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A Celebration of that Magical Day when the Girl Alice left the Real World behind and followed the White Rabbit UnderGround |
Years ago, my ex and I started this tradition on a whim, but it quickly developed into an obsession. We thought it would be fun to commemorate the day that Alice went down the rabbit hole with appropriate games, movies, food, etc. It was so much fun, indeed, that we couldn't wait until the next year and threw another such party on November fourth, when Alice went through the looking glass. On this page, I have put my ideas for Alice Day celebrations based on my own experiences.
[Lewis Carroll chose May fourth for Alice's adventure because it was the birthday of the real Alice Liddell. The date is revealed during the tea party scene (first from a comment that it is May and therefore the March Hare won't be raving mad, and then when the Mad Hatter asks Alice what day of the month it is, and she replies that it's the fourth). In the sequel, she mentions that tomorrow there will be a bonfire (for Guy Fawkes Day, which is November 5th) and then tells Humpty Dumpty that she is seven and a half years old, exactly, making it November 4.]
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Alice Day Activities, Food & Decorations You must center the day around a tea party, of course. If one of the guests is male, he can wear the Mad Hatter's 10/6 top hat. Women can dress like Alice or the Queen of Hearts. (Or vice versa, no reason gender roles can't be reversed!) Stuffed animals can be the rabbit and dormouse. The table is laid with a full tea set. Add to this oversized and/or miniature bottles of alcohol (with "Drink Me" tags) and cakes marked "Eat Me". You can make mushroom-shaped cookies and tea sandwiches with an appropriate cookie-cutter, or make red velvet cupcakes and decorate with dabs of white icing to mimick the traditional fairy mushroom. You can make a fairy mushroom salad by laying out a bed of greens, then placing several hard-boiled eggs upright, topped with halved cherry tomatoes which are daubed with bits of goat cheese. We also like to have plenty of candy on hand, to increase the child-like fun. Those little wax bottles filled with candy liquid are especially appropriate, as are cordial chocolates - we even found some shaped like bottles, and they have real liqueur inside. We use gummy worms as "caterpillars" - get creative! Signs can be hung with famous illustrations of Alice, and sayings like "Beware the Jabberwock," "Who Are You?" and "We're All Mad Here." You can make a great "bead curtain" type entrance to a room by stringing oversized 5x7 playing cards at odd angles and hanging them from a doorframe - it mimicks the last scene where the pack of cards comes falling down on Alice. Colored chalk can be used to decorate the sidewalk outside for guests, including big white rabbit footprints leading up to the door, and admonitions of "You're Late!" [Check out my Flickr sets featuring some of these ideas made real from our 2009 celebration and 2010 celebration.] |
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Start off the festivities by playing "White
Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, or any other thematic music you can
find. Silly games are a must. If you can find one, there are several Alice-themed puzzles available, as well as board games, card games, coloring books, and even a tarot deck! Any card games are appropriate, of course, as is chess. And there are always plenty of fun drinking games. I also suggest a round of blindfolded "pin the grin on the Cheshire cat". The books, or portions thereof, can be read aloud to all the guests. You can also use the books for bibliomancy, finding Alice Day oracles for each guest by opening to a random sentence. 
[Also check out Mad Hatter Day for another way of celebrating the Alice phenomenon] |
Other intoxicants besides alcohol can be consumed if desired (and legal and safe)*. Try to achieve, by whatever means, a sufficiently surreal state of mind. This can also be affected by decorations/atmosphere, the repetition of various Alice versions on film (the fifth or sixth time you see an incarnation of the Mad Hatter or Caterpillar will start making you feel very strange indeed), and the dedication of the participants to putting their mundane cares aside. Be prepared for an otherworldly experience, and have fun! *An especially appropriate choice would be amanita muscaria (fly agaric), recognizable as the mushroom on which the Caterpillar traditionally sits with his hookah. It is psychoactive, and still legal. For more information, look it up on Erowid. Always do your homework before experimenting with any substances. |
