Sunday Funday indeed! My friend Sylvia and I went down the rabbit hole and attended the Mad Hatter Gin & Tea Party in Dallas today. I so love a tea party and there’s no finer tea company than Sylvia! I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from the event but now that I’ve gone, I’ll demystify it for you.

First of all, if you’re expecting high tea, don’t. Think of this event as dinner theatre but for craft cocktails. I was not expecting the show aspect of it! The Mad Hatter, hare, Doormouse and Tweedles guide guests through the cocktail experience. I have to give a shoutout to Doormouse, who really made the show for me!

You might be wondering, like I did, if this is still a seated tea since so many influencers seem to capture moments of them walking around. Yes, once you walk to the main event area, you will be seated for the entirety of the hour and a half long event. Upon arrival, you walk through the Mad Hatter’s hat area, where you can choose a hat if you aren’t already wearing one. There were two themed rooms/photo ops on our way to the main event area, including the room where we were given our welcome shot. We then walked through a flower tunnel down to the main area. I appreciated how far apart guests were seated! Most of these photos were taken from my seat at the tea party.

The main room had flower murals, fun lighting, and an entire ceiling full of whimsical flowers. The featured gin for the entire event was Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin. The first cocktail was The Pool of Tears, gin with simple syrup, Hibiscus Flower tea, acidified “simply” limeade, and St. Germain. Sylvia and I lit up at the first sip of this drink. Wow!! Note to self: start drinking hibiscus tea. This cocktail was fantastic!

Cocktail #2 was Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat: John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum, gin with lime juice, pineapple juice, luster dust, and dehydrated flower petals. The shocking blue color looked so pretty against the pink rose petals!

Last but not least was The Smoking Caterpillar: gin with triple sec, cranberry juice, green tea, simply lemonade, sugar cane syrup, and Absinthe Superior with a rosemary infused smoke bubble. You heard me! A smoke bubble. How the heck do I start serving cocktails with a smoke bubble?! This has to be one of the fanciest drinks I’ve ever been served. 

The website stated that there would be no food at the event, so color me startled when we were given three culinary bites to pair with our tea: a tostada, Pao de Queijo, and Mexican Elote Cup. The latter was my favorite. I’m a sucker for Elote and it went well with The Smoking Caterpillar!

Tickets to the Mad Hatter Gin & Tea Party cost $59-64 depending on when you go and include three cocktails, a welcome shot, a couple of food bites, the immersive show, and lots of photos ops. Want more Alice in Wonderland fun? Check out my Alice in Wonderland dinner party (which Sylvia also attended!) here. 

Stay whimsical,