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I am so excited and I couldn’t wait to let you know October 6th is National Mad Hatter Day #NationalMadHatterDay. I don’t know about you but I love @AliceinWonderland. One of my favorite characters is #TheMadHatter. How about you. Do you like Alice in Wonderland and if so which character do you like and why? If you will excuse me I’m off to watch Alice in Wonderland.
I thought I would share my favorite song from Alice in Wonderland with you:
I’m late!
I’m late!
For a very important date!
No time to say “hello”, “goodbye”!
I’m late!
I’m late!
I’m late!
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
I’m overdue!
I’m really in a stew!
No time to say “goodbye”, “hello”!
I’m late!
I’m late!
I’m late!
Lyrics transcribed by Disneyclips.com
Music and Lyrics by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliard
Performed by Bill Thompson as the White Rabbit
I thought you might have been a little repressed or even depressed lately? If that is the case grab your horns and party hats because it’s time for a very strange celebration. It’s Mad Hatter Day on October 6th and it’s okay to blow Milk out of your nose. Celebrate with a day-long fest of silliness made especially for those who want to wear crazy top hats while walking backwards and let’s all ban together to make Lewis Carroll proud.
Mad Hatter Day Activities
- Being Sunday here I know you can’t visit your local library to see if any activities are planned for National Mad Hatter Day but mabey just mabey they might have something on Monday since we missed out checking in with them on Saturday.
- You could offer to put together a re-enactment of the Mad Hatter’s Tea party with a group of children. If you don’t want to act out the Tea Party, why not read sections out loud of Alice in Wonderland and let children discover something wonderful in literature?
- If you have the opportunity today sit down with a cup of Tea and rediscover the adventure of following the White Rabbit down that hole to Wonderland.
- Watch a marathon of silly movies on National Mad Hatter Day with your friends. If your not sure what to watch start with Alice in Wonderland then move on to W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, or David’s favorite The Three Stooges and end the day with Laurel and Hard.
- During your movie marathon have at least one member wear a a top hat in the middle of insane antics. Make a night of it and let everyone sleep over and make snacks like they had at the Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland.
- Today is a great day to act ditzy and wear a funny hat which could be a Cat in the Hat style of Hat, an over-sized wood cap like Rerun’s, or fall back to the classic top hat. When people raise eyebrows wondering what you’re doing, invite them to your Tea Party and share the story of the Mad Hatter. To make the day more fun visit a Costume Store and purchase a costumer from Alice in Wonderland and dress up.
Reasons The Mad Hatter Rules
- Lewis Carroll may have modeled his Mad Hatter after Theophilus Carter, a man who invented the Alarm Clock Bed which awakened sleepers by casting them into a tub of cold water. I need this bed for Charlie. Do you know someone that needs one as well?
- Did you know The Mad Hatter’s Shop at Disneyland features a wall mirror where that creepy smiling Cheshire Cat slowly appears after you stare into it long enough.
- Here is a fun fact for you. The mad Hatter was in the DC comic “Batman Number 49,” when the Mad Hatter stars as a supervillain/mad Scientist who controls the minds of his victims by using various devices stored in his hat.
- Can you imagine in 1865, Lewis Carroll’s book received negative reviews when Alice in Wonderland came out described by one critic as “too extravagantly absurd to produce more diversion than disappointment and irritation.”
- Lewis Carroll understood hatters, mad and otherwise, due to his upbringing in Manchester, England where hat-making was the primary occupation. I think my son would have loved being there.
Why We Love Mad Hatter Day
- “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll is the 19th-Century version of “Bizarro World.” Carroll’s 1865 book follows a precocious seven-year-old girl down a Rabbit hole and into a world of disappearing Cheshire Cats, babies transformed into Piglets and a head-chopping Queen. The Mad Hatter’s absurd Tea Party is enticing and frightful, like an early version of Groundhog Day, never- ending and complete with a Dormouse stuffed daily into a Teacup.
- “In Carroll’s book, the eccentric Tea Party thrower is simply referred to as “Hatter.” However, the phrase “mad as a hatter” was a staple of British jargon for almost 30 years. “Mad A Hatter” referred to a time in the 18th and 19th Centuries when hat makers used mercury nitrate as part of the process for curing felt. As we know now, mercury poisoning can manifest in supposed eccentric behavior like slurred speech, drooling, and diarrhea. The behavior resulted in someone being referred to as “mad as a hatter.”
- National Mad Hatter Day brings out the silliness in all of us because The Mad Hatter sees the world as one continuous Tea Party full of tempting Biscuits and eccentric guests where everyone makes up their own rules. In a time of increasing partisanship and rigidity, the Mad Hatter invites all of us to wear what we like, do what we like, and share some Tea and Scones with anyone we like.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
