Alice Day 2014!

 Alice Day seems to come around quicker every year! I decided to host another meet for the Oxfordshire Lolitas, even though Alice Day isn't as good as it used to be. I don't think we even really did anything remotely Alice-related, apart from the games I brought along with me.

I went as the White Rabbit again this year. I recycled the bunny ears from last year's outfit and stuck them on a completely different one. Luckily I purchased this dress at Frock On last year, so I had a nice bunny-themed dress to team the ears with. I have to admit, I did put this outfit together right at the last minute because I had been so distracted with the meet planning side of things and there are also lots of other exciting events coming up in the next few months. I was worried the pinks didn't match but because the dress has different shades of pinks in it, I don't think it looks too bad? The head bow may be slightly off, but otherwise I am pleased with the end result, considering how quickly I had to put this together. I went for strawberry themed jewellery to match the strawberries in the print. My Alice in Wonderland jewellery was sadly the wrong colour.

We were meant to be having a picnic but once again, the British weather was being annoying! We were meant to have rain and it did rain lots overnight, making the ground wet. Typically, it did get sunny during the day though! So we ended up in the Mitre for lunch. I made goody bags for everybody and we all voted to see who wore the favourite outfit. Blair won! I was very happy for her, as I did really love her outfit, especially her hair accessories. She won a handmade brooch, which was Alice themed. 

We considered going to the Botanical Gardens, as they were meant to be having Alice Day stuff going on, but when we peered over the hedges it looked pretty empty in there. So we decided against it in the end. It didn't stop me taking flower pictures outside the entrance though! Perhaps the rain meant they didn't have as much stuff out. There was also an exhibition going on at the Christ Church Library, but we got a bit lost. So in the end, we didn't really go to any of the events that were running, but there were still fun and games to come.

As the sun had decided to make an appearance, we went to G&D's to get ice cream. They had a special Alice in Wonderland flavour in honour of Alice Day so that is what I went for. This year's Alice theme was "Alice Underground" so the choice of chocolate ice cream was quite appropriate. It has white chocolate buttons in it too.

But of course we had to do something Alice related... So I brought my games along with me again! It is very hard to come up with new games every year, so I did an egg race in honour of Humpty Dumpty. In the end, Shalisa won!

There was also a hoop the rabbit game in honour of the White Rabbit. I thought I had set an easy distance and the idea was to keep moving backwards until only one person left could still hoop it. But in the end, only Blair was able to hoop the rabbit from the starting distance! So she won the chocolate rabbit and an additional prize.

And finally, a group photo! The sun was really strong at this point and it didn't help some random guy kept photo bombing us, so it was a struggle to find a decent group picture. I borrowed this one from Madeleine (sorry!). It felt very strange being the only one in pastel colours!

So whilst I do feel that the Alice Day events were a bit of a let-down, I think we were able to fit in a lot of fun things. I even managed to find brown sugar and cinnamon pop tarts at the sweet shop (that flavour is very difficult to find here). Despite not going exactly to plan, my guests did assure me that they had a good time. It was good to catch up with everybody, and we even bumped in to several familiar faces whilst we were walking around town too! Given how much everybody seemed to enjoy the event this year, I may host another one again next year. Hopefully next time we will be able to go to some of the actual Alice events!

Alice Day 2013!

On Saturday we had our annual lolita meet at Alice Day in Oxford. In the end the Oxfordshire and South West lolita groups joined together, which was lovely because we got to meet some new people and there were more people to share the fun with.

I was dressed as the White Rabbit wearing Angelic Pretty's Wonder Cookie print. People kept mistaking me for an Alice/White Rabbit hybrid though. I thought people would guess who I was from the massive rabbit ears! My WC dress and bow was teamed with white Bodyline shoes and wrist cuffs. I used my Bodyline stripy macaron socks too as I wanted to do something different (I usually end up wearing my matching Wonder Cookie socks!). 

I teamed it with a DreamV cutsew and off-brand and AP jewellery. Being the rabbit was a perfect excuse to use one of my Paris Kids fluffy bunny brooches, which I absolutely adore.

As I was hosting, I planned games and surprises. Sammi was unlucky enough to find a lump of carrot in her cupcake. She found the carrot before she bit in to it though! This was all part of the plan for the guests to build up points and then win a big prize at the end.

One of the games was to build the highest sugar cube tower in one minute. It's a lot harder than it sounds. Everybody kept getting the shakes!

The prize at the end featured postcards, tea, jam, a spoon and an AP spade cookie ring. Jenny won in the end.

Jenny also won our Best Dressed contest and she got a brooch that I spent ages making. I don't think my crafting skills are that brilliant but Jenny seemed pleased with her prize! The prize was quite appropriate in the end because Jenny was dressed as the Red Queen and the brooch matched her outfit.

I did notice there were less exhibits going on this year and the ones that were on seemed to end sooner in the day and were smaller compared to previous years. So we didn't get to see that much. We did however, see a dodo skeleton in the Ashmolean Museum. I do hope that there are more events at Alice Day in the future. For those attending in the future, I suggest having a picnic at the Botanical Gardens as the Oxford castle stuff is a lot smaller than it used to be.

And a group shot of us all. Michelle told everybody to pull derp faces at my camera, so some of us are pulling some pretty strange faces here! Everybody looked amazing.

I do hope everybody had a good time in the end. I tried my best as a host! We got very lucky with the weather. It's just a shame Alice Day seemed smaller this year. But I doubt that will stop us having another meet in Oxford again next July.

July Ox Loli meet- Luna hosts a meet at Alice Day!

I would have updated earlier today but I have been very tired. It has been a long hectic weekend. I have hosted a lolita meet for the very first time! It took a lot of planning but thankfully, everything came together. Earlier this year, it was decided I would host the July Oxfordshire Lolita meet. Originally, I was going to hold a scavenger hunt but I realised that the day we were going was the same day as Alice Day. If you were reading my blog around this time last year, you may remember I attended Alice Day last year with my husband. I thought I should make the most of the date clash and so, the meet became an Alice Day meet!

We spent the day at Oxford Castle eating my picnic and getting in to all sorts of immature japes. We even made it in to the local paper! I will hopefully get a scan of the paper at some point. It was a very interesting day. People kept mistaking us for performers which was funny!

I took full advantage of the fact that I already had an Alice inspired outfit in my wardrobe. I have always loved the imagery from the book.

Skirt and cutsew and waist bow (worn on head)- Bodyline

Shoes- Unknown (from Minky Shop)

Socks- offbrand (stall in Camden)

Accessories- various off-brand

I had various playing cards stuck all over me. I had all 4 Aces on my leg and the Queen of Hearts was attached to my chest. My shoes are so OTT. I need to wear them more often. They remind me of Cardcaptor Sakura! The heels are made of foam which is very soft to walk on.

I cut up some playing cards to make some nail art. If they look rushed, it is because they were!

For the picnic I provided loads of food such as cupcakes, sandwiches, various salad bits, crisps, tarts and lots more. I got some plain blue cups and added Drink Me on one side and an Alice sticker on the other side.

The plates had Alice printed on them and I also had some Eat Me tags. Originally, the tags were meant for the cupcakes but that idea didn't work well so I tied them to lollipops instead.

There was a croquet set laid out on the garden. Nicola and Naomi (dressed as Alice and the Red Queen) decided to do their own version of croquet instead! Oxford Castle even remembered to include some lawn flamingos (bottom left!).

We got to hold some cute little bunnies. Some were really tiny. I was a little scared I was going to drop the one I held. We held our picnic very close to the bunnies so we got to see them whilst we ate.

There was also a giant chess board! We decided to make it look as though Nicola had just fallen down on to the chessboard, which is why she looks a little dead here. Sadly, I forgot where some people got their clothes from so I have just included information I remembered.

From left to right we have-

Raine (as the Mad Hatter in Meta's Romantica Train), Louise (awesome waistcoat! I think she was doing the Mad Hatter too but I am not sure!), Jenni (as the white rabbit in Moitie), Sammi (as the Cheshire Cat in another cute salopette), Me (as Alice/Card Sentry hybrid, see outfit rundown above), Beau (as Alice in Angelic Pretty's Wonder Cookie), Sophie (wearing Alice and the Pirate's Scent of Rapunzel), Olwen (in Bodyline).

And on the chess board we have Nicola as Alice (handmade items).

We were joined by 2 newbies- Sophie and Olwen. Both of you were absolutely lovely and I hope you attend more meets in the future! You both looked lovely!

I also made a game- Pin the tail on the Cheshire Cat! It took me a couple of hours to paint this by hand. Louise won some Colin the Caterpillar sweeties and a teacup necklace (to continue the Alice theme).

Despite feeling a little tired, I had a great day and the others have told me they enjoyed it too. I will definitely hold more meets in the future. Now I really want to attend Alice Day again next year. Next year it will be the 150th Anniversary of the day Lewis Caroll originally told the story of Alice in Wonderland to the real life Alice- Alice Lidell. I believe next year it will be held on the exact same day of the anniversary too. I can't wait!