“Into Wonderland”

Susan Fee

            “Who knows the story of Alice in Wonderland?”  Dawn Nero asks the circle of girls sitting on her parlor floor.   

Five hands shoot up into the air as they sing in chorus, “I do!” 

“Good!  Because we’re going to have a Mad Hatter tea party, so we all have to know the story.” Nero opens a giant picture book and begins an abbreviated version of the Lewis Carroll classic.  The pre-schoolers sit attentively, cross-legged, black patent leather shoes peeking out from beneath folds of party dresses.  With each turn of the page, they collectively lean closer.  Nero doesn’t really need the book; she could tell this story by heart.  She’s been telling it every weekend for the last three years.  That’s when her idea for a home-based business blossomed into “Tea Parties with Alice.” 

This is my daughter Gabby’s fourth birthday party.  I heard about Nero through word of mouth, her only source of advertising.  Watching her in action, I wonder why I didn’t think of organizing something like this.  With her preparation and experience, she makes it look easy.  Nero says the idea wasn’t obvious to her at first.       

In 1998, she was asked to host a family bridal tea.  “My aunt hired three ladies who came to the house and brought everything needed for a Victorian tea, including the china,” she explained.  “I was impressed.  It got me thinking.” 

At the time she was a stay-at-home mom to three kids ages two, four, and six.  A former buyer for Dillard’s, she was looking for something else to do.  “I don’t drink tea myself.  I thought there was one variety: Lipton tea.”  Still, her curiosity sparked, she headed to the library.     

“Now ladies,” says Nero closing her storybook, “if we’re going to have a tea party, then we have to dress for it.”

“But, I’m already dressed,” says Gabby, having chosen her attire weeks ago.    

“Yes, you look lovely.  But, you’re missing something,” says Nero, pointing out the vintage accessories displayed around her parlor.  “A lady would never attend a tea party without her hat and gloves.”  The girls catch on immediately and begin playing dress up, chattering and giggling all the while.     

“Don’t I look pretty?” asks Amanda, tossing a lace scarf over her shoulder.  Lizzie, sporting a pink flowered hat and pearls gives an approving nod.  Each girl poses as Nero takes a Polaroid picture, to be included in frames they will decorate later.  She tells them that they can play for a few minutes longer while she checks the food.  When suddenly she reappears, she is wearing a top hat, black silk vest, and white gloves. 

“Well,” she booms in a lower voice loud enough to startle the girls, “Mrs. Nero told me I might find you here!  You know who I am, right?”

“The Mad Hatter!” shouts Nadia, clapping her hands.  In character, Nero leads them through a hallway where they pretend to take a sip of special potion that will shrink them, just like Alice.  They’re seated in the formal dining room where colorful paper lanterns dot the ceiling.       

The table is dressed with a deep red floral tablecloth, matching linens, china, and depression era glass.  Each place setting is served with finger sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly), cookies, strawberries with individual crystal sugar bowls for dipping, meringue mushrooms, and chocolates with “Eat me, ” written in icing across the top.  In the center of the table sit a vase of roses and serving bowls filled with jellybeans and extra strawberries.  Before offering her guests tea or pink lemonade, Nero gives them a quick etiquette lesson.     

“Ladies always remove their gloves before eating.  Napkins belong in your lap, except when dabbing your mouth.  Use your spoon to stir your tea, and then set it on your saucer.  And how do we ask for more?”

“Please!” the girls respond in unison.  Parents, gathered in the hallway, glance at one another, wondering if Nero is available for dinners in private homes.  For the first time since the party began, it’s silent.  While the tea is being poured, Jamie picks up her meringue mushroom, sniffs it, and then discreetly opts for something more familiar.  Lizzie politely nibbles her chocolate, heeding the warning that, “if you eat it too fast, you’ll grow bigger than the room.”  Gabby sits in a wing back chair at the head of the table, dabbing her mouth.  Her light green plate is cleaned to reveal a pink and blue floral pattern.  It’s the same plate that proved to be Nero’s final inspiration for her idea.   

“As soon as I saw it, the whole thing came together in my head,” she said.  After researching tea parties, she toyed with the idea for a year.  She had been busy restoring and furnishing her Sagamore Hills century home.  “I was browsing in an antique shop and spotted that hand painted plate from Bavaria.  Immediately, everything clicked.  That’s why I always place it in front of the birthday girl.”    

Over the next three months, she searched for just the right pieces of china, “They had to match the vision in my head.”  She learned how to use the Internet and computer publishing programs to design brochures and invitations.  She recruited her mom, an antiques dealer, to help in the kitchen.  Finally, it was time to give her first party. 

“My daughter Samantha was my guinea pig.  She was turning six and was all tomboy.  The last thing she wanted was a tea party.” 

The first attempt was a disaster.  “One hour before the party, three of the four girls we had invited called to cancel.  They all had the flu,” said Samantha, now age nine and her mom’s helper. The party was postponed one week.  But a week later when the party did happen, everyone had fun, including Samantha.  Nero knew she had a hit.     

But, she still had not decided where to hold the parties and, at first, tried taking them on the road.  After two attempts she quit.  “It was too time consuming.”  After all, she had the perfect location:  her own home.   

Long interested in preservation, she and her husband Bob bought their historical home in 1996.  Originally, it had been owned by industrialist Cyrus Eaton and used as his guesthouse.  It stayed in the Eaton family until the 1970’s when it was sold to the Roths.            

After fifteen years, the house, which now had several additions, including a pool house and tennis courts, was sold to developers.  When the surrounding acreage was being cleared to build the Eaton Estate housing development, the Sagamore Hills Township stepped in and asked that the house be preserved.  “As soon as I saw the dining room, I was sold,” Nero said.  Recently, she’s expanded her business by packaging together adult teas with a home tour, which are often booked for events like a bridal tea.      

The current party guests, however, could care less about history.  They’re too busy playing old-fashioned party games like dropping clothespins in a milk bottle, musical chairs, and pin the smile on the Cheshire cat. 

Between games they work on crafts in the craft room while Nero’s mother cleans up the dining room and prepares it for the dessert round.  The girls sing “Happy Birthday,” and then celebrate everyone else’s “un-birthday” before diving into the make-your-own-sundae bar.  There’s one last trip to the parlor where a large dollhouse now sits.  Each child reaches into “the White Rabbit’s house,” for a special party favor, including her framed picture.       

As we leave, I encourage Gabby to remember her manners.  “Say thank you to Mrs. Nero.”

“Mom,” Gabby says, rolling her eyes, “that’s not Mrs. Nero, that’s the Mad Hatter!” 

“Oh right!” I say and stand corrected.  “It’s the Mad Hatter we really need to thank.” 

 ………………………….

For her “Tea Parties with Alice,” the cost is $16.50 per child, for a maximum of twelve girls.  Adult teas are $18.50 per person, twenty maximum.  Tea parties can be booked by calling the Mad Hatter (Dawn Nero) at (330) 467-8551.