MAKE IT CUTE

Spring is here and it's finally time to party outside in your own backyard wonderland! Gather your friends and fall down the rabbit’s hole for an Alice in Wonderland-inspired tea party. It's been a few weeks since the new movie came out, but we still can't get enough of wonderland.

Paint the roses red and snatch the dormouse from the kettle—warm weather makes teatime with friends so much sweeter.

A funky invite inspired by the mad hatter is an ideal way to get the tea brewing and your friends excited! For each guest, purchase unique teacups, mugs and top hats. Attach a scroll addressed to each duchess that invites her to play croquet with the queen, or to get mad with the hatter himself. Decide whether you want the dress code to be included and share what attire is expected on the invite. Tell the guests not to be late for this very important date!

Create a backyard worthy of wonder with a variety of mixed and not-so-matched decorations. Set up a long table in the center of your yard with a bunch of different tablecloths and lots of wild colors. Use chairs from all over the house that range in size, color and height! Hang paper lanterns in the trees and string lights in all of your bushes. Get super creative with the lawn—put up some lawn flamingos, dangle clocks and paint some fake white roses with red paint. Be sure to place rabbit prints from the front door to the party so that guests don’t get lost!

The best part about being in wonderland is all the sweets. Brew a bunch of different flavored teas, either hot or iced, and serve each kind in a different teapot. Bake lots of little cupcakes with crazy colored frosting (PS: just purchase white frosting and add food coloring to create lots of colors from just one can!). Write “EAT ME” on all of the food and “DRINK ME” on all of the beverages. Make some tea sandwiches in the shape of hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds.

Try a tea party relay by filling up one teapot at the end of the yard and an empty pot at the starting line. Team members must use a teacup to fill up their empty pot to the brim! If running around isn’t the speed your looking for, set up croquet around your yard and replace the balls with plush hedgehogs. If you want to get super-creative, use lawn ornament flamingos as your mallets!

Throw on the new Alice in Wonderland soundtrack: Almost Alice, and you’ll be sure to have a mad time with your fave friends!

by Lizzie Nirenberg | 2/1/2016