A Mad Hatter Tea Party? Yes, please!

Vanessa from A Fanciful Twist hosts an annual Mad Hatter Tea Party, and I’m super excited to be a part of it this year. After all, it’s a party, it includes tea, and it revolves around Wonderland! Who can resist?!

By the way, can you guess who plays my all time favorite Mad Hatter? No, it’s not Johnny Depp, although I do love him as an actor. My favorite Mad Hatter is played by Andrew-Lee Potts in the BBC miniseries called Alice.

But that’s neither here nor there or maybe everywhere and nowhere, but somewhere the story begins, and begin it must, of course, with a rather bored Alice listening to her older sister read from a history book…

I’m sure her eyes glazed over or perhaps her eyes crossed, but from somewhere appeared a peculiar white rabbit, with a pocket watch, singing…

I’m late, I’m late, For a very important date. No time to say “Hello, Goodbye”. I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.”

Alice couldn’t help but follow such an intriguing person, or rather, animal…I mean a talking, fully dressed rabbit in a hurry is infinitely more fascinating than a history lesson I’m sure. And follow she does, right down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland…and at some point, she comes across a gorgeously laid out tea party with an assortment of yummy goodies, and a rather crazy collection of characters.

Alice thought a tea party amongst the trees about the most perfect of places to have one…and such wonderfully strange decorations could be seen…

But the most amazing thing to behold were the guests who were nothing like what she’d ever seen before…first the Mad Hatter who played the most delightfully mad host and said the most peculiar of things…

Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea?
Alice: Well, I haven’t had any yet, so I can’t very well take more.
March Hare: Ah, you mean you can’t very well take less.
Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.”

The smartly dressed March Hare and the adorable little Dormouse were gathered around the table…

Alice: Well, it all started when I was sitting on the river bank with Dinah.
March Hare: Very interesting – Who’s Dinah?
Alice: Oh, Dinah’s my cat. You see…
Dormouse: Cat? CAT!”

Dormouse: Twinkle twinkle, little bat
How I wonder what you’re at?
Up above the world you fly
Like a tea tray in the sky.”

And then a whole host of other guests joined the delightfully odd tea party…Cheshire Cat who would never miss the opportunity to visit a party or to have a bit of fun…

Cheshire Cat: If I were looking for a white rabbit, I’d ask the Mad Hatter.
Alice: The Mad Hatter? Oh, no no no…
Cheshire Cat: Or, you could ask the March Hare, in that direction.
Alice: Oh, thank you. I think I’ll see him…
Cheshire Cat: Of course, he’s mad, too.
Alice: But I don’t want to go among mad people.
Cheshire Cat: Oh, you can’t help that. Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed that I’m not all there myself.”

The Tweedles: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, who might actually make the most sense after all, wandered into the gathering…

Tweedle Dum: If you think we’re waxworks, you ought to pay, you know.
Tweedle Dee: Contrariwise, if you think we’re alive you ought to speak to us.
Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee: That’s logic.”

Even royalty paid a visit to the Mad Hatter Tea Party…both the Queen of Hearts and the White Queen…

Of course the Queen of Hearts had something to say about the picture taking…

Queen of Hearts: [after the Queen of Hearts is hit in the head and covered in the table cloth] Someone’s head IS GOING TO ROLL FOR THIS!”

But since the card soldiers were oddly absent, she soon settled down. Even the Walrus managed to keep his head long enough to take a photo with her…

And we definitely can’t forget the darling and fluffy little Pink Flamingo who simply had to sample some goodies, too…

Everyone had a wonderful time although Alice couldn’t decide if she should get bigger or smaller…

Alice: Curiosity often leads to trouble.”

Oh what fun this all has been! I am already planning next year’s Mad Hatter Tea Party! And I have a whole year to get ready for it. Here are some final photos of everyone all dolled up.

I had to take some with my rather stunning daughters…

And of course with my husband, the March Hare…

It’s a good thing Alice feels this way…

Alice: If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

Because I totally put the clock on the wrong side of my face! It was correct when looking in the mirror. So in the spirit of everything nonsense and contrary-wise…the clock goes counter clockwise in Wonderland. And I love the cool mirror shot the Cheshire Cat caught of me, the White Rabbit.

And now, I’ll take time to say hello, goodbye. And goodnight.