Alice in wonderland Theme

I should think this has been done to death, but heres how I organised my daughter's 6th birthday party :)

Dress and invitations

invitation prints best on 6x4 photo size

Its started with a simplicity pattern for an Alice dress (pattern 2330)  I'm a big fan of costumes and the classic Alice dress So I made it up and it looked more fantastic than the pattern shows :) I also added a petticoat with a scalloped edge underneath for added cuteness. She wore it with white tights and 'alice' style black shoes and of course, the black alice band.

We went with the typical colours, black red blue and white and used this theme throughout the party.
The invitations were actually done twice, as my computer broke halfway through!
The second version was a little more rushed than the first, I've added a free version here of the original I hope it should be saveable/printable. The font used is a free font by Marco Trujillo López
from http://www.dafont.com/alice-in-wonderland.font) and the Alice in wonderland art work is a free photoshop brush from: http://gojol23.deviantart.com/art/Alice-In-Wonderland-Brushes-157665723

I send out my invites with an RSVP slip just printed and stapled/put in the envelope in a hope to draw more RSVPs in. I add tick boxes for children to choose their sandwiches that way I don't need to do a party spread and can use food bags or boxes cutting down stress and time! I also include emergency numbers and allergies and in this case permission for photography.

Food

drink me labels print onA4

When it comes to the birthday tea I used cheap takeaway bags from ebay, to decorate I simply cut a red heart out of card and added the names. I found some giant size playing cards available from amazon, and used them as place mats (they also wipe clean!)  available : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingfisher-Giant-Playing-Cards/dp/B001RC2NVO/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384256616&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=giant+playingcards

For the funky glass bottles I'd been getting friends and family to save their starbucks frappachino bottles, but if you're not a coffee fan, you can buy them from jellyandblancmange.co.uk too.
I peeled the labels, and washed them out. I then made my own drink me labels which stick on with double sided tape. I also used printable sticker paper to cover the starbucks symbol on the lid!
the Paper Straws came from a lovely friend of mine, but are available on ebay and etsy in many designs. I filled the bottles with chocolate milkshake (made from powder)
As for the food, to keep things simple I opted for heart shaped sandwiches and normal party/packed lunch food. My sister made some lovely 'eat me' and playing card biscuits.
Cake toppers are really easy to make, I just cut a top hat shape, (2 for each topper) and glue together with a cocktail stick In between. I added a 10/4 sign and a little ribbon bow.
The birthday cake itself we just went for a heart shape to keep things as simple as possible - cake making really isn't my thing but if it is there are tons and tons of Alice theme cake ideas out there on pinterest.

Games and Activities

My daughter currently doesn't enjoy winning games, so we kept the games to a minimum and opted for more themed activities instead. There was a couple of themed games we couldn't miss though!

Key hunt
We started the party with a key hunt, though this would also work as a sticker hunt which we normally do at parties too. I bought a set of large key charms from ebay, there are many to choose from but do check your sizes as they can go from teeny to huge. I colour coded the keys to make it more of a challenge and we hid them around the corridor, with the intention of searching for the key to get in the door though the kids were too smart and impatient and pushed their way in anyway!

Chase the white rabbit
The classic game 'flip the kipper' can be adjusted for just about any party going, all you need is a paper shape (in this case, a white rabbit) and some kind of fan, to blow the rabbit along with. My daughter really wanted to help out with the party, so I cut out a set of paper teapot shapes and she personalised them for everyone.
the aim of the game is simply a race, without touching the white rabbit with your hands, (blowing and wafting is fine)  its slightly easier to get the rabbits to move if they have a slight fold in them (so they are not laying flat)
and if you wanted to complicate it more you could have them turn around and go back again or even an obstacle course to go around!

Painting the roses red

This game needs a little extra prep, and has the potential to be messy, so best done outside or on an easy wipeable floor, and I would advise aprons.
 We used two large sheets of cardboard and painted two rose bushes with white roses on.
The game is a race to see which team can paint their roses fastest. We used poster paint in a pot in front of each bush, and the children each ran forward in turn and painted a rose each before putting down the paint pot and running back to the team.

For aprons we bought a pack of koloron tabards from amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/KOLORON-FABRIC-PAINTING-CHILDRENS-TABARD/dp/B008WEPGJ6 They are great! they're like a paperish/plastic surface, which is perfect for painting on. We turned them into hearts and clubs playing cards with a  little paint and also it was time consuming the kids looked great!

For the next part the children were split into 3 groups, and changed at the end of each activity.
Bracelet making
Ebay has many many beads and charms on an alice theme, so we had the children all make a bracelet to take home with them.

Top hat decorating
top hats are fairly simple to make out of cardboard. I ordered a pack of white card in an A2 size as cheaply as I could, and followed instructionhttp://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-Cardboard-Top-Hat/ to make hats. We chose white as they'd be easier to draw on and bought in gems, feathers, letter stickers etc and the children decorated them to take home.

White rabbit photograph
It just happens that my sister owns a white rabbit, but this could be done with Alice photo props or just the children in their decorated hats with Alice! The pictures will be printed and handed out as thank you cards.

Party Bags

Again we used the wonderful takeaway bags! favours I found very tricky, but as they would be taking home bracelets and hats I didn't feel the need to go overboard. I'm also a very snobby party bag filler and prefer to give something useful or fun and not something that breaks within seconds of getting in the car home, so we went with some white spotted red balloons: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPOTTY-POLKA-DOTS-SPOTS-PARTY-BALLOONS-12-HELIUM-QUALITY-CHOOSE-YOUR-COLOUR-/290975035914?pt=UK_Health_Beauty_Make_up_Cosmetics_Concealer_PP&var=&hash=item43bf76b20a

A mini pack of cards from amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Packs-Of-Mini-Playing-Cards/dp/B001PF89IO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384260886&sr=8-1&keywords=mini+playing+cards

and I just happened to find an alice in wonderland storybook on offer (it was this one  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alice-Wonderland-Storybook-Fairy-Picture/dp/144547851X/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1384260992&sr=8-14&keywords=alice+in+wonderland+storybook though not at that price!)

We also used https://www.facebook.com/Thelollipopstop for her wonderful alice in wonderland themed printed chocolate lollipops, which we used as prizes for the games. cant recommend her highly enough :)

I hope if you're planning and Alice party this gives you some ideas on how to do it :)

Many Thanks to my helpers on the day who made all this possible!