6 ESSENTIALS FOR THROWING A WHIMSICAL WONDERLAND TEA PARTY

Thank you all for visiting me on this lovely day! This post was originally created for a blog hop party courtesy of Miss Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist circa June 2010. You can view the original post HERE! 

I still think this is one of the most creative photoshoots I have done to date. The photos came out so magickal and beautiful that I just had to repurpose them for this blog. However, instead of depicting the whole Tea Party scene of Alice and Wonderland like I did in the blog party post, I am instead going to use my photos as a tool to give you some ideas on how you can host your own magickal Mad Tea Party!
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So let’s get started! 

HERE ARE 6 ESSENTIALS YOU MUST HAVE, TO THROW A SUCCESSFUL WONDERLAND TEA PARTY! 

1. THE TABLESCAPE

So first things first, when creating the tablescape, I had to decide on a color scheme. I really wanted the colors to pop off the background, so I thought it would be cool to have white as my base color and have all of the accents be really bright and eye catching. I used a white table cloth with pink floral accents, which my mom had gotten as a gift from a relative from Italy. These types of linens can be found at any type of chotchkey shop like The Christmas Tree Shop, or Marshall’s, Homegoods.
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The crystal accented cupcake tier was a piece that I had scooped up from Home Goods and it has probably been my favorite party piece since. I can’t even tell you how many events I have used it for. It just adds the perfect touch of elegant shabby chicness!
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You can also make your table fun and interesting with fun and whimsical little characters! I love this little frog stuffed animal lying around the house, and I thought, “Why not invite him for tea?” He’s so whimsical, and reminds me of a character from The Wind in the Willows!! He was surely dressed for the occasion! Also be sure to make use of antique lace doilies and an assortment of different tea pots for an extra bit of quirk!
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I also had this fake potpourri cake lying around to use for the photoshoot, but you can most certainly bake a real cake to host for your guests!! I also printed out an Alice paper cutout by the artist John Tenniel who did the original illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. I thought she would make a nice little addition to the tablescape! Feel free to add other characters to yours as well!​
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2. THE SWEET TREATS 
​Now being that the tier is white, I really wanted the color to pop right off of it with the sweet treats that I was going to be adorning it with. I thought alternating the cupcakes in pink and orange frosting would be a treat for the eyes as well!

So these cupcakes were made with Strawberry cake mix. You can either use Betty Crocker or Pillsbury Strawberry mix. For the frosting I’m pretty sure I used just a regular vanilla frosting for half the cupcakes, and for the other half of the batch, I added a small bit of orange food coloring to the white frosting to get an orange frosting. I topped all of the cupcakes off with pink crystal sprinkles, and then I adorned the top of the cupcake with NON-EDIBLE Prima Paper Flowers. I used pink flowers to top the white cupcakes, and the yellow flowers to top the orange ones. I used the paper flowers mostly for aesthetic value since I was doing this for a photoshoot, but I’m sure you can find flowers like these made out of sugar so that they can be ingested as well.
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I hope you are enjoying yourself so far! We decorated the table in our cleanest linens and sweetest confections, just for you! Our next sweet treat I’d love for you to try are our homemade sugar cookies, but be careful… Just one small bite make you grow very large!
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For these delectable cookies, I just used boxed cookie dough, rolled it out, and then cut with cute little heart shaped cookie cutters. I let the cookies get a bit lukewarm before handling so I didn’t burn myself. Next I put the store bought white icing on and piped on the words “Eat Me” as a cute little tribute to the story, and topped off with some fun pastel sprinkles. Some of the store bought frostings come with the cute sprinkles attached to the top in a small packet.
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These were a lot of fun to make, and I also made a cute little bunny shape with a cookie cutter I had as well! Be as creative as you’d like with these! You could also probably find tea cup shapes, or even quirky hat shapes as well! The platter that I had placed them on was an old marble chess board that my parents had lying around. I thought it was the perfect platter for such a puzzling event! Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to plating your sweet confections! I also surrounded the platter with candles to add to the ambiance. The one in front is a Mango scented one that I had also bought on clearance at Marshall’s. It’s perfect for summer!


3. ELIXIRS
The only way to reverse this quirky shrinking side effect is to take a sip of our very secret potion….​

​I thought a cocktail of red juice would be a nice pop of color amidst all of the white linens and decor, and it also has that mysterious and magickal look to it as well. I used cranberry cocktail juice, but you could use fruit punch, or even go for a whimsical pink lemonade if you so choose. It really is all up to you!

Now I know what you are thinking! What vessel will I provide for my magickal “growing” elixir?


​4. DINING WARE
I found some really cute and inexpensive tea cups and saucers at Marshall’s. However, I was looking for some colorful ones, and I could only find them in white, so I had painted the outsides of them for the photoshoot. They aren’t really good for actual dining anymore, so I am going to fill them with wax and make them into candles! There is always another purpose for things!

5. AMBIANCE AND LIGHTING

Ambiance and setting the mood is probably one of the most important things to take into consideration when planning a party! You want the area to feel cozy, warm and inviting and you want to transport your guests into another time and place! In our case, we really want our guests to feel as if they have really fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole, and into a world of whimsy and magic!! So how can we achieve this? With LIGHTING!!! Not only with a string of lights, but with colorful accents and pops of color that illuminate the space and give it that sense of glowing warmth.
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One way to illuminate the space is candles; the flickering flame makes the table most inviting and most certainly enchanting!

I also really loved using multicolored paper lanterns which warmed up the space very nicely! The different colors of the illuminated lanterns reflect so beautifully off of the crystals that hung from the white cupcake tier, and it bounced the light around the rest of the space, ever so magically!
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Also be sure to make use of any greenery you have around! Wonderland is a lush landscape of magickal flora and fauna, so hanging your lighting in any bushes or plants you have around your yard will set the dreamlike mood for your party. I have a nice vine that grows in the corner between my fence and house, so it was perfect to make use of for this party dreamscape!
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Moonlight is another option that is amazing for dining under on a magickal and warm summer’s night! Not everyone takes the moon into consideration when planning a party, but if you do have the chance to, why not plan a special “FULL MOON” garden gathering for your magickal friends at night? How whimsical would that be?!!?
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​6. CHARACTER COSPLAY

​Now this is especially true for children’s parties! I think dressing up as the characters of whatever story you are portraying at your gathering, adds an element of realness for your guests, whether they’re real children, or adults who are children at heart! You can’t have a Mad Tea Party without the Mad Hatter, so I held my boyfriend Avi against his own will and made him help me out for this. Hehehehe…
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​This costume was actually pretty easy to put together; we found a lot of the items and garments for it at our local thrift store. The one that we always love going to is UNIQUE; there’s a few of them around our area. We got the coat and the pants there. The hat, I believe was from Hot Topic, which we spray painted a bit gold, and we made our own hat pins with some floral wire that we hot glued some random found buttons to.
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We also wrote the numbers on the hat card with some marker in quirky handwriting, and then burned the edges with a lighter to give it a worn and tattered look. We tied the base of the hat in some pink fabric to complete the look.

If there is any part of this costume that you’d like me to do a video or blog post on how to make, please be sure to let me know in the comments below!
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So, there you have it! There are my 6 ways to spice up your whimsical Wonderland Tea Party! Please be sure to post your comments and questions in the comments section down below and I will do my best to address them!
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Before I go, as per visitor request, here are a few of the fun shots we took of both of us in the costumes!
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I hope you enjoyed yourself! Thanks for visiting! Till next time!