Down the Rabbit Hole

For months, Adjoa has been telling everyone she wants Alice in Wonderland for her birthday - the movie.  We decided to have an Alice in Wonderland party, only natural, right?

This was my first kid party.  I was pretty nervous.  Even deciding on Alice in Wonderland wasn't really that easy.  I went back and forth between Alice and Ariel {at the local aquarium} for about 2 weeks.  Finally, I decided on Alice.  I'd have to do everything on my own, but I thought it could be really fun.  Besides, Adjoa consistently loves Ariel, and I'm betting we can do that party later.  Alice has a more recent, movie based, appeal to her.

Adjoa came up with a list of friends she wanted to invite, and I made up the party announcements.  We delivered them, came home, opened our mail, and discovered that another little boy the same age as Adjoa {also invited to her party} was having a birthday party on the same day, at the same time.  Awesome.  We quickly moved ours up.

The party was really fun.  I dressed up as the Mad Hatter.  {In case you were wondering, I did not have to buy one thing for my costume...AND it was comprised of things I wear on a fairly regular basis!  I'm only a chemical imbalance away from crazy.  Robert maintains I'm not even THAT far away!}  I curled and 'ratted' my hair, added some purple glitter gel, and went heavy on the eye makeup.  I put some baby powder on my face to pale-up my skin, and bushified my eyebrows.  Adjoa has a finger puppet mouse, and I pinned him to my shoulder.  I introduced all the kids to my mouse and warned them NOT to say C-A-T or the doormouse would go crazy and we'd have to put jam on his nose!  Luckily, all the children complied, and it saved the mouse, and me, from a sticky predicament.   

The day {and night} before the party I made "Eat Me," "Try Me," and "Take Me" sugar cookies, a pretty awesome 6- Layer Rainbow Birthday Cake, and I bought Jones soda and made new "Drink Me" labels.

All the kids made paper bag hats.  We had a Mad Hatter Fashion show, and the Mad Hatter judged the hats.  the Thank You cards are awards for their hats, and pictures of each of the kids, doing their "Mad Pose", modeling their hats.  There was a Rabbit Race {aka potato sack race} that the kids loved.  They raced back and forth at least 10 times.  It was so funny to watch them hopping around in the pillowcases.  We ended the party with a pink flamingo pinata. 

I was really wishing we had a croquet set.  I think it would have been fun to use the mallet as the pinata stick - and even better if I could have found a hedgehog pinata!  I really wanted to have a dragon pinata and use a wooden sword for the stick, and let the kids "slay the jabberwok" but Robert said that the kids were too little and wouldn't be familiar with the newer Alice in Wonderland.  So we kept it "cuter".

Just before the party, I was vowing I'd never do another birthday party again, but it ended up being pretty fun.  I had a great time with the kids and dressing up made a big difference.  I don't know how I would have felt going to the aquarium and letting someone else do everything for me.  Less stressed prior to the party, for sure, but I doubt I would have had as much fun. 

Happy Birthday, Adjoa!