Mad Hatter Tea Baby Shower

     Another baby shower, another theme...this time we planned a Mad Hatter Tea.  I was totally inspired by the Alice in Wonderland Halloween Party for Adults pictures I saw in Better Home and Gardens.  It was so cute and had such great ideas, I knew I had to throw a Mad Hatter tea for someone.  When Tori, also known as Lil' Mrs. Crafty to the blogging world, announced she was preggers, I jumped at the chance to suggest this theme.  My friends, Kristi, Gina, known for her blog G's Guide to Mom Style,
and I teamed up to host Tori's shower together.  We all agreed it would be a fun theme, so we let our creative juices run wild!


     Here's some of the pictures of the decorations:

Invitations were ordered from polygraphics

     Before we ate, at each place setting I came up with a riddle for each guest to read, as a sort of ice breaker to let everyone get to know each other.  Kristi and I made them look so cute by printing out the riddle on white paper, cut it out with scrapbooking scissors, then antiqued it with stamping ink, next stapled it to the paper tag of a tea bag.  They looked so cute and were a big hit.

     A tea party isn't complete unless there are some yummy petite sandwiches....  We made a variety of delicious items to choose from. 

PB & J Sandwiches shaped like Clubs

Cucumber  Sandwiches to look like playing cards

Goat Cheese & Watercress Sandwiches

Chicken Salad Heart Sandwiches 

Fruit Salad in swirly orange bowls

Fresh Carrots and Ranch in pots

Mini Cheese balls and Crackers

Spinach Salad with Berries and Almonds in a Parmesan Crisp bowl

On to desserts.....

Sugar Cookie Teapots

Rainbow Swirled Cupcakes

Meringues, French Macaroons, & Tarts

Queen of Hearts Tarts

Recipes:

• Goat Cheese & Watercress Sandwiches
• Fruit Salad in Swirly Orange Bowls (I modified this a bit to my taste and didn't include the topping)
• Spinach Salad with Berries and Almonds in Parmesan Bowls (I changed this up a little too)
• Sugar Cookie Teapots
• Queen of Hearts Tarts

     A baby shower wouldn't be much fun without some shower games.  For this shower I stepped out of the traditional "measure the belly" game, "guess the candy in the diaper" game, and even the baby item scramble game.  Since it was a Mad Hatter themed shower, I came up with three Alice inspired games.  The first, I call Queen of Hearts.  I placed a playing card randomly face down under the plate charger for each place setting, making sure someone would find the Queen of Hearts.  Whom ever found it would be the winner and receive a prize.  (By the way, guests were able to choose where they wanted to sit, to make it fair)  But, instead of just looking under their charger, I had the ladies stick the card facing out to their forehead so everyone could see the card except for the person with the card.  It was so funny seeing the ladies with cards sticking to their heads.  And it just so happens, Tori, the guest of honor found the Queen of Hearts!

     The second game I had planned was matching a character from Disney's 1951 animated movie "Alice in Wonderland" to their memorable quote.  We printed out the quotes and characters, then glued it to some plain black and red scrapbook paper, next stuck on some stickers to make it look like a big playing card.  I timed the ladies for one minute and who ever matched the most right won a prize.

     The last game we played was an "Alice in Wonderland" scavenger hunt.  Kristi and I came up with a list of twenty different items that could be found on the table scape.  Some were easy, like a red rose, where as others, like a a golden key and chess piece, were a little harder to find.  I printed out the list and then we attached it to the back of the quote game and decorated it with a colorful key scrapbook accent.  The first one to find all the items on the list won the prize.  Overall, the ladies loved all the games, they were simple yet fun!

  After the games we showered Tori with gifts, mingled a bit, enjoyed some more food, and then went outside to take some pictures.

     After pictures and saying our good-byes, all our guests took home two favors, one was a small bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider with a tag labeled "Drink Me" and a home made sugar cookie teapot with a tag labeled "Eat Me".   It turned out to be an amazing day filled with great memories and wonderful friends.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and most of all Tori was surprised!