The Mad Tea Party

It was a roaring success (photos!)! I was half-afraid that only the children of the folks who helped plan the party would show up, but there were so many kids and parents that I hadn't met before, and I had a wonderful time getting to know them all.

Our dress-up box full of play silks, leftover pieces of material, my husband's old sport coats, and odds and ends was very popular. The kids had fun dressing up as clowns and princesses, and they mixed and matched the play clothes in charming and imaginative ways.

The food was wonderful, and everyone really came through, helping out through donations, preparing wonderful food and drink, and helping set up the table beforehand, and clean up afterward. We ended up with some leftovers, but remarkably few, considering the amount of food we had on hand.

We also had loads of activities available for the kids. We had a coloring area where the children could color "stained glass" scenes from Alice in Wonderland, a musical instrument area, a train set for the smaller children to play with, chess sets available for children, whether they already knew how to play, or wanted to learn, and Alice in Wonderland tattoos were applied by one of the adult planners. Another planner helped the kids play Pin the Tail on the Cheshire Cat. My husband also set up a projector on the stage which played the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland throughout the party, with the sound very low so that it didn't dominate the kids' attention. I think they all had a wonderful time.

It was lots of work, and I was exhausted by the time the clean-up was done, but the rewards were sweet. I'm already thinking about a fall evening party out in our yard. I must be crazy.

Rhetoric


Mom, can I have these scented markers?

Do you have money for them?

No, but I thought you could buy them for me as a supply for my art.

Jonathan, we have markers at home, sweety.

Yeah, but do any of them smell like dragon's blood?!?!!

...

Well?

OK, throw them in the cart.




Jonathan, is it a good idea to have markers up in bed when it's your time to get some reading in before bedtime?

Well, I was just translating the chorus of Jabberwocky into Dragonese.

Well. Um. OK. Carry on.

Things They Teach Me (a continuing series)

A female ballet dancer is called a ballerina, but what's a male ballet dancer called?

A danseur.

Who knew?

How I Find Jonathan Most Nights



Jonathan's always been a voracious reader, but these last few years, since he moved into his own bedroom, he's been staying up late into the wee hours, reading himself to sleep. He can do it without disturbing the rest of us (late night bursts of laughter aside) now that he has his own room. I came home from Dog Club around 11PM and was surprised to find him already asleep, his latest dragon tome by his side, of course.

Mad Tea Party

Jonathan has been reading our big Lewis Carroll book for the last year or so. Every once in a while he goes on a jag and I find him reading it every day for a week. I think he's read the whole thing several times, but he keeps coming back to it. I can't blame him; it's fascinating to me, too.

We've decided to have a Mad Tea Not-Back-To-School Party on August 25th, and we've decided to invite the schooled kids on the mountain, too, because we're inclusive like that, don't you know. We'll be having it up at the local community center, and have amassed quite a pile of crazy hats, Chinese lanterns, coloring pages, mismatched china (from Good Will, of course), bud vases, Alice in Wonderland tattoos (believe it or not), and tea sandwich recipes.

In preparation for the big day, we've read the pertinent chapter repeatedly, and the boys have gone on an Alice movie-thon. One of the things they want to do at the party is taken from the famous scene in the movie in which The Hatter tries to fix his watch by smearing it with butter and mustard and then proceeds to smash it to bits. I don't know how we're going to make that happen for them, but they've taken the first step into their own hands:

A pocket watch made from two yogurt lids and a strip of packing tape


With gears inside, naturally

Dan has suggested a rubber mallet for the smashing. Or perhaps Nerf makes something for these kinds of occasions? And I suppose we'll need smocks for the flying mustard and butter. ::sigh::