Mad Tea Party 5yr - Rabbit Hole Entrance

For my daughter's 5th birthday party we had an "Alice in Wonderland  Mad Tea Party."   I found a TON of ideas on this web site, in fact, which I  incorporated with my own. 

First of all, I made invitations on the computer using clipart I found on the internet.   Inside each invitation was the following verse:  Don't Be Late! For a Very Important Date "name"'s Birthday Party  If you're feeling quite MAD We'll make you right GLAD On the date that is given below. Come in foolish Attire For all to admire. 

My husband decided to build a "rabbit hole" down the side of our  house, through which each child entered to get to the mad tea party  (held in our backyard).  He built this using plywood purchased at the  local hardware store, and painted each board black on the inside.  He  used a staple gun to attach greenery and vines over the front opening.  He also added a fog machine for effect!   

Outside of the "rabbit hole" were signs with funny sayings just like in  the movie, such as "This Way," "That Way," "Over There," etc.  The signs  inside the rabbit hole were painted with fluorescent paint, and "glowed"  inside the black-painted boards (my husband also put a blacklight  lamp inside the hole). 

After walking through the "rabbit hole," the party guests entered  "Wonderland" (ie. Our backyard).  We had a long table set up for the  mad tea party, with plastic tea cups, plates, etc.  On each plastic teacup  was a tag (made on the computer) with the instructions "DRINK ME."   The table was set up on our patio, with chinese lanterns hanging  around -- just like in the movie! (I got the chinese lanterns from Oriental  Trading).   

The backyard was decorated, too!  I had found some giant plastic  flowers at a local garden shop which were stuck into the grass around  our yard.  On one gate, we had a giant Cheshire Cat that I projected  and drew onto posterboard for the guests to play "Pin the Smile on the  Cheshire Cat."   We also had a child's croquet set (I found it on Ebay).   In another area, the children could "Paint the Roses Red" on giant  butcher paper.  We also had an arts & crafts table set up where the  guests could decorate their own "Mad Hatter" hats with sequins,  beads, ribbon, etc. (the hats were plastic hats from Oriental Trading).   

The \*best\* part of our yard was the giant caterpillar inflatable jumper,  available from www.jumpforfun.com.  The children LOVED this (and so  did their parents!).  Did I also mention that we had "Alice in Wonderland" characters  roaming around?  Our whole family got into character (really, they had  no choice because I forced them to!)  My daughter, of course, was  dressed as Alice (I made her a dress using a Simplicity pattern).  My  husband was the "Mad Hatter" (he wore a Disneyland Mad Hatter hat  which I found on Ebay, with a really tacky & obnoxious looking jacket I  found at a thrift shop!). 

My sister was the "Queen of Hearts" (I made her  costume, too, after looking everywhere unsuccessfully for an authentic  one!), and went around chasing the guests saying "Off with your head!"  She also handed out chocolate red roses (which I had made using  candy supplies).  I was dressed in black with two giant playing cards  hanging from my shoulders (I purchased these online somewhere, but  can't remember the site...just do an internet search). 

The grandparents  were also dressed as cards, except for one grandpa who dressed as  the "White Rabbit" (he had a Roger Rabbit costume for some  reason…he wore that with a cardboard made pocket watch hanging  from his waistcoat).  This party was a BLAST!  The children had a wonderful time…and their  parents were all amazed at all the details we had incorporated!    This was definitely a memorable party, which was the whole idea.  The  party was sort of a "celebration" for our daughter after a very hard year  due to my illness & treatment (…but I'm okay now!)