Alice in Wonderland is one of my absolute favorite movies. I feel like it’s wacky and fun, just like me. Personally, I’ve always related to the Cheshire Cat. He’s happy and a little crazy (good crazy, I’d say!) and he’s not quite all there. I mean, what mom is all there, anyway?! Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to attend the Mad Hatter Tea Party at the Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey.
When we arrived, we were greeted by one of the Queen’s playing cards. He handed us a sheet of paper with the lyrics to “A Very Merry Unbirthday” and began singing along with the kids. Actually, the kids were pretty shy so he mostly sang it alone but he still seemed pleased about it and my kids smiled and giggled at him. After a quick glance at all of the children walking by with awesome artwork on their faces, we decided to get our faces painted. Well, the kids had their faces painted and I debated whether or not people would think I was crazy if I got the Cheshire Cat smile painted on my face. I didn’t do it but I think I chose wrong, I really should have! Next time…
While we waited in the face painting line, the Queen popped by and introduced herself to the kids, who were so excited to meet her! They told her how they wanted to be her for Halloween and how beautiful she looked. She was unbelievably sweet! We also grabbed Alice for a photo on her way to another sing-along! Alice looked absolutely stunning and she was such a darling to the kids.
After everybody had a chance to get a design on their faces, we moved on to the many games and crafts at the Mad Hatter Tea Party! There was a game of cornhole, where the kids tried to toss a bean bag into holes with the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit’s stopwatch! They tossed balls into a row of top hats and tea cups, played a high jump game, and spun a wheel. Each child got a little prize for the games they played and there were so many great games!
My girls said that their favorite part was dressing up and taking a picture with the Mad Hatter and Alice. The Mad Hatter was really into his “role”, which humored me so much. I later learned that all of these wonderful characters were actually professional actors, that made so much sense with how great they did!
There was both a coloring and craft station, where the kids colored Wonderland sheets and made Alice’s secret garden booklets and magic mushrooms! The crafts were sponsored by Philly Arts Center and they were really helpful in making sure that the kids knew what they were doing! The kids enjoyed it and we ended up with a lot of cool creations to take home!
I must admit that my favorite part may have been the refreshments station. You can’t have a tea party without tea! Although I am not normally a fan of tea, I had to at least try it! With flavors like “Strawberry Shortcake”, I was intrigued. You’ll be happy to know that the tea was spectacular and I was considering heading over to Teavana to have some of it made for myself! For the kids not interested in tea, there were juice boxes too. There were also little cookies and some chocolate cookies from Godiva!
Did I mention that this event was free? Completely free to attend and do all of these fun things! It was held right next to the Easter Bunny, and even included a coupon to get a discount if you wanted a picture with him! The Cherry Hill Mall is already a really nice mall with some of my favorite stores that can’t be found in every mall, like Godiva and Lego (and now Teavana!) but events like this really entice me to take the extra travel time and visit this mall specifically. I love all of the effort put into the Mad Hatter Tea Party event, I can tell that they really wanted us to have a great time and we really did! It was perfect for spending time as a family, too. We all would and certainly will attend another Cherry Hill Mall event in the future!
Check out the Cherry Hill Mall events calendar for future entertainment!
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*The Crunchy Mom Next Door received compensation in exchange for her honest coverage of this event. All opinions and experiences are her own only.