A Magical Realist: "We're All Mad Here."

Today I hosted a Mad Hatter Tea Party. But before I talk about that - an update on Birdie! Belle and I performed a family reunification mission and I went back later to check that it worked. All signs indicate that Birdie is back home with its parents. Yay! The other pre-tea party joyous thing is that Terzo found the first strawberry of the season from our garden! Huzzah!

Terzo smiling and holding a strawberry.

Ok, back to my Mad Hatter Tea Party...

Alice, the March Hare, the Dormouse, and the Mad Hatter have tea.

If you've read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland then you'll no doubt remember chapter seven "A Mad Tea-Party" in which Alice has tea with the mad hatter and the march hare. Fun fact: in the 19th century, Mercury was used in the manufacturing of felt hats and this caused a high rate of liquid mercury poisoning. Mercury poisoning causes neurological damage (memory loss, slurred speech, tremors, etc) which eventually led to the phrase "mad as a hatter." Lewis Carroll grew up in Stockport England where hat-making was the main trade.

The Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and Alice find the Dormouse in the teapot.

My tea party was held in the backyard and it was slightly less mad than the one Alice attended but I did try to keep things in theme. I made a large cheshire cat sign and Joy made whacky arrows to point the way to the party.

Tea party sign.

I borrowed a few large clocks which I hung up for decoration, because in the book the white rabbit carries a clock with him.

Clock on the flower pot.

Joy and Belle made playing card garlands and Alice in Wonderland themed printouts that we hung up around the backyard.

Playing card garland.

The tablecloths were borrowed from Tea and Joy. The centerpiece of the table was a multi-faced vase full of flowers which I borrowed from Tea. Other decorations were my two Alice in Wonderland Little Golden Books, Mini T's pop-up Alice in Wonderland book, and a mini bicycle with a barbie outfitted like a queen.

The table.

Barbie in a cart.

Bambi near some tea.

We had four types of tea: Pomegranate White Tea, Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut Tea, Raspberry Tea, and Red Velvet Chocolate Tea with Rooibus. All of them were delicious. We also had pink and yellow lemonade in flasks that said "Drink Me."

You can see the grape tea pot and lemonade with "Drink Me" tag in this photo.

I served food on mirror-like surfaces because of "through the looking glass." Some of the food was purchased and some was DIY. I used three small glass plates - one with Annie's brand strawberry bunny-shaped snacks (a nod to the white rabbit) and two with raspberries and blackberries because those are playing card colors. On the metal tea tray were a selection of the jams from the mini fridge in my room, plus a variety of vegan scones and tea cookies picked out by Terzo when he came with me to the supermarket.

Little Golden Book, "Drink Me" pink lemonade flask,
and a vegan cookie and scone platter with jams.

On my glass cake stand were the non-vegan scones and some biscuits with heart cutouts filled with strawberry jam in a nod to the Queen of Hearts.

Pop up book, raspberries and blackberries, cookies on the glass cake stand,
and one of the tea pots.

I also used two mirrors borrowed from Plum as serving platters. On one mirror I put apricots topped with vegan cream cheese and almonds and cucumbers with hummus and pomegranate seeds. On the other mirror I put a spread of tiny tea sandwiches - half peanut butter and jelly and half cucumber and vegan cream cheese with chives and mint from the garden. On each tea sandwich I put a toothpick with either an olive or a cherry tomato on top so they'd fit the color theme.

Mirror with tea sandwiches.

Mirror with apricot appetizers and cucumber appetizers.

For the guests we had cheshire cat smiles and Alice in Wonderland stickers courtesy of Tea.

Alice with her cheshire cat smile.

Tea and her mother with cheshire cat smiles.

We had a blast!

Alice models her outfit: floral dress, tall black shoes,
purple lipstick, funky glasses, and a black fascinator.

Joy and Alice goofing off.

Joy wearing her orange wig, tiny top hat, mask, and blue lipstick.

Selfie of me with red shirt, vest, "drink me" vial necklace,
bunny earrings, black top hat, and playing card nails.

Belle models her pink Alice in Wonderland themed dress.

Karma smiles in a green plaid hat, pink glasses, black shirt, grey vest,
and rainbow bow tie. See also: Vito the cat and Terzo in a Minnie Mouse outfit.