a very merry unbirthday to you

I have to admit, when Q asked for an "Alice in Wonderland" birthday this year I was pretty stoked! It was going to be her first birthday where she got to invite "friends" and I was excited to put something cool together. I still vividly remember my "strawberry shortcake" birthday my mom did for me and my friends when I was 6, and I wanted Q to have some of those same fun memories. I do love party planning, and especially love working with a direct theme, and Alice in Wonderland gave me some awesome ideas to work with.

(sidenote:I am so grateful that I am a "planner" and did so much ahead of time, since the day before her party is when we found out my father had died, and kim and I spent the entire day prior driving to and from rifle, co and figuring what we needed to do for that.)

but more about the party...

First came the invites: Thanks to inspiration from Pinterest, and some work on my part, Jared was able to make these awesome invites to send out. Don't you just love them! Q saved one for herself. When I asked Q who she wanted to invite, she pretty much just listed her cousins and I was super happy about that. 

Next came the party hats: What is an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party with Mad Hatter hats? I'll admit, I just loved making these and was so very proud of the result. 

Next was the table decor: I hit up the D.I.'s here and collected some cheap tea cups, plates, and pots to not only make table settings but also try out some topsy turvy table decorations. They turned out to be quite a process but the outcome was well worth it. I also collected frames, and printed out pictures to fit the theme, and got pictures of all the girls faces that were to attend to put them on "flowers" like in the movie with the singing garden. I also bought a bunch of red roses from the dollar store and made some topiaries for the table top. I even used a couple of Q's sticks that she had collected for the stems and she was pretty happy about that. 

Alice's face painting station

my "painting the roses red" topiaries

playing card rice krispie treats

The girls loved sitting at the tea party table, and enjoyed eating "eat me"cookies, playing card rice krispie treats, crackers, cheese, and fruit while coloring the alice in wonderland pictures I had printed out and used as "placemats". It was a good beginning to the party. As the girls were busy eating, coloring, and listening to the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack... they were greeted by a special guest. 

Okay so ignore my breathing and giggles, but the adults were just as excited as the kids when she came in. I just love when the girls get excited and was so happy it all came together. 

While Alice was here she talked with the girls, did face (or arm) painting, played croquet, read them a story, sang with them, and took some pictures. It was awesome!! 

Yes, I may have found oversized playing cards to use at the "wickets", and I may have colored balls to look like little hedgehogs, and I may have found these flamingos at the dollar store during the summer to use as the mallets. I told you I love to work with themes. :)

After Alice left the girls played some more, and each took a turn at the "pin the smile on the Cheshire Cat". 

Kim had found an overhead projector at DI for 8$ awhile back and of course snatched it right up. I was excited to borrow it to paint this Cheshire cat and the Tweedle dum/ Tweedle Dee cutout (cause you know I love cutouts). The kids had a ball with that cut out...and I guess the adults did too. 

At the end, Q opened up all her gifts and was so excited about everything she got! Thank you everyone who came and hopefully your girls had as much fun as we did. 

The preparations for the party was a lot of work, but it was all good little craft projects for me to do at night while watching shows, and I was proud of how it all turned out...but more importantly Q loved everything about her party and I consider that a success! Although, as Tamu pointed out, I may have set the bar a little too high for birthdays to follow...better start saving now for her "super sweet sixteen" party.