A Quick and Easy, Alice in Wonderland "Tea" Party

It just didn't feel right to finish up with Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, without having at least one tea party.  Of course, in keeping with the strange dreamscape of the narrative, it couldn't be just any old teatime.

Naturally, the Cheshire cat would have to make an appearance, or at least his grin.  That's suppose to be him, pictured above, piped out of melted white and semisweet chocolate chips, allowed to harden back up, before serving.

Some of the grins turned out to look more like tails to me, so that's why there's a second striped piece on the  plates - it's supposed to be the tail.  

Beyond that, I served up the goodies (Little Debbie "fancy" cakes, and fresh fruit) on a hodgepodge of tea tea things, all mixed and matched around the table.

I left the cups empty, so I could be sure to ask, "Who wants more tea?" Giving the children a chance to tell me they hadn't had any tea, yet.  At which point I  proceeded to pour milk from the teapot into their cups.

Oh, and don't forget the hats.  You can't have tea without hats.  At least, that's what I told them, in my best English accent (which always ends up making me sound more like Julia Child than the queen), as I handed them each a baseball cap from the Man of the House's collection (he's a bit of a mad hatter himself).  Even T (age 14), who normally avoids our tea parties, was willing to join us when he saw the hats.

The only thing the children didn't care for was when I called out, "Change seats!" and started shuffling their plates and cups, one spot over.  They all have their own places at the table, and they don't like anyone else sitting in their spots.  Of course, I seem to remember Alice having a few points of protest at the Mad Hatter's tea table, as well.

It's great to be a homeschooler.