An Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter’s tea party is a mad fun theme for an event for grown-ups too. A Mad Hatter Tea Party is a perfect celebration theme for a bridal shower, baby shower or birthday party. Your party can be hosted indoors or outdoors.
This theme really allows you to step into a fantasy world of upside down and back to front. Your guests will feel like they have fallen down the rabbit hole into a place of madness and enjoyment.
Get inspired by the classic tale of Alice falling down the rabbit hole and finding herself in a world of nonsense meeting the Cheshire Cat, the famous White Rabbit, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and of course the Queen of Hearts.
The Mad Hatter’s tea party combines fantasy with fabulousness and we have put together a ton of great suggestions for decorations and dishes to delight and thrill your guests.
Let your inner madness out when creating this nonsensical-themed tea party.
Mad Hatter: “Have I gone mad?”
Alice: “I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”
Invitations
A great party starts with the perfect invitation. This is your chance to get your guests on board with your theme, so get creative with Alice-Themed fantasy invitations featuring mad hats, teacups, clocks and/or keys.
These antique-style keys invite your guests to join the madness and follow you down the rabbit hole!
We love these Wonderland ticket invitations. They set the scene for a fun event perfectly!
How to write your invitations
This theme lets you go over the top with the magic of your invitation words. We love these ideas:
Welcome to Wonderland we are all mad here.
Join us for a spot of tea at a Mad Hatter’s tea party
Don’t be late for a very important date. Please join us down the rabbit hole for (name).
How lovely it would be if you would join us for tea.
Dress Code
Mad is the dress code! Mad Hats, fun dresses, and over-the-top accessories.
See our post on the best hats for a Mad Hatter’s party
As the host, you can be as extravagant as you wish with this theme. Perhaps you want to be the Queen of Hearts or a colorful version of Alice like this Mad Hatter Outfit.
Why not take the role of the Queen of Hearts for the day! With this gorgeous red beehive wig, you can look the part and break some hearts.
Setting The Scene
Vintage shabby chic table settings make the perfect base for creating a tea party in a wonderland.
(Check our post on how to host a Shabby Chic tea party for more ideas.)
For a Mad Hatter theme, you can use all the colors of the rainbow. Lay tables with mismatched teacups, plates, and serving dishes. The tables can be layered with colorful table cloths, lace, and tulle.
Mismatched teacups are one of the key ingredients for a Mad Tea party. We love these sweet pastel shades and complimenting patterns.
Go bold with colors, pinks, turquoise, reds, and of course black and white checkers. We love this pink tulle table skirt and think it makes the perfect base for a crazy-fun tea party!
Add to the table silver cutlery, candles, flowers, and essential wonderland items such as clocks, vintage keys, hearts, and playing cards.
The White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland always carried a pocket watch so clocks are a great addition when setting the theme. Use them everywhere. This melting clock looks amazing dripping off the table or hanging in a tree if your party location is outdoors.
Wonderland was a confusing place for Alice to visit, with strange signs that made no sense. Use this idea also in your decorations. Hang signs around the room or garden to add to the nonsensical madness – eat me, eat me, this way, that way, up here, down there, over there, ….
Another great idea for the decorations is to stack vintage teacups into towers and fill them with flowers and hearts to make interesting centerpieces.
String pastel-colored balloons and bunting around the room or garden. If your party is outdoors, include pretty parasols in the decorations. We love this vintage fabric bunting!
Go crazy with spiral decorations that make everyone feel like they have gone down a rabbit hole. We love these rose gold paper spirals.
Large top hats and Queen of Heart cards can be placed along the tables to add to the atmosphere. We are in love with these Crowns for the table!
Use old hard cover books covered in bright coloured paper to add height interest to decorations and serving plates along the table. With this theme, you cannot have too much. It is a cluttered, crazy-looking theme that will delight your guests when they arrive dressed in their mad hats and costumes also.
Place Settings:
At each place, sit a pretty vintage plate and place a mismatched pretty vintage teacup on the top of it. You can add a themed name card welcoming the guest to wonderland. The Royal Albert range of Vintage Style Teacup Sets are our favorite.
Delight your guests with tiny cake domes and individual cupcakes. These adorable ‘Eat Me’ single cake domes are one of our favorite things to add to the table, and they make lovely take-home gifts for your guests – big and small.
Add Alice Themed Decorations to the table.
You can even buy an Alice In Wonderland-themed Tea Set that will become a treasured item in your home too!
And, don’t forget to add a dainty silver teaspoon and other cutlery to the place setting. We love these Alice-themed teaspoons that match the Alice tea set. Lovely!
We are going bonkers over these super cool stemless wine glasses. Perfect for enjoying a sip of wine or juice during the party.
Serving the Food
Use tiered plates to fill the table with delightful treats and mouth-watering sandwiches.
We love this pretty white fluted cake-tier plate with a gold handle.
Pretty cupcakes can be placed in individual teacups and stacked up on the table to tempt your guests. The Royal Albert Candy Teacups are lovely for this.
Add large glass jars of bright-colored juices and water with large labels ‘drink me’ to a side table for guests to help themselves.
Place mismatched teapots on the table with a wide selection of teas. Don’t forget to also add pretty glass or bone china milk jugs. Bowls of sugar cubes and slices of lemon should also be added to the table.
Food Selections
Savory food selections:
Cut raw vegetable sticks labeled ‘Rabbit Food’
Classic high tea sandwiches cut into diamond, heart, clubs and spade shapes
Sandwich Fillings:
-cucumber and cream cheese
– tuna and chives
– ham and mustard
– sun-dried tomato and cream cheese
– cheese and tomato
Sweet suggestions:
- Pretty cupcakes with brightly colored buttercream icing
- Heart-shaped jam tarts
- Macaroons in pastel colors
- Iced cookies in the shape of clocks
- Chocolate coated strawberries
- Oreos dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with pink sugar
- Sponge cake with layers of strawberries and cream dusted with powdered sugar.
- Cookies shaped like teacups, clocks and keys
Create a beautiful towering centerpiece with this easy-to-assemble macaron display tower.
Your guests will go mad for these Chocolate Covered Sandwich Cookies, so make sure to have lots on the table!
You can also save time by ordering these Freshly baked Flower cookies to be delivered to your door.
Alice in Wonderland-themed cupcake toppers make the most simple cupcakes a special treat.
Tea Selections:
Mad Hatters Iced Tea
Other drinks
Pink lemonade
Pink champagne
Hot chocolate drink
Extra Fun Items:
Tea party-themed party favors:
