Alice in Wonderland 8th Birthday Party

Description

I had an Alice in Wonderland party for 20 little girls to celebrate my twin girls' 8th birthday. 

When the girls arrived they each made an Alice in Wonderland t-shirt.  They chose what color shirt they wanted and then they chose a fabric key, teapot, flamingo or cupcake to go on the front of their shirt.  After helping to iron it on, they handed it over to my friend Kate who then appliqued all 20 shirts during the rest of the party. 

The girls then made layered fabric hair clips with button or gem centers.

Instead of gifts, each girl was asked to bring a wrapped stuffed rabbit.  It could be any size, style or color.  As each girl arrived I put a numbered sticker on their package.  After finishing their hair clips, the girls went on a key hunt.  There were large blue sparkly keys hidden all over and each one was numbered.  After they found a key, they matched it to the same number on one of the packages.  Then the girls all opened their packages and got to take home the rabbit that was inside. 

Next the girls had a tea party with cupcakes, pink lemonade and a sundae bar.

Finally, the girls had a Wonderland dance party led by a great DJ who had them doing the "YMCA," "Cha Cha Slide" and "Chicken Dance."

 

You can see more photos at:  http://www.andbabiesmakefour.com/2012/03/eight.html

Design Inspiration

All things Alice in Wonderland in a bright pastel color scheme.

Decorating Style

Totally classic with a modern twist!

Project Details

T-shirts and appliques:  Kie&Kate Couture
Topiaries, sundae bar glass jars, cupcake stand and Mad Hatter statue:  Homegoods
Rose-topped cupcakes:  Fiore Cupcake Boutique
Butterfly cupcake toppers:  I purchased the butterflies at Hobby Lobby and took them off the wires and attached them to food-safe bamboo skewers.
Balloon 8:  Unique Balloon Creations
Invitations, "Drink Me" tags on the teacups, place cards, t-shirt tags and party favor labels:  Ian and Lola
Striped paper straws:  made by Kikkerland and purchased at Sur La Table
Drink Me flags on straws:  I made these by cutting strips of paper with the words printed on them and then used double-stick tape to attach them to the paper straws
Pink candlesticks:  Hobby Lobby
Paper lanterns:  Hobby Lobby and Luna Bazaar
Flag buntings and napkins:  My Modern Whimsy
Fresh flowers:  Trader Joe's
Tin watering cans:  Target
Bottle cap necklaces:   Too Too Posh

Favorite Items

I love the tea cup topiaries!  I stacked cups, saucers and tea pots on hot pink candlesticks and then filled the top cup with fresh flowers.

I also loved the printables -- the invitations, the "Drink Me" tags on the straws and on the tea cups, the name tags on the girls' napkins, the tags for the t-shirts and the party favor labels. 

 

Advice

I collected tea cups at Good Will and other thrift stores.  I also used my grandmother's china!  Don't be afraid to let kids use breakable items!  Once I picked a color scheme, I found fabrics that included those colors and mixed them all together to get a "Wonderland" feeling.