Making Wonderland: Part 1
June 30th was the youth group's 2nd Annual Frenchys Formal Banquet with an Alice in Wonderland theme. This is how it came together and hopefully some ideas that could help if you wanted to host your own wonderland party.
The Idea
What is a "Frenchys Formal"? Another youth pastor shared the idea with me last year. It is a formal dinner or youth night in which everyone comes in their finest thrift shop finds....or tackiest it depends on the look you're going for. Frenchys is a chain of second-hand stores in our area. We had a "no admission without formal dress" rule. If someone "forgot" to dress up I provided a costume box. After a successful first Frenchys formal I knew I wanted to have another one. The outfits people found were awful and grand, the meal was hilarious, and everyone had had a blast. But how could I improve on a great night? By adding a theme....
I started thinking about themes for this years formal back in April. I started thinking about a little kids birthday party complete with cake and games like pin the tail on the donkey. The birthday theme into a unbirthday dinner which morphed into a full Alice In Wonderland banquet.
The Planning
With an idea I did what anyone would do...I googled. People are amazingly creative! You would not believe how many great Wonderland resources there are out there, maybe you would. I found hand crafted invitations on etsy, flamingo crochet sets on amazon, and a number of "how to host an Alice in Wonderland party" sites. It was crazy! I found these sites especially helpful:
Welcome To Wonderland
The first area was our large room on the lower level. When you first entered the space there was this sign post:This time was about mingling and waiting for everyone to show up. We severed puff pastry hor'dourves from M&Ms. People took time oohed and ahhed over each others outfits (mostly just the girls did that). There was a Alice trivia quiz they filled out, ballots for them to vote for best dress, and picture taking. Then in was down the rabbit's hole....but you'll have to come back tomorrow to read about that:
The Idea
What is a "Frenchys Formal"? Another youth pastor shared the idea with me last year. It is a formal dinner or youth night in which everyone comes in their finest thrift shop finds....or tackiest it depends on the look you're going for. Frenchys is a chain of second-hand stores in our area. We had a "no admission without formal dress" rule. If someone "forgot" to dress up I provided a costume box. After a successful first Frenchys formal I knew I wanted to have another one. The outfits people found were awful and grand, the meal was hilarious, and everyone had had a blast. But how could I improve on a great night? By adding a theme....
I started thinking about themes for this years formal back in April. I started thinking about a little kids birthday party complete with cake and games like pin the tail on the donkey. The birthday theme into a unbirthday dinner which morphed into a full Alice In Wonderland banquet.
The Planning
With an idea I did what anyone would do...I googled. People are amazingly creative! You would not believe how many great Wonderland resources there are out there, maybe you would. I found hand crafted invitations on etsy, flamingo crochet sets on amazon, and a number of "how to host an Alice in Wonderland party" sites. It was crazy! I found these sites especially helpful:
- Lenny's Alice in Wonderland site
- The Long Threads Alice party
- Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party Ideas
Welcome To Wonderland
The first area was our large room on the lower level. When you first entered the space there was this sign post:This time was about mingling and waiting for everyone to show up. We severed puff pastry hor'dourves from M&Ms. People took time oohed and ahhed over each others outfits (mostly just the girls did that). There was a Alice trivia quiz they filled out, ballots for them to vote for best dress, and picture taking. Then in was down the rabbit's hole....but you'll have to come back tomorrow to read about that:
Comments
perhaps a local veggie month? :)