SweetHarts Mad Hatter Tea Party Ice Cream Social Shower
Inspired by her new sweets shop, Melissa Joan Hart—yes, the one from Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clarissa Explains it All—has created this fabulous shower theme for Diva Darlings everywhere! Lucky Divas from the Sherman Oaks area can hold their Mad Hatter Tea Party Ice Cream Social Shower at Melissa’s desserterie, SweetHarts. If you’re not a Southern California girl, Melissa shares how to create your own Wonderland Shower wherever you are.
My secret for creating fabulous parties for my friends and family is, “pay attention to the details.” Pick a theme and make everything fit it. With a little research and some creative touches, you can amaze your friends and family and give your Guest of Honor a truly special day!
Invitations:
Of course you need the line, “Don’t be late, don’t be late for a very important date” Here’s some wording for creating fabulous invitations:
Don’t be late, don’t be late for a very important date!
(Or, for a baby shower use…”a very important due date!”
Slide down the rabbit hole to <Guest of Honor’s name> fete.
On <date> she’s Queen of our Hearts
We’re having a shower, at <start time> it starts.
Until <end time>, we’ll laugh and have fun.
We’ll be at <place> until the party is done.
Our <Bride/Mother>-to-Be will be wearing a hat,
You wear one too, we have prizes for that.
It’s a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, please mark the day.
A map is attached to show you the way.
Please RSVP so your presence is planned.
We hope that you’ll join us in our Wonderland.
It’s easy to create personalized Alice in Wonderland invitations and you can choose between a White Rabbit design or a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party design featuring classic illustrations with a trendy color twist.
To customize your cards, click on the card image to enter the order screen. Click on the Personalize tab. In the Text box, replace our blank lines with the details of your party.
You can even add a map image to the inside top of the card to help people find your shower.
When you get done, the inside of the invitation might look something like this:
Music:
Instantly transport your guests to Wonderland by playing Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack in the background. It will set just the right atmosphere for a fun, lighthearted party.
Décor:
- Cover the table in tea cups—but not matching cups! You might be able to borrow a variety of cups. If not, shop antique stores and flea markets. It’s not hard to find an eclectic mix that will add to the “Mad Hatter” atmosphere. Buy or borrow some dessert plates for the cake and pretty bowls for the ice cream.
For your centerpieces, plant wee English gardens in some of the tea cups. Some of the tea cups could have miniature roses, some could have colorful wildflowers, others could have ivy plantings. - Make playing card garlands, wrap them around strings of tiny white lights, and hang them around the party space. Take some old playing cards – the kind with red backs would be nice – and punch a hole in the top of each card. String them together with some twine and wrap your garland around a string of lights. Arrange the garland so one playing card hangs between each light on the string. Tie or tape off the garland at each end of the string of lights and hang for a magical setting.
- Scatter some extra playing cards around on the tables and buffet. That way your tables will coordinate with your garlands and cake design.
- Consider dressing up as the Mad Hatter. As the hostess of this theme, you’ll be perfectly attired and add to the offbeat atmosphere! Can’t find a top hat? Dress up as Alice! If your Guest of Honor is willing, have her dress as the Queen of Hearts. Of course, “All ways are the Queen’s ways” at this special shower.
Entertainment:
- Play Mad Hatter’s Fashion Show. In the invitations you asked your guests to wear a hat to this shower. Once everyone has arrived, let the Guest of Honor choose her favorite hat and award a prize to the winner.
- Play Notes of Advice from a Caterpillar. My friends at BadaBadaBINGO Fun Games Co! are offering a special version of their personalized, printable Notes of Advice just for this party theme! Order their Personalized Notes of Advice, baby version or bride version and in the “First Name” field, type the name of your Guest of Honor and the words “with caterpillar.” (For example, for Jane Doe's shower, you’d type “Jane Doe with caterpillar” in the First Name field). The BadaBadaBINGO Fun Games Co! design team will not only add the Guest of Honor’s name to your Notes of Advice, they’ll add an adorable caterpillar graphic to the cards in place of their standard heart design. Then, they'll send you back a printable PDF file. Print enough Notes of Advice from a Caterpillar for each guest to have one. When guests arrive, ask each one to write down some advice for this special time in the Guest of Honor’s life, fold it, and place it in an Alice and Caterpillar Keepsake Box. After all the guests have contributed their Notes of Advice from a Caterpillar, give the keepsake box with notes to the Guest of Honor. She might like to read the Notes of Advice from a Caterpillar aloud to all the guests. Have some tissues nearby, some of the notes will be funny and some will be so touching that there might be a few happy tears. That’s alright! What better time for a heart-touching moment than a Shower?
- Play Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Trivia. Put together a list of trivia questions for your guests. They can be related to the Bride-to-Be, or test your guests' memory of Alice in Wonderland. The guest with the most correct answers gets a prize.
- Play The Walrus and the Carpenter. Read The Walrus and the Carpenter from Alice and Wonderland one stanza at a time, but don’t read the last two words of each stanza. Have your guests call out the missing words. The guest with the most correct answers wins. For instance, for the first stanza you would read:
The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of ______________.The correct answer would be “the night.”
If it’s a Baby Shower, play “Eat Me.” This is actually “Baby Food Taste Test,” which is one of my favorite shower games, but dressed up for our Mad Hatter Tea Party theme. To play, spoon three or four different types of baby food into a tea cup labeled (what else?) “Eat Me.” Give each guest a game card, and a pencil. Have everybody shut their eyes and feed each of them a taste of the first baby food. Make sure you use a clean spoon for each guest so you don’t spread germs around! Then have everyone write down what flavor they think they tasted. Repeat this process until everyone has tried each jar of food and then find out who has the most correct guesses. Give the winner a prize. Depending on what you feed everybody, you also might want to pass around the candy dish so they can get the taste of baby food out of their mouth!- If you have back yard space, play The Queen of Hearts Croquet. You don’t have to use flamingos as clubs, you can use a regular set!
Prizes:
Give the centerpiece plantings as prizes. Your guests will enjoy them long after the Shower is over!
Refreshments:
Create an Alice in Wonderland inspired cake and serve it on pretty dessert plates labeled, “Eat Me.” Remember when the playing cards were painting the rose bushes in Alice and Wonderland? Use that wacky scene as the inspiration for your cake. Have your baker use candy playing cards and plenty of icing roses. Some of the roses can be completely red, some completely white, and some half white and half red to suggest half-painted roses. Finish the theme with some piped icing rose leaves and vines. Make sure to attach a hang tag that says “Eat Me” to the cake plate. Serve the cake on your pretty dessert plates that continue your “eclectic tea set” look.
Let your guests make their own SWEETHART sundaes. Set up an ice cream and/or frozen yogurt bar. Supply three or four flavors of ice cream or frozen yogurt, two or three flavored syrups, and a variety of toppings. Of course plenty of whipped cream – especially The Shower Diva’s Own Whipped Cream recipe – and some cherries for the top are a must. Invite your guests to create their own frozen treats. It’s a lot of fun and oh so delicious!
Fill out the menu with Alice’s Assorted Tea Sandwiches. Several varieties of tea sandwiches, served on beautiful platters (which of course have an “Eat Me” hangtag) will round out the refreshments beautifully.
Serve the perfect cup of tea, labeled “Drink Me.” Offer your guests their choice of hot or iced tea. Either option should be real tea and served beautifully. Hot tea will look elegant in your eclectic collection of tea pots and cups. Iced tea can be served in tall clear glasses and garnished with a sprig of mint or a lemon slice. Tie a “Drink Me” hang tag to each cup or glass with a bit of ribbon or a raffia strand.
Send your guests home with a sweet treat. Fill a basket with “Eat Me” and “Drink Me” favors and let each guest choose which version they prefer.
- For “Eat Me” favors, personalize Baby or Bridal Lollipals with edible markers. Wrap in cellophane and tie with an “Eat Me” hangtag.
- For “Drink Me” favors, buy personalized Baby Shower or Bridal Shower tea favors and attach a “Drink Me” hangtag.
About Melissa Joan Hart. Melissa Joan Hart started out as a wee thing in Hollywood (she was all of 4 years old and too, too cute) and grew up to be a star of stage, screen and TV. She's best known for her starring roles in Clarissa Explains it All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but her favorite role so far is wife of handsome Mark Wilkerson and mother to two of the cutest Hollywood babies ever: Mason and Braydon. Melissa and her mom, producer Paula Hart, celebrated the Grand Opening of their new desserterie, SweetHarts, in Sherman Oaks, California on May 31, 2009. In addition, Melissa is producing, directing and writing for film and TV and is an active advocate for Friends of the Family, which helps foster strong, self-sufficient families and resilient children by providing mental health and human development programs in the greater Los Angeles area.
Interested in more from Melissa Joan Hart? Read her guest contributor article on creative and thoughtful ideas on throwing a successful shower.
Looking for more baby shower theme ideas? View our complete list!
