Everyone celebrates Alice but there is not too much light shone on another important character in the Lewis Carroll books: the Mad Hatter. Let's bring everyone back to Wonderland and have fun at that tea party.
Make your invitations really unusual. You can find conventional cards with pictures of the tea party on them or you can make one of your own. Either paste a playing card on the front and fill it with glitter and put the details at the back. You could definitely send the invitations with a plain hat and instructions to decorate them for the party.
Decorate the party area to make it seem familiar, yet a little offbeat. Since this is a shower, have an umbrella hanging from the ceiling but upside down. Ring the sides with flowers peeking out and have some ribbon streamers with little flowers glued on them hanging down. Position some topiary trees around the room and stick in red and white artificial roses. Buy some giant cards and hang them around the room.
When setting the tables, try to use different place settings at
each place. Borrow as many tea sets as you can to give each one
a different set. Center a teapot in the middle of the table and
use that as a vase (include flowers coming out of the spout) and
sprinkle the table with some edible flowers. Leave one teapot empty
and stick a plush toy in it to simulate the poor dormouse.
Set the food table as prettily as you can with offbeat tea food.
Have ham sandwich rolls with the ham on the outside, pineapple upside
down cake, fruit skewers, and green tea ice cream. The highlight
of the buffet table could be a baby carriage watermelon holding
fresh fruit salad.
If you could have an off-kilter cake for the Mad Hatter baby shower, that would be perfect. Try to find a brave baker that will make you a cake with uneven layers and a big hat on top.
For the games, play a version of “Musical Chairs” using the hats. Put the hats in a pile and when the music stops, everyone has to grab a hat in two seconds and the one without a hat is out of the game. A hat contest is also on the list with prizes going to the most original, the cutest, the wildest, the funniest, etc. Have a fashion show first set to kooky music and let the mommy-to-be be the judge.
For favors, candles in teacups are the perfect thing. You could
also add a few mixed bags of herbal tea to help everyone relax after
that tea party with a difference.