Return to Wonderland

Our little-love's THIRD birthday was celebrated in October with fabulous weather and great friends. I have worried for the last three years whether or not the weather would be agreeable this time of year. We set up a tea party in the back yard and lots of fun was had by all.

The perfect lil' Alice. Cheshy was pretty darn cute too.

THE SET-UP

Nothing but the best for this party. The fanciest tea sets, linens, paper lanterns and butterflies hanging above the table.

These beauties are truly vintage. They were abandoned in a warehouse for 50 years so when I found them they were essentially brand new, still in the original packaging.

THE SIGNAGE

Signs saying *somewhere*, * there*, *this way*, and my favorite *down* {made using insulation foam, painted and then written with chalk}.

 This *down* sign was Audrey's idea. We put a pile 

of dirt under the point to make it look like a hole.
{very, very clever!} 

SETTING THE TABLE

 The birthday girl's special chair

 The giant leaved and Chesh {cut off at the top} 

were made out of the same material as the signs.

 Linens, fine china and finger foods. I am

impressed at how well all our three-ish year old guests did 

with all the glass. Not one thing got dropped, chipped, or broken.

THE FUN STUFF!

After tea, the kiddos made some Cheshire Cat cookies. The original recipe from Family Fun  was for cupcakes, which I didn't want to do since we were doing cupcakes as the main dessert. So, my good friend Christina said *just use cookies*. Brilliant, right?

 It's hard to tell from the picture, but the un-dressed bunnies in the basket

are un-stuffed. We cut vests out of no-sew fleece and used strips of fabric

 as bow ties. The kiddos picked out their bunnies, stuffed them and dressed them.

THE DESSERT TABLE

*Painting the Roses Red* marshmallows, cupcakes, taffee and chocolate.

 These round labels were made using leftover punches from the

cupcake toppers, layered with *Eat Me* banners, placed on larger

3" circles and then topped off with some glitter glue dots. 

THE CHARACTERS

The North Cold

The *boss* has her first take-home project due this week. The kids had to choose from four different habitats and use a wire hanger provided by the teacher to make a mobile about their habitat. She chose the arctic {which she calls the North Cold}.

It was a lot of fun to work on this with her and after a lot of cutting, gluing and tons of glitter {mostly on the floor and my lap} I am very proud of the final result....

 

{I just love how this looks against my newly painted white kitchen cabinets}

I just love the snowy owl with all the sugary glitter. The boss' favorite animal is the orca and the little-love's favorite bits are the sprinkle snowflakes.

Back to Wonderland

It's party time again around here. Our little love is turning the 3 soon and she asked for an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party. Lucky me, because when she was just 4 months old big sis had an Alice party for her 4th {here}. Lucky me, again, because we kept everything. I'm hoping this party is a breeze to put together. We are doing some things different though. Which I will post after the party {are you hooked?}
What I wanted to share are these *Welcome Signs* that I have been making for my girls' last few birthday parties. What I like best about them is that I put them in their scrapbooks afterward.
Here are some I've made in the past:

 This is from the Carnival Party {here & here}

 This one is from our little love's first birthday {here & here}

After finding those signs again I was inspired to get all my supplies out and make another one or two or three.

 {Aren't those little clipboards just adorable?}

 All the necessary embellishments {and more}

These are perfect! I had forgotten I even had anything with tea cups.

 This is the final product for the front screen door.

{Most of the products used come from my favorite brands from Creative Imaginations}