How To Create A Psychedelic Wonderland Birthday
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My daughter requested a Alice in Wonderland Party for her 16th Birthday. But she wanted it with a psychedelic twist. She will only turn 16 once so we went all out, so here we go!
ONCE UPON A TIME: Let’s start with going down the rabbit hole. Since we had the party in the basement we hung objects from the stairs that are falling down the hole with Alice (see video below). You can hang these objects from the ceiling with clear string as people enter wherever the party is being held at. I chose objects that were light so if they fell, no one could get injured. Here are the objects we used: Paper Mache Books: We purchased these from Amazon then covered them with leather looking scrapbook paper to make it look like a real book.
Cardboard picture frames: I bought some at Hobby Lobby that were bright colors but they don’t have them online. If you need to order online, these gold frames are from Oriental Trading.
Teapot: This centerpiece is made of cardboard and tissue paper so it’s light. Bird Cage: We used this metal bird cage but it is super lightweight.
SCENERY: Now let’s move on to the scenery. Alice walks through a beautiful forest on her journey. Ambiance: In order to make it feel phsycadellic we changed out out light bulbs with black lights. Which made everything glow and look so cool! These are the bulbs we purchased because we have canned lights.
These mushroom lanterns were a really neat addition to our decor. You can add some lights to the inside of them in you desire. -If you have any plants (faux or real) already in your house, just put them all in the room and use them as decor! -I added some giant flowers from Hobby Lobby to the decor and painted them with a little glow in the dark paint to give them a pop. (See video below). If you don’t have access to Hobby Lobby, these flowers you can attach to the wall and they will look just a great! Signs: In the movie Alice approaches some signs telling her mixed signals on where to go next. These ones from Amazon look really cool but may not show up in black light. Or you can use the included PDF (below) of the signs I made. Just print them out on bright neon cardstock and cut out. You can place them on a wall or create a tree using brown craft paper and glue them to the tree.
Cheshire Cat: I purchased this downloadable file of the eyes and face of the Cheshire cat. Then uploaded the file to this website to turn it into poster sized. Then cut out and taped together before placing on wall. Balloons: I added these glow in the dark balloons to make it more fun!
UNBIRTHDAY: Mad Hatter Time! The Mad Hatter Tea Party part was super fun to decorate. Here are some items I recommend: Lace Tablecloth: Can get second hand or here on Amazon Moss Table Runner: Used this one from Amazon Wooden Chargers: If you would like to buy these it just adds a little more woodseyness to the tea party. Vintage China Set and Teapots: Purchase at any thrift store. Doesn’t need to match Tiered trays and bowls: Fill with goodies Flowers in vase: I recommend using bright flowers for this. Just place in any vase you already have!
SMILE: Photo Booth Time: I always like to have a backdrop to take pictures of all the guest. Backdrop: For this party I purchased this backdrop from Amazon but it is unavailable. Found this similar one that is just as magical. If you need a stand I have this one and it works great. Balloons: Then made a balloon garland with these large and small metallic balloons. I know its a lot of balloons so I used this machine to blow them up. It comes with a kit to help make the garland too!
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS: Here is my decor for the scenes where Alice is with the Queen of Hearts. Garland: ‘”we’re all mad here” banner from Amazon Moss/hedges Card Suites: We purchased some from Shindigz (which is
now closed) and also made a few ourselves. We turned the heart one into the bush that they were ‘painting the roses red’ on. (For this just glue some white and red roses to the heart cutout. Then paint some of the white ones with red paint) The smaller ones were made out of cardboard and covered them with moss.
Checkered Tablecloth: Purchased this roll from Amazon. Colored Candy: Party City has the best selection of all colors of candy.
Drink Me Bottles: We made these out of plastic sand bottles from Hobby Lobby (kids and glass don’t mix). Then added a wooden tag from Hobby Lobby. On the tag we wrote “Drink me”. After writing “Drink me” don’t forget to cover it with modge podge to seal it! Then we filled them with blue Hawaiian Punch! Oversized Roses: Used oversized, giant red and white roses from Hobby Lobby. Painted the white ones with some red paint. Clocks & Books: I added old books here and there. You can get some at a secondhand books store for a great price! Add any random clocks you might have or grab some at a thrift store. More foliage: Just add foliage anywhere and everywhere 🙂 Giant Playing Cards: You can place these giant playing cards on the walls as decor Plastic Flamingos: Gotta have the flamingos right? The ones I have in the video are from Amazon.
LET’S EAT CAKE: Saved the best for last, the cake display table! Cake: I had my sweet friend recreate a cake my daughter found on google. Wooden Chargers: Placed the cake on wooden chargers to give height. Cookies In Box: Found a great lady locally who made these cute cookies for us! Then I placed them in a box that we painted to look like the box in the cartoon movie. Wooden box was from Hobby Lobby Alice in Wonderland Book: Bought this beautiful book from Barnes & Noble. They have a Looking Glass one too. Number Balloons: These number balloons pictured are from Amazon.
Check out the full video below, because there are things I did not get pictures of 🙂
Hope your event is amazing! Please comment below if you make your own Wonderland and tell us all about it! Happy Hosting!