A Very Merry UnBirthday to You!

As part of our “Countdown to Disney” for our upcoming trip, we’re watching a Disney movie each week and doing something fun related to the movie. I’m already working on one epic post to list them all after we finish, but this one was so much fun, I wanted to share it now!

This week, we watched Alice in Wonderland (the old school version). I have many, many memories of watching Alice when I was a kid. In fact, we may have worn out the VHS tape. Caedmon has seen it a few times, but it’s not his favorite. So I wanted to do something fun instead of just having a special snack.

I, of course, asked for suggestions from my sisters. Trump insisted that we needed a hedgehog to play croquet with. But as that violates my “no birds, no reptiles, no rodents” rule, that was out. There are so many wacky things in the movie, it was nearly impossible to choose something and just go with it.

However, my favorite part of the whole movie is the UnBirthday tea party with the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and the Doormouse. (Probably because that’s what our dinner times resembled when we were growing up – madness!) So I decided that we would have ourselves a Very Merry UnBirthday Tea Party.

Up until now, I’ve picked the snack/activity, and surprised the kids with it. This time, I told Caedmon we were going to have a tea party and asked what he wanted to eat. His first statement was that we would have to drink something else, as he was not about to drink hot tea. That was easy enough to fix. Sparkling Cherry Limeade to the rescue.

Then, he shot down my Queen of Hearts cookies idea. He wanted Card Soldier or White Rabbit cookies or none at all. Well, since I am most definitely not my friend, TheDoughmesticHousewife, those were out. We tossed around a few other ideas, and he finally decided. He wanted a clock cake, and nothing else. Not cupcakes. Not clock cookies. A chocolate cake with white frosting that looked like a clock. That, I could handle.

I started by making a 2-layer chocolate cake and white buttercream frosting. Then, I put chocolate sprinkles all around the sides.

I printed numbers in a fun font, laid a piece of wax paper over the paper, melted some chocolate chips, and traced the numbers and free-handed the clock hands. They went in the fridge to harden, then I placed them on the top of the cake. It turned out pretty cute, I think. Simple, but cute.

After naptime, the kids got up and found a tea party ready and waiting. We all chose our funny hats, and settled in for some sugar fun!

(Rain clouds were appearing on the horizon, so Oz was glued to my side. He managed to photobomb without even trying this time.)

We used things we already had around the house. I pulled out some “special” dessert plates that we rarely use, and we drank from coffee mugs. I had to have some sort of table décor on our tiny table, so I used a fabric flower from Honor’s toy box.

It really was a “mad” tea party. Caedmon was dressed in two different kinds of pajamas, wearing a cowboy hat. (Yes, that’s a potty chair in the background. Don’t ask.)

That is, while he wore his clothes. Later, he ended up like this.

Honor was in her pj’s too, but she was just a little less “mad”.

They loved the cake, and had fun sipping their Cherry Limeade along with it.

We didn’t do much damage to the cake, though. So the next day, most of what was left went to work with Husband.

Then, while we watched the movie, the kids had another tea party. This time, with their dishes and food.

Caedmon even knows how to stick his pinky out.

I believe my work here is done. That’s all you need to know, right? Stick your pinky out when you drink tea. He should be good on tea party etiquette for the rest of his life now.

Even though it’s been a lot of work, I’m so glad we decide to do the weekly movie countdown. It’s been a lot of fun, and we have all enjoyed it!