Every year around Valentine’s Day, my sister’s usually throws a Valentine’s Day party for her Girl Scout troop. Last year, she decided the theme would be “Alice in Wonderland” and asked for my help in planning a Mad Hatter Tea Party. I worked with her and my mother to plan a menu and make all the treats. Everyone showed up to the party and was absolutely thrown away — they were expecting some food and some tea, but they got a full-blown professional-style party planned down to the tee.
The menu included:
Drink Me
Assorted Teas
English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Mad Tea Party, Pomegranate, French Vanilla, CHai, Jasmine, Blueberry, Mint, Papaya Passion Fruit, Mango, Lemon Honey Chammomile
(we bought these as part of a “Alice in Wonderland” tea set from Disney)
Cocoa & Heart Marshmallows
Pink Berry Punch
(Pink Lemonade with fresh berries in it)
Eat Me
White Rabbit Burrow
Spinach and Eggs wrapped in pastry
Queen’s Garden Salad
Mixed Greens, radish & carrot flowers with choice of dressing
Pasta & Croquet Balls
Wheel, Carrot, and Bunny Pasta with marinara sauce, cheese, and mixed meat balls
Absolem’s Thyme Treats
Potatoes roasted with bay leaves, thyme, salt, pepper
Black & White Chess Bites
(brownies with confectioner’s sugar decorations)
Pumpkin Acorns
Pumpkin cakes filled with crystallized ginger cream cheese frosting
Petit Fours
Lemon Poppyseed Petit Fours with Lemon Glaze
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and White Chocolate Butterfly/Heart/Playing Card Decorations
Assorted Chocolates & Cookies
Homemade Valentine’s Truffles: Milk Chocolate Kaluha Ganache rolled in Sugar & Espresso; Dark Chocolate Ginger Spread and Hendricks Gin Ganache dipped in Semi-Sweet Chocolate and topped with Crystallized Ginger; White Chocolate Cherry Blossom Tea Ganache covered in Pink White Chocolate
Chocolate Covered Marshmallows
Red Velvet Cakelets & White Roses/Hearts Chocolates
White Chocolate covered shortbread cookies
Everything was handmade from scratch except I used store-bought sugar cookie dough for the “Eat Me” cookies, and the marshmallows and white chocolate covered cookies, which were store-bought. My sister and mother even handmade the molded chocolates!
There were games and activities planned, but I was too busy taking pictures and cleaning up to pay attention. I’ve done a few other parties with my family and hope to post those soon. They’re always so much work leading up to it, but when they come together and are appreciated, it’s completely worth it.
