One of the pastimes that kept me sane during the early stages of Covid was binge watching videos of the beautiful Disney Dinners hosted by Katie Rose Watson on The Rose Table. Before social distancing measures kept us all 6 feet away, Katie Rose would host elegant, elevated Disney-themed dinner parties for small groups of her friends.
If you’re imagining a cutesy birthday party for kids, think again. Her dinners are intimate gatherings of adults who sample her culturally diverse recipes and tasty cocktails on camera for her blog. Her decorations and food are always themed around one particular Disney movie, like Frozen, Aladdin, Hercules, Mulan, or Alice in Wonderland.
When one of my best friends from college visited from out of town this month, I decided to attempt a Disney Dinner of my own. This is my take on an Alice in Wonderland UnBirthday Party.
Alice in Wonderland Party Decorations
While my love for all things Disney is enormous, my living space isn’t. My husband and I have a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen island that serves as the dinner table. This can make hosting a little bit challenging — but I decided to get creative with the space I have. While we only hosted one other couple for this Disney Dinner because we are still trying to be careful about social distancing, you could easily modify these ideas to fit a party of any size.
Each guest had a place setting with a playing cards napkin ring, a “painting the roses red” place card, and a glass labeled “drink me.” You can find the details and tutorials for each of those here. Most of the crafting supplies I already had at home or I found at the Dollar Store! I also used Pioneer Woman plates from Walmart that I already had in my cabinets. Solid white or red plates would definitely work here too.
I decorated the table with fresh flowers and objects I already had around the house. My metal decorations (which normally live in my home office) are from At Home, and my teapot is another Pioneer Woman piece from Walmart. You could use any pretty teapot you like, any decorative flowers you could find, or even a ceramic white Easter bunny to stand in as The White Rabbit. I picked out the fresh flowers on sale at the grocery store and arranged them inside a red vase I had leftover from Valentine’s Day.
On this accent table, I displayed my Alice in Wonderland popup book and a Mad Hatter’s Hat I made for Austin as part of his Halloween costume one year. I hung up a banner of jumbo playing cards featuring the King and Queen of Hearts. I also propped up my homemade flamingo croquet set in a basket so it could double as decoration and entertainment.
One of the tricks I’ve learned from watching so many Disney Dinners episodes on The Rose Table is to repurpose items you already have around the house as much as possible if you are party planning on a budget! While I did splurge a little on some serving dishes for the food and on the croquet set supplies, most of my decorations were already in my house before the idea for this party entered my head. Look inside your cabinets and holiday decoration bins or stroll down the aisles at the Dollar Store for inspiration before you rush to buy the expensive stuff.
Alice in Wonderland Party Food
I’m still a beginner in the kitchen, so I kept the menu pretty simple. I made pasta salad, cucumber dill sandwiches, and mini quiches for our UnBirthday tea. Since our visiting friends don’t drink alcohol, I served up a tasty mocktail punch with fresh fruit.
For dessert I made Painting the Roses Red Cupcakes straight from the recipe on The Rose Table. Embarrassingly, it was my first time baking cupcakes completely from scratch! But they turned out so moist, flavorful, and sweet. The homemade almond buttercream icing is my favorite part of the recipe by far. You can find the recipes for everything at the party in this post.
Alice in Wonderland Games
Finally, no tribute to Alice would be complete without flamingo croquet! I bought a wooden croquet set from Walmart and found lawn flamingoes at the Dollar Store. I spraypainted everything in fun colors, and wallah! Instant cuteness. We took our flamingoes outside to enjoy the sunshine. You can find the craft tutorial to make your own flamingo croquet set here.
Alice in Wonderland Disneybounding
While I didn’t want to wear a full on Alice in Wonderland costume, I definitely wanted to infuse my outfit with some Alice vibes. I wore a sky blue dress I found at Target last year and simply paired it with a black headband and some Oxford shoes. It made the UnBirthday Party feel extra festive.
Hosting Your Own Disney Dinner
While preparing all of the crafts and food for this Alice in Wonderland UnBirthday Party was no small feat, it was also the most fun I’ve had in a long time! Even though our table was only set for four, we all had a blast talking, eating, and exchanging UnBirthday presents together.
Whether you have a luxurious formal dining room, an old scuffed kitchen table, or barstools crowded around an island in a little apartment like us, you can still celebrate! Don’t be afraid to get creative in your space, and don’t pass up an opportunity to do something extra special every once in a while.
This definitely won’t be the last themed dinner party at our home, so stay tuned for more magic! For details and tutorials for an Alice in Wonderland UnBirthday Party, check out the links below.
Alice in Wonderland Party Decorations
Alice in Wonderland Party Food
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