Is it going to be wonderful in wonderland?

Pinterest, YouTube the Internet, at the moment I'm looking for inspiration for anywhere! Why? Because the small one is having a birthday party and the theme is Alice in wonderland. So, by the 6th of March I have to have created a mad hatters costume for daddy, a white rabbit costume for Unkie and numerous props to turn our hall into wonderland! Where to start? Well I have to confess I have made the hat. Cardboard, masking tape and a lot of duct tape and that seems to have ticked boxes. The watch for the white rabbit, box ticked. And that's it! So what's left on the list, well, there is still the matter of two costumes for two grown men! 

The hat is solid and remarkably mad hatterish!

And the clock has now been painted to, look like a clock. So I'm getting there. 

The million dollar question is why do we do this to ourselves? Obviously I love the making side of things, but there's so much more to it!

Problem number one: small persons birthday actually falls on good Friday. That means school holidays with lots of her friends away. So bring it forward a week I hear you say. Week before - hall not free. Week before that's already a birthday weekend all booked, the week before that, will just have to do. So her party is actually 20 days before her birthday. 

Problem number two: to invite the boys from her class or not? Not was the answer. Glitter face painting, all things pink and 'tea' because Alice has tea, didn't really feel like the sort of party your average six year old boy would want to go to. 

Problem number three: which applies to any sort of party or gathering that anyone ever has - the food. Should you put it on plates so they can help themselves, or maybe make lunch boxes so it's quicker and easier. Of course Alice had a lot of eat me drink me directions, which have come in handy. So boxes it is with big stickers saying eat me. Bottles with tags saying drink me. Vegetarians, covered. Phew, I guess the list is shrinking. 

Oh and of course party bags - this being the only reason that any child under the age of 9 actually agrees to go to a party. From the second you walk through the door the anticipation of what's in the party bag is sometimes too much to bear. 

They have all been sorted, have to say they are the one thing I'm quite ok with. A few sweets, a few bits of plastic that they can play with in the form of a a game that you have to spend hours on to get the ball into the hole only for it to fly apart, is fine, they love them. A pencil with a silly something on the end - shopkins being the in thing at the moment and of course a notebook.

So what is next the ? I guess I need to tackle the mad hatter. Watch this space to be either amazed or amused!! With a possibility of both to be honest!