Mad Hatter Tea Party – Click Here for Gallery

Fast approaching is the most important and high pressured event I will do this year.  Why is it the most important and high pressured? Because my little sister Danielle is getting married in about 4 weeks time.

I am her wedding celebrant, stylist and planner, so basically I am working that day!! And while we are all now very much in wedding mode, I have been looking back over photos from her family hen party we had a few months back.  

She wanted a family celebration separate from one with her pals to save our mother and aunts the hassle of having to go clubbing with all the young ones and pretend they were enjoying themselves. My aunt volunteered her house for the day and my sister Nikki, who is her Maid of Honour, and I got planning.  

The Theme

We wanted her family celebration to be as much fun as the one with her pals and settled on the idea of a Mad Hatter/Alice in Wonderland tea party. Once the theme was set work got underway on the overall look. I spent many weekends scouring the local charity shops for tea-sets, cups and saucers, cake-stands to use on the day.  A chalkboard decorated with playing cards and the smile of the Cheshire Cat greeted everyone as they arrived.  We set up a drinks station at the entrance to welcome guests as they arrived for our Mad Hatter tea party, with pots of prosecco tea and fruit juices.  

A Mad Hatter themed backdrop was fixed to the wall and a selfie props station set up.  Guests were snapped as they arrived using an instax polaroid camera, which was then popped in a guest book, meaning everyone got to leave a message for the bride to be.  Inside the house we had an arts and crafts corner where guests could make their own mad hat to wear. We had made hats using paper cups fixed on hair-bands and everyone had great fun adding feathers, jewels and ribbons to theirs.  The table was set with treats such as cakes and buns, biscuits, sandwiches.  The table setting was designed using dried moss, clocks, candles, tea-cups and my daughters mini tea sets.

We hung loads of colourful bunting outside, filled flowerpots in the shape of giant cups and saucers, and I sourced the perfect poster of Absolom to show people the designated smoking area.  

The Games

We started off the games with a ring hunt.  We had hidden 25 golden rings (cut out of card) around the house and garden and there was a prize for whoever found the most. This worked a treat at bringing out the competitive streak in the guests, getting them ready for the games ahead.   We had a lucky dip prize box filled with mini wine bottles, hand-creams and bath bombs. We moved on to our first quiz of the day named How Well Do You Know Danielle? Everyone was split into 3 teams, there were 10 questions, split into multiple choice, general questions and a hilarious picture round.  Next came Say Yes to the Dress with the teams designing some very inventive dresses with toilet rolls, ribbons and tulle. We had bump and grind with the teams having to pass and burst balloons using their bodies, and finished the games off with the ever popular but always hilarious Mr & Mrs. The penalty for getting a question wrong was a shot, served in a mini vial for added effect.  Everyone involved won prizes, had a shot and it was a great laugh. 

In between the games we had plenty of stories and food, with our aunt serving up a delicious homemade green curry.   

Dancing Queen

We had hired a DJ to provide the evening entertainment and the dancing kicked off around 9pm.  This led into karaoke, a staple of our family parties, with even our mother getting up to bash out a tune.  Much to my dismay I will admit to hogging the mic a bit and think I ruined at least 5 or 6 songs! 

We danced and sang the night away, and I gladly fell into the bed in my aunts spare room at around 1pm.  

Rise and Shine

I woke up the next morning and got ready to face the clean up but my wonderful uncle had already done the bulk and then cooked us all a big breakfast as we chatted about the night before and the wedding.   

It could not have gone better.  The bride to be was chuffed, I was delighted at how it went and everyone had a brilliant time.  Now all that is left is the countdown to the big day! 

If you would like to discuss an upcoming event click here to get in touch.