Well… I feel like this was bound to happen eventually. As I like to quote, “time is a weird soup.” And not to toot my own horn or anything, but since we’re all here, what better time to invite you all to a pseudo-online birthday party of which I have just planned and decided on? Of course, a lady never reveals her age or something like that, but maybe, if you put on your party detective hats, my birthday party picks will give you some useful clues.

I’m of the belief that no one is too old for themed birthday parties, because no one is too old for a little bit of whimsy in their life. And yes, a dinner with friends and family is all well and good, but birthdays are special since they only come once a year, so they should be celebrated like they are! While my theme probably falls under the list of overdone birthday parties, you can’t deny that the kooky characters of Alice in Wonderland know how to party. Or have a very merry un-party. I’ve been obsessed with Lewis Carroll’s weird, wacky Wonderland since grade school (weird books really are a weird kid’s best friend). In university, when you finally get creative freedom over your projects, everything had to have a little sprinkle of Alice, and the Mad Hatter, and the rabbit who, for some reason, was always late. My most prized book on my bookshelf is a dinky, teeny-tiny, illustrated copy of Through the Looking Glass that I got at a BMV for 10 bucks. Like I said, obsessed. Considering I work in a library, and all the obvious reading that entails, a book club party sounds like one heck of a way to ring in another trip around the sun. Besides, I have way too much Alice in Wonderland-related stuff still on my to-be-read list, so maybe as a gift to myself (and a gift to you, depending on how you look at things), we’ll finally mark another two off the board.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Decoded has been on my “for later” list for an amount of time I probably shouldn’t admit to, and Wonderland isn’t too far behind it. While birthdays are usually a dealer’s choice type of thing, I’m going to defer to group vibes for our book club party pick. We could dig a little too deep into Carroll’s wacky symbology in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Decoded, which treats them as educational tools (as all good fairytales often do) in philosophy, mathematics, and other important Adult Things, or give the tale a fresh take in Wonderland’s collection of short stories and poems. I may or may not have read a little ahead once I got the idea in my brain to turn my birthday into a book club, and that “little” may have turned into a “lottle” when the second story in Wonderland started off with “it should go without saying, but not all the Alices survived.” If anything, I love me some fairytales with a dark twist.  

Sticking with an Alice in Wonderland theme, though, maybe we should have a book club tea party (of which, of course, the Mad Hatter is an expert in. There ain’t no tea party like a mad tea party). Besides, other than Alice in Wonderland, my other love/obsession is tea (which the astute blog reader may have already noticed). Instead of going on a several-hundred-word rant about the definitely-better-than-coffee beverage, though, I’ll let The Tea Book do it for me. With all its illustrations, colorful pictures, and informative blurbs (which I appreciate as someone who tends to get distracted by big blocks of text), you’ll walk away as a semi-competent sommelier. Hey, if pretentious wines can have them, so can tea, and every tea party needs someone who either knows too much or is decently okay at pretending they do (or so I’m told). Flavor wheels, an entire section dedicated to just tea steepers, and a breakdown of every variety of tea you could possibly think of will have you as mad about tea as the Hatter. And recipes. So. Many. Recipes. Make your own tea-based cocktails or iced/hot mixes, impress even the most experienced of tea drinkers (aka me), and profit off the reputation of being one of the best tea party hosts out there. Just be sure to leave an extra seat at your table for me because I’m handing the reins over.

Though if it’s a tea party/book club party/birthday party, we can’t just have tea. Snacks are necessary. Hot take, though, I’m of the opinion that cake for a birthday is a very inferior dessert choice. It’s easy to get wrong, can be way too filling (since birthdays are all about dessert, it’s an economy of stomach space), and sweet enough to make your teeth hurt. So, no cake at this party, sorry. Unless it’s ice cream cake. Or a cookie cake… or a cupcake. Or a brownie. As you can see, there are plenty of ways to turn a mediocre dessert into a great one, and Crazy for Cookies, Brownies, and Bars will point you in the right direction. Author Dorothy Kern is a food blogger (with a rather good sense of humor), and I don’t know about you, but I get most of my new tried-and-true recipes from the blogosphere. Though having her recipes in a book means you can skip all those erm… lovely and completely useful life story ramblings that usually accompany ¾ of the before-recipe space. Each of her recipes are only a page long too and not overly complicated, which is great for me who isn’t a well-accomplished baker, and also great for anyone who doesn’t have the patience for/despises recipes that take two days to make when all you want to do is stuff your gob with sweet treats. If you’re bringing a tea party favor in food form, I might make a humble suggestion that you take a look at the skillet brownie for two, the lemon poppyseed thumbprints, or the piñata cookie cups. But hey, I’m no expert, I’m just sharing my two cents- or cookies.        

And, lastly, what is a birthday party if not an escape from the routines of everyday life? What is Alice in Wonderland if not an escape into a magical, fairytale world? If tea parties and book clubs aren’t up your alley, there’s nothing like a good escape room to celebrate a birthday- I mean, what’s better than scratching your head, yelling across a room, and potentially being chased around by some guy dressed as a murderer with a semi-impractical weapon until you get your eureka moment? Ah, good times, good times (at least for me). While our collection is a little light in the how-to-escape-room department, you can think of any fiction book as also escaping a room (that you are currently sitting and reading in. It’s a stretch, I know, just go with me here). For maximum escape room vibes, though, Gigi Pandian’s The Library Game is a good place to start. I mean, isn’t it every book lover’s dream to try and break out of a puzzle-filled library? Gray House Library, flipped from residential obscurity into a grand, architectural dream, comes complete with enough classical and fantasy detailing to make any library enthusiast’s mouth drop, and sliding bookshelves that conceal hidden passageways (thanks to its architect, Tempest Raj, and her expertise as a former illusionist). Not only that, but it’s hosting a murder mystery dinner and literature themed escape room to celebrate its opening! See, I’m not the only one who thinks escape rooms equal party vibes! But of course, as it is a novel that does come with a plot, everything does have to go wrong. When one of the escape room actors is murdered during rehearsal, and their body promptly vanishes without a trace, it’s up to Tempest and her crew to solve the mystery. Or mysteries. Whoever’s behind the sudden crime is using all the best stuff from the most well-known murder-mystery plots. The book itself also has a classic murder-mystery vibe to it, Pandian’s prose capturing the easy, page-turning reading that’s the trademark of the genre giants. She’s also weaved her own mixed Scottish and Indian heritage into the story for an added bit of textual flavor. If you want to make me or any of your other favorite librarians very happy on their birthday, maybe head to your local bookshop (or Indigo, I won’t judge) and pick up a copy of The Library Game to gift them. Or really, any cool-looking book. I… I mean we, always need more cool-looking books for our bookshelves, and more things to go on our to-be-read list.     

So, did you guess? How old do you think I’m turning? If you haven’t given it your best try, you’ve got until next month to figure it out. See you next time!