Mad Hatter mayhem to celebrateTim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland

The Connaught 2Screen Cinema hosted a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party to celebrate the magical opening of Tim Burton’s new film Alice in Wonderland and with the cinema filled to capacity and queues at all of the events, the white rabbit himself could not have wanted a better reception.

Guests were welcomed with complimentary tea and cake before making their way to the auditorium where a wonderland of events awaited them.  Against a backdrop of Disney PIXAR short films, Alices mixed with Cheshire Cats and Knaves of Hearts as they took part in myriad activities.

OPI’s Alice in Wonderland inspired nail varnishes adorned the fingertips of adults and children alike as they were manicured to perfection in time to take part in the Eat Me Drink Me Taste Testing where unknown sweets and sugary flavours had to be discovered for the chance to win family film tickets.  Others chose to have their photos taken using green screen technology so that they could be warped into their favourite Alice in Wonderland characters by local media company APT creations.

Once the tea party activities had finished a fancy dress parade included an unprecedented number of cleverly dressed hatters, cards and queens of all ages.  With more in fancy dress than expected, there were two competition age groups with Harry Miles and Davies Goddard winning the youngest category in their matching Mad Hatter disguises while hatters also dominated the second category with Connie Hebenton winning the eldest category with Dale Blackburn as a runner-up.

As an audience full of characters settled down after the excitement, the first glimpses of Tim Burton’s darkly gothic new film were met with excitement.  As the tale of nineteen-year-old Alice Kingsleigh’s return to the magical land of her childhood unfolded, plans for the summer gala events at the Connaught 2Screen cinema were already underway.