I am a huge Alice in Wonderland fan. The copy pictured here is the one I normally keep in my classroom and allow students to check out, but I also have the Annotated Alice in Wonderland which is absolutely beautiful, but not for young, sticky hands.

I love that this story is so full of whimsey, magic and unreality, while simultaneously commenting on, and poking fun at, some of the very real social and political mores of Carroll’s time.

One of my favorite scenes from Alice in Wonderland is the Mad Hatter’s tea party. I love that the luncheon is such a hilariously over-the-top caricature of many a typical family gathering–wherein mostly everyone enjoys themselves, despite the inevitable chaos and sporadic offensive remark…

When I studied abroad in Edinburgh, I had the distinct pleasure of attending high tea at a few fancy hotels with visiting family members. And, 12 years later, I still stand by the assertion that there is nothing more delightful than spending an afternoon sipping a hot beverage (and a glass of champagne… or four) while eating your weight in tiny sandwiches.

About a week ago, I took Margot to the local tea shop in our town–McKenna’s Tea Cottage–and was pleased to discover that she shares my affinity for a good lunch spread, and a mid-day pot of pink lemonade. Tea with one adult and two toddlers rivalled Alice’s experience in terms of unexpected surprises and general madness, but it was still a pretty memorable experience (and, miraculously, no teacups were harmed in the process).

Margot requests a return to the tea cottage approximately 10X per day, but since that’s a little outside of my budget, we’ve been hosting our own tea parties at home instead. In an attempt to legitimize the endeavor, I purchased this tea tower from Amazon, and have been pleasantly surprised by how much more excited my kids are about lunch when it’s served on a three-tiered tower (despite the fact that it’s still just crustless PB&J), and paired with an emotion, and bad-accent-filled read-aloud from Alice in Wonderland.

When we went to “real” tea, the showstopper was the pink sprinkle cupcake that Margot received with her meal. While that is definitely not going to be an everyday thing in our house, I did make sure to replace the cupcake portion of our tea with a seasonally-appropriate and VERY easy to make banana-pumpkin blender muffin. I’ve included the recipe below, because they were such a hit (Max ate about six in one sitting), that I had to make another batch the next day.

Also included on our tea-time menu were mini PN&J sandwiches, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, hardboiled eggs, fruit, and cheese and crackers (because you really don’t need to overcomplicate it guys… especially when the client is 3 and doesn’t know how to write a review on Yelp).

I hope that you enjoy your own bookish tea with toddlers (if you choose to do so), and tag me on social (@thepaperdart) if you decide to make these muffins! Cheers!

Banana Pumpkin Blender Muffins:

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana (the riper, the sweeter, so wait ’till that sucker is a little brown)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg (this is a pretty strong addition, so you might want to use a little less if you’re not a huge nutmeg fan)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a blender, combine all of the above ingredients
3. Blend well (it should look like smoothie consistency)
4. Pour into well-greased mini muffin tin (you can also use mini muffin liners if you have ’em handy.
5. Cook at 350 for 15-17 minutes
6. EAT THEM ALL.