Curiouser And Curiouser

My Sunday afternoon found me at the Alice in Wonderland Festival at Trout Lake, face-painting kidlets in the kid’s tent. I didn’t know what to expect really and was shocked to see that parents and their kidlets REALLY want their faces painted at festivals and will form a kick-ass line to wait it out as patiently as possible. Wowzers.

Between the 3 of us sharing the palate, brushes and paints and watching the line grow impossibly long and parents looking over our shoulders to make sure what we’ve drawn is what the kids envision it to be, we so began.

Not surprisingly, this of course would only happen to me. While the other 2 face-painters were getting requests of flowers and hearts painted on each cheek and what not, the first few kidlets I got asked for: full face Spiderman (!), full face butterfly and full face cheshire cat. Seriously?!?!

Well, anything after that was gravy.

Kitty cat? Check.

Bunny? No probs.

Doggie? Sure.

A heart on one cheek and a spade on the other? Have a seat!

Aren’t these lil’ girls adorable with their kitty faces? Painted by yours truly.

Kidlets are adorable! I face-painted some of them as young as 2 years old. And with kids that young, you can really feel their fragility. My already smallish hands felt like they belonged to the Jolly Green Giant’s, as I carefully tilted their chins or steadied my hand gently for a brushstroke. I didn’t even sit on the chair facing them, but rather spent my time crouching to get down face level and chatting them up for the next 2 hours.

What a great experience. Imagine, face-painting now on my resume!

After my shift was done, I spent the rest of the day wandering amongst the tons of people who came out to enjoy the festival. Most everybody got into the spirit of the festival; dressing up inspired by or as anime version of Alice and cast.

I myself chose to dress in red complete with 2 “fob watches” I wore on my belted skirt. I didn’t look like an Alice character, but got a few requests for pictures because people liked my red heart-shaped clock. (which actually is the Tin Man’s clock from Wizard of Oz, but I thought it’d pass as White Rabbit’s and apparently it did!)

There was a wandering carnival of musicians led by the red queen and king, story time with caterpillar on its mushroom throne, a recreation of the croquet game with flamingo mallets and hedgehog balls and wandering characters, acting out their parts and interacting with the crowd. Kinda like a Disney theme park but all Wonderland out.

To say that I was like a kid in a candy store is an understatement.

Today was so fun with so much eye candy, that I felt exhausted by the time I got home. The best (mad hatter’s) tea party I’ve ever been to.