We're All Mad Here

Welcome to our topsy-turvy Halloween tea party. A little spooky, a lot silly, & entirely mad! There were potions to sip, curious cuisine to savor, riddles/trivia to ponder, & games to play. Laughter was mandatory, sanity was always optional.

Each guests was asked to create a unique Wonderland-themed top hat to wear for the party. The most creative hat wins a special prize & you can help select the winner. See the hat entries below & how to cast your one-time vote.

Are you ready to step through the looking glass?

Mad Hatter invitations arrived in April to our party guests. This was to allow for arranging of flights and work schedules, plus any food items that were headed to Texas didn't encounter damage due to the heat. Top hats were constructed of lidded cardboard soup containers & then flocked. Adornments are Wonderland-themed items & some personalized pieces, like the rabbit hat pin for friend Claudia, who loves her bunnies. I lined the inside with handmade art papers that I once used to make my Halloween papier-mâché cone figures. Black paper shreds provided protection for the contents of the hat.

The lid of the hat instructed invitees to "Open Me" & discover treats, party menu, & a note on the hat/fascinator contest. Mini glass "Drink Me" bottles contained strawberry milk powder with sugared glitter stars & "Eat Me" checkerboard shortbread cookies.

Since the center of the table displayed the spread of food, the majority of the decorating was found above the guests. Beautiful silk and paper mushroom lanterns hung among a black flickering chandelier to illuminate the evening. 

The place settings had salad plates from Williams-Sonoma's Spooky Soiree line. They were gifted to me by my boys last year and they are beautiful! These plates sold out quickly in 2024, but WS offered them again this year, along with new dinner plates, serving bowl, mugs, & a redesigned platter with the witch image in the center. Stumbling upon the Victoria & Albert Alice in Wonderland porcelain pastry forks made my day. The forks have Victorian artist John Tenniel's original Alice in Wonderland illustrations. They coordinate perfectly with the Spooky Soiree line. Each guest had their own monogrammed Anthropologie tea cup. The Madeline embroidered placemats are also from Anthropologie. Mushroom glasses were from our 'BOOtanical Garden' dinner in 2021.

The place cards/menus were created with my Cricut and feature a brass chain with a cute white rabbit figure or key charms.  

Party Favors

I've been bidding on Anthropologie monogrammed tea cups for a personalized touch. Each guest took home their cup, skeleton tea spoon, tea strainer, tin of English tea, Chessmen cookies, & small jar of Bonne Maman preserves as a tea bag shaped party favor. 

The great thing about a Wonderland theme is the endless possibilities for food & decor. Inspiration came mostly from Pinterest & the Lewis Carroll novels. Being a gardener, if something involves moss, mushrooms, & insects, I'm all in. The looking glass piece combined all of those things. I love the idea of a Wonderland mirror that seems perfectly at home nestled among a boxwood hedge & fireflies.

First things first, you can't have a tea party without good quality, delicious tea! The menu had us sampling butterfly pea flower, Darjeeling, & Milky Oolong. Butterfly pea flower tea was used because of its ability to change its blue color to purple or pink when an acidic substance, like lemon juice, is introduced to the brew. See science in action with Cameron's Wonderland Iced Tea. Want green tea instead? Add an alkaline substance, like baking soda, for that effect. Perfect for a Cheshire Cat changing tea. Homemade sugar skulls added a sweet, spooky touch. Do you take one skull or two?

Cameron's Wonderland Iced Tea

A shimmering potion served in a whimsical glass mushroom, it beckons you to sip and see the world as Wonderland does—curiouser, brighter, and just a touch more magical. A cold version of butterfly pea flower tea, lavender & lemon syrup, and a sprinkling of edible gold glitter crafted by Cameron. I hear that sometimes he believes as many as six impossible things before breakfast!

SCONES SERVICE

Top tier:  Vanilla Bean

 Bottom tier:  Pumpkin with Maple Glaze + Matcha Ginger Spider Webs

Served with clotted cream (Cornwall style) & assorted jams

SAVORY SERVICE

Off with Their Crusts! Halloween Tea Sandwiches

 Halloween Bread with Curried Chicken Salad

White Rabbits with Egg Salad

Checkerboard Sandwiches:  Cucumber with Whipped Chive Cream Cheese & Pea Shoots + Smoked Salmon with Whipped Cream Cheese & Capers

Last minute edition of Cheshire Cat ham & cheese sandwiches.

Tweedledee & Tweedledumplings 

Steamed mushroom & Chinese spinach dumplings with spicy & sweet dipping sauces. I purchased store-bought frozen dumplings at a local Asian market. Get a small pot of water with a good amount of orange food coloring gel & stir thoroughly to dissolve gel. Bring to a boil & place 2 dumplings at a time in the water for 2 minutes. Constantly turn dumplings around to make sure the orange color is as uniform as possible. Remove dumplings & place on a tray until all of the dumplings have been colored. Proceed to arrange them on a greased steamer basket & steam for the remaining time according to the directions on package. Remove & place on lightly greased parchment paper to cool. Do not use paper towels because it will stick to the bottom of the steamed buns & remove the dough. I placed celery leaves & stems for the tops.

Curiouser & Curiouser Crudités

Crudités with Absolem's blue cheese dipping sauce & topped with salted pumpkin seeds. Dip was a good quality blue cheese dressing with one drop of turquoise food gel. I crumbled a small wedge of blue cheese for the top. The mushrooms are radishes that had small circles carved out using a mini corer. The stem was a white carrot. Our market carries a bag with a variety of colored carrots that includes white, yellow, orange, & red carrots. The red carrots have a dark yellow center as shown in the photo. I also used orange bell peppers, young asparagus, canned mini whole corn cobs (found in the Asian section or Asian markets. My experience has been the whole corns are usually found at Asian markets.), zucchini, fresh green beans, & the more tender center celery stalks with their leaves. All served in Weck mini tulip glass jars.

DESSERT SERVICE

Un-Birthday Mini Cakes

The un-birthday cakes are actually wedding anniversary cakes! Chris & I will be celebrating 35 years later this month, so our Halloween party was a way to celebrate this milestone with family all together. My gold doily order kept getting delayed, so I canceled it & made my own gold spider web doilies on my Cricut machine. The dessert forks were a wedding gift from my Grandma & Grandpa Watanabe. I think they would be happy to know that they are still being used.

 

The Queen of Hearts' Strawberry Tarts

                                                  

"Well, if I must, I must," the King said with a melancholy air, and, after folding his arms and frowning at the cook till his eyes were nearly out of sight, he said, in a deep voice, "What are the tarts made of?"

"Pepper, mostly," said the cook. 

Our strawberry tarts give a nod to the novel with a hint of pink peppercorns in the jam.

The White Rabbit's Pocket Watch Cookies

Half biscuit, half watch- these Earl Grey shortbread cookies are the preferred snack of rabbits, hatters, & anyone who likes their tea with a side of punctuality.

Magical Mushroom Macarons

Perfectly safe for tea-time nibbling- these mushrooms won't make you taller, shorter, or stranger (probably). Never having baked macarons, I can attest that the two main ingredients in this confection are tears and prayers. I didn't have the time to go for a third try, so these are from the Target's Favorite Day frozen line. May not be Ladurée, Pierre Hermé, or Bouchon Bakery, but these did the job in a pinch. 

A~ I See the Tulgey Wood

B~ A Stitch in Time

C~ Checkmate the Jabberwock

D~ Tulgey Toast

E~ Cheshire Couple 

F~ Free Fallin'

Congratulations Shayne!

MAD HATTER TOP HAT INVITES

Invitations were partially created in Canva

Halloween Wonderland graphics purchased at Creative Market

Lidded cardboard soup containers from Amazon 

Black extra heavy weight cardstock 130 lb (17 pt) from Amazon 

Black flocking powder from Amazon

Flocking application tube from Amazon 

Personalized monogram wax seal stamp from Amazon

Hat pins & charms from Etsy seller Very Charms

Rabbit hat pin from Amazon

Feathers from Etsy seller Feather Craft Shop

Tape measure ribbon from Etsy seller Sugar Pink Boutique

Drink Me 40ml glass bottles from Amazon

Strawberry milk sprinkles from Amazon

Checkerboard cookie recipe from Fifteen Spatulas

Organic black cocoa powder from Amazon

Clear cellophane cookie bags from Amazon

Original paper lining was purchased at Paper Source

 Blick Art Materials also carries large sheets of fine handmade papers

CEILING, TABLE, & WALL DECOR

Vietnamese silk lanterns from Etsy seller macynvintage

Battery operated lantern lights from Amazon

Black chandelier from Amazon

Flickering E12 chandelier light bulbs from Amazon

Williams-Sonoma Spooky Soiree witch salad plates

Porcelain V & A Alice in Wonderland pastry forks from Alice-in-Wonderland.net

Madeline embroidered round placemats from Anthropologie 

Black metal tiered trays from HomeGoods

Black-and-white polka dot teapots, sugar jar, & creamer from HomeGoods

Black-and-white checked espresso cups from Amazon 

Various monogrammed Anthropologie tea cups purchased on e-Bay

Tea strainers from Amazon

Black skeleton tea spoons from Amazon

Porcelain white rabbit napkin rings from Amazon 

Cloth harlequin napkins from Amazon

 Antique oval picture frame from Amazon

Vintage Alice in Wonderland journal graphics purchased at Creative Market

Miniature Czech pink & teal spun cotton mushrooms from Etsy

Reindeer moss available at most craft & garden centers

Faux grass table runner from Amazon

Harlequin candle holders from Michaels 

White Rabbit serving tray from Michaels

Faux boxwood panels from Amazon

Realistic firefly lights from Firefly Magic

Ceramic mushroom bowl & spoon from Amazon

Antique bronze white rabbit charms from Etsy seller ShineDIY

Antique bronze white rabbit key charms from Etsy seller ShineDIY   

FOOD PREPARATION/RECIPES

⏰ is a time-saver store-bought item. A good homemade vanilla pudding is better, but sometimes you just need to rein it in.

Butterfly pea flower loose tea from Amazon

Darjeeling & Milky Oolong teas from Harney & Sons

Paper flamingo straws from Amazon

Sugar skull recipe from YouTube video Not Quite Nigella

Checkerboard invitation cookies from Fifteen Spatulas

Vanilla bean scone recipe from Simply Suzanne's AT HOME

Pumpkin scone with maple glaze recipe from Broma Bakery

Matcha scone recipe from Tea Time Magazine

(2" cookie cutter used for all scones)

⏰-Devon Cream Company~English Double Cream

⏰-Duerr's Ginger Conserve purchased at World Market

⏰- Wilkin & Sons Ltd Tiptree Passion Fruit Curd purchased at World Market

Halloween bread recipe from Lorraine Elliot

Curry chicken salad from Mad About Food

Glass Weck mini tulip jars from Amazon

⏰- Dumpling Daughter Spicy Sweet Soy purchased at World Market

Ina Garten's famous Beatty's Chocolate Cake recipe

Midnight Black Buttercream recipe from Tara's Multicultural Table

Silicone number mold from Amazon

Tart shell recipe from Winnie Lee

⏰-Bonne Maman strawberry preserves used in tarts

Pink peppercorns for strawberry tart jam from Amazon

⏰-Dr. Oetker Original Pudding Vanilla from World Market 

Earl Grey shortbread recipe for pocket watch cookies from Sprinkle Bakes

Pocket watch cookie cutter from Etsy seller HouseOfTootSweet

Shimmer pearl & gold fondant used for pocket watch cookies

⏰-Target's Favorite Day frozen macarons

Last, but not least, a comprehensive source of all things Alice in Wonderland can be found here:

https://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/