter 1 The Garden of Living Flowers: Decor
A Wonderland themed party usually means a tea party. Your space will dictate your table set up which usually in turn dictates most of the décor. We set up long tables end to end for the iconic Mad Hatter tea party look. However, we also set up a couple of round tables. One table was a low kid's table with mini teacups, dolls, and bears – Oh my! (Sorry, wrong story.) We invited our youngest guests to bring a favorite plush or doll with them and seated them at this table. They had fun playing pretend while the adults lingered over coffee and tea.
The other round table was a Queen of Hearts table – this was an extra table just in case we ran out of room at the long tables. We invited a lot of people knowing not everyone would be able to come but wanting to be prepared just in case.
Working with the space, furniture you have available and the size of your guest list, you could use single or joined tables. Had we not had long tables we probably would have made more individually themed tables – an Alice table in blue and white, a Cheshire cat table in pink and purple, etc.
We also chose to hang paper lanterns above the length of the table similar to the ones in the animated movie. We selected three main colors and used coordinating napkins. We added more color by using multiple colors of tulle chair ribbons. We found most of what we needed at Hobby Lobby.
You could certainly use paper plates and plastic cups for quicker clean-up. We chose to use mismatched china and utensils. We had been planning this tea party for a long time and had amassed a large amount of second-hand vintage china. The occasion for our party was a 19th birthday party so we were going for a more sophisticated feel. Nothing was expensive or part of a matching set so any mishaps would have been easily excused and forgiven. We did, however, display some heirloom Jewel Tea china handed down from our grandmother. It was nice to bring it out and admire it without risking damage in the hands of our younger guests.
Watch this 2 minute video for instructions on a simple decoration you can make yourself...
We made a few small flower arrangements. We used artificial flowers so that we could add eyes to mimic the talking flowers from the story. This was an easy craft using artificial flowers, wiggle eyes, and glue dots. It was a simple detail that was a fun surprise for guests to discover.
DIY Teacup Candlesticks
