A Mad Tea Party: West Valley Celebrates a Very Merry Un-Birthday

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By Avi Vieira

Glendale

As our West Valley one•n•ten family continues to grow, the staff and volunteers have been asked several times about having birthday celebrations for the youth as there have been for the volunteers. With so many youth being served, it would be improbable to dedicate individual nights for each of our youth. After some brainstorming, the volunteers came up with the idea of celebrating an Un-Birthday for everyone! Taking inspiration from the works of Lewis Carroll, the theme for this night was An Un-Birthday Tea Party with West Valley one•n•ten transformed into Wonderland! Complete with music, costumes, and decorations, the evening was set to give our youth a memorable celebration.

Our merry volunteers dressed as the White Rabbit, Alice, The Mad Hatter, The Cheshire Cat, and The Knave of Hearts and welcomed the youth as they arrived for the party which was laid out before them. After a quick round of introductions and the rules, the festivities began with an art project where the youth painted teacups for a minute before a noisemaker was blown and the cups moved to the next person to decorate. After everyone had a chance to add their own touch, they were allowed to keep the cups as a party favor. Following that, envelopes were distributed to youth and adults alike, who opened and read cards containing quotes from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass such as “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then,” and “Only the insane equate pain with success.” The group was asked to state what the quotes meant to them before closing the evening with red velvet cupcakes and social time.

The evening proved to be a huge success as it was a night celebrating our youth with our volunteers expressing their gratitude to the youth for making West Valley one•n•ten the magical Wonderland that it is every week.

 

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