birthday party à la wonderland

I'm late! I'm late! This post should have happened several days ago, but The Sick has been here in addition to plenty of routine craziness, so here they are at long last.

Hazel's birthday party fell on the opening night of the new Alice in Wonderland movie, so naturally she wanted us to take the party to the theater so she could see it with her friends! The kids had the idea to dress up as characters in the movie, and as always, amazed us with their creativity and willingness to have fun and dress up in public!


Even though Hazel had just invited girls (for the sleepover), most of her friends also had little brothers who wanted to attend the movie with us. Some of them even got into the masquerade aspect of it and donned a costume as well. It was so much fun to see them all dressed up!


Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee



The Mad Hatter and Alice



2 White Rabbits!



The March Hare and another Mad Hatter



And one more Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat (OMG! The tail!!)



And of course our beloved (if somewhat unwilling to be photographed) Megan in her fabulous chinese dress. Is she the Red Queen? Or maybe a Dark Alice? I think a little of both.



After pictures it was off to the theater to collect our 3D glasses and find a seat. It is hard to take pictures inside movie theaters without flash (see above). So I waited until the end credits were rolling to snap one of the older girls who had not yet run off (below). Hopefully I did not blind anyone!




They attracted a lot of attention at the theater, just like they like it. And I love that they are willing to do such fun stuff.


I mean, how often do you see a gang of tutu-clad delinquents running around town? You can't help but smile.


The noise level was very high on the way home. VERY high. CRAZY high. But what can you say when the little darlings are belting out a rousing chorus of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat" on the way home from this movie?! Nothing.

Hazel got some very sweet gifts from her friends after we got back home, and then it was time for cake and ice cream. Jason always does such a nice job with the photos while I bring out the cake. One of the only times I am consistently in pictures is at birthday cake time!






Once it started to get good and late, we gathered our supplies for our "tea party", which was Hazel-style all the way. Hot chocolate with all the fancy fixings, just like at Borders. Whipped Cream in a can, chocolate shavings, marshmallows, chocolate and caramel syrup, chocolate sticks and Twix bars. It was so much fun and the girls created some beautifully artful cups of yummy chocolate goodness!




They then proceeded to go crazy with the whipped cream. Like I didn't see that coming. (What's a hot chocolate bar without all the whipped cream you can eat?)














There was lots of dancing late into the night and- surprise, surprise! They managed to end up like this not long after 5 am. Or so I heard tell. I took this photo at 8 am. If you look closely you'll notice the TV was still on, and so were Hazel's glasses. Ouch.




We sent the girls each home with a tiny tea-party charm tied on a ribbon as a keepsake.  An amazing time was had by all! Thank you to all our wonderful friends for making this a party Hazel will never forget.