# Mad Hatter Alice In Wonderland aka Malice 2009 preparations



## moonchildani (Sep 20, 2009)

Hi ~ Ani from Oregon ~ a fellow Halloween fanatic ~ who's just really learned to spread her wings in the last couple of years.
So cool to find this website and see many many others and that Im not soooo alone LOL like I sometimes feel here in my small valley ~ but my local friends are coming around ~ they now ask ahead of time what theme Ive come up with and are getting into the fun of it too. ~ So whatever Im doing must be working LOL

This years theme is (M)Alice in Wonderland in celebration of Tim Burtons upcoming film (Mar 2010) of Alice In Wonderland with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. 
I have friends coming as Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, (M)Alice, Cheshire Cat and Im putting together a white Rabbit costume. Ive put out the word that anyone can be any of the characters in the story (duplicates welcome) as each person will put their own spin on the costume. 
What Im really excited about and *need ideas* on is how to take a childs cute story and make it macabre (a grim or ghastly atmosphere).

In my house ~ I want it to be like you've entered the story ~ but like it was left centuries ago or is seen thru a haunted looking glass.
Here's areas Ive come up with so far.....

Three Sections:

1)From front door..entry is a tunnel representing "Down the Hole" ~ see below for more possible descriptive.

2)Opens up to checkered path to the Mad Hatter Tea Party (Dining room)

3) And a checkered path to "a spiral path to no where" in the living room..which is the scary forest. (sitting area)

~ All lit up by black lights and strobe and candles ~Anyhooo ~ Ive been going over and over how to do the tunnel without actually hurting my living room ....sorta like T Burtons vision but not so monstrous ....









Right now my living room has a designated entry hall made by the back of the long couch. So ideally Im thinking that'd be best for where the tunnel would be. I'd block off access to the main living room with a black curtain (so I can move around without having to go thru tunnel each time) and start the tunnel right after entering, leaving an area for the door to move freely. 

So I was pondering how to do this with people gonna be in costumes. A friend suggested Fridge boxes but Im afraid people wont want to bend down and then its how to keep em up and solid ect ... And what I want to do is to put a strobe light in there with motion activated props on the sides and things she see's falling down the hole ect.. so that'd weigh the cardboard down ...so hmmm dilemna dilemna ...

then I was out in the back yard and I saw one of my garden structures ... a cheap metal arch i had got one past halloween for an entry ..it was like 9.00 when I got it then; I googled and I can get them at Crafts Warehouse for the same. I need two more, which I can then incorp into the garden afterwards ...Anyhoo ..picture a 6ft arch, 5ft wide, three of them staggered in a row and then a black sheet (or those $1 store plastic black table cloths taped together and draped over it the length ...on the metal arches there are cross bars...on there I can wire the different motion activated items and pictures, books ect or hang stuff... 

Another guy told me to have a fog machine ready and press on when people go thru..said since its not on the whole time it should be safe in the house (I can open the front windows a crack for air too) At the end....hang a mirror type material in strips to represent also walking thru the looking glass ....(*ok where do I get that?)
*
So what do ya all think of my "down the hole tunnel?" *Ideas to put on hole walls? Better ideas? Where do I find animated motion or sound activated everyday household items? I can find lots of monsters but not like books, lamps, ect*?

And the Mad Hatter Tea party? ~ I found a childs Mad Hatter outfit at goodwill and its great..very evil mask..gonna have him sitting at the back end of the table on a big donated chair (like in the MHTP scenes) and I got a large rubber evil toothed rat (gonna put a cute hat on him and bow tie) and he'll be the evil DoorMouse. And a dead guest, long since departed (a skeleton dressed in tea party outfit and hat) 

A silver candelabra I already have with skulls on it will grace the middle of the table and many many cobwebs ...like a tea party left as is for years (inspiration the ballroom and dining table in Disneys Haunted House) Cobbwebbed first then put the food trays down.








*Any suggestions here ? Food ? Animated something? Id love to project a ghost ..how do you do that? *

The scary forest ~ livingroom will be interesting. It means me actually doing some crafting with cardboard. I'd love to be able to fork out 225.00 and just have these put in .. http://www.spiritfrightsquad.com/treetunnel.html

But I think I can do some scary ones myself....just taking boxes, flattening them out, cut and tape together..staple something to the back to make them stand up and spray paint em black with brown streaks. Glue on (dollar store) eyeballs. Cut and paint Cheshire Cat grin to put up in one. AIW "This Way" "Down" "Up" Signs cut and paint. .... mainly stuff that will show up in black light.
*Now the question here is where to find the best template for scary trees? Any suggestions?*

So thats preparations so far ~ gonna start decorating next week ~ *Love any feed back ~ Thanks much!!!*


----------



## HeatherEve1234 (Sep 5, 2008)

That tunnel looks AMAZING, but looks like a lot of work too! That's why I went with a "through the looking glass" entry to wonderland - I'm building an archway and sort of mosaic-ing it with broken mirrors around the frame, and then using a tinsel curtain for the center of the mirror - you can still get through, but it'll look somewhat like a mirror when standing still. 

I looked around at tinsel curtains & bead curtains and finally got mine online from Anderson's Giant Party store - the silver foil curtain with black stars were cheapest, I'm flipping them around so the stars don't show (the other side is solid silver!) they were around $10 for a 3' section of curtain.


----------



## jtohm (Sep 14, 2005)

I will echo the previous comment and say that is absolutely amazing. I wish I could go all out like that! Unfortunately, we have to hold our parties at the local town hall due to size constraints, so we can a day to decorate before the party.

Where do you find the time?


----------



## moonchildani (Sep 20, 2009)

I just read the comments about the tunnel pictured ~ as much as I'd love to take credit for that ~ its actually the 'actual prop' to the down the rabbit hole scene from the upcoming Tim Burton film Alice In Wonderland. 
That is a lot of work if I did all that and I wish I did have the time, money, and supplies.  
My tunnel will be scaled down to using 3 garden arches 6ft tall and 5ft wide, staggered and wired together, and black sheets draped over. On the metal bars and wires, Im gonna wire or tape household objects, sound/motion activated props ect and it'll be lit by a strobe and black light...maybe even fog (but indoors, dont know if safe???) 
I'll post pics next week as I put it together. Hopefully I wont dissappoint ya all ~ as it wont be as grand as Tim Burtons. LOL But it'll be fun  (oh and the floor will be bubble wrap covered by either a checkered floor or black plastic, making sure sound is made to start the props)


----------

