Hanging on to their hats

About three dozen children went completely bonkers at the Seaford Pubic Library’s 19th annual Mad Hatter’s Tea Party on Feb. 17. Hosted by the Friends of the Seaford Library, children ages 3 through 9 had fun dressing in wacky hats, creating Cheshire cat masks, and enjoying scenes from Walt Disney’s classic animation “Alice in Wonderland.”

“Every year we do ‘Alice in Wonderland’ because it’s just a Walt Disney classic,” children’s librarian Jacqueline Lopez said. “The kids really enjoy coming in with their wacky hats and doing crafts that involve the Mad Hatter and white rabbit.”

With students off from school for winter break, the various programs were a way to keep children in the Seaford area involved with the library, while also offering some down time to parents.

“The parents get to sit outside and have a nice one-hour break,” said the librarian of 17 years. “The children are inside the meeting room with us and that gives parents time to maybe step outside, catch a coffee or run an errand.”

With bright colored snacks in reach and three separate projects to bring home, the children had fun crafting together and giggling like Mad Hatters.

“We always come here because it’s the best library ever,” said mother Vanessa Hlinka-Callinan, of Seaford. “They interact with the community and they certainly enjoy reading.” 

Hlinka-Calinan said that she would definitely bring her children Chloe, 4, and Veronika, 6, back to the tea party next year because they had so much fun showing off their silly hats. “Veronika’s reading level has definitely increased since bringing her here and I think events like this encourage others to want to read and participate in these programs too,” she said.

Many of the programs offered at the library give people the desire to return for future events. For Seaford grandmother Sue Cave, that was exactly her mission.

“We’ve becoming here since Kailyn was just 2 years old, when we would come to Mommy and Me programs,” Cave said about her now 5-year-old granddaughter. “We’ve come to so many programs this past summer and they are all fantastic. If it’s a rainy or snowy day, it’s a good place to come and we were lucky to get a spot today.”

The Seaford Library plans to host the tea party festivities for many years to come and the staff hopes to draw and even larger crowd for next year.

“The Friends of the Seaford Library always sponsor a lot of our programs, including our summer reading series,” Lopez said. “A lot kids that sign up are from around the Seaford community and they really don’t have to go anywhere else. They can always explore here in their own hometown.”