Alice in Wonderland comes to Galle Fort

An empty house on Peddler’s Street in Galle Fort came to life during the 2016 Galle Literary Festival as ‘Auntie Maureen’s Cakes & Bakes’, together with the ‘Keep it Simple’ online home furnishings store, unveiled a novel and fun pop-up cafe, themed around the beloved ‘Alice in Wonderland’ children’s classic. 

Auntie Maureen’s Cakes & Bakes is a small catering and kids party planning company which operates from Ragama. Conceived by mother-daughter duo, Maureen Peiris and Dinusha Gomes, Maureen takes care of all the baking, with the help of her son, who is now studying to be a chef, while the party planning and styling is put together by daughter Dinusha. 

Together they were able to bring life to an empty house, and the set up was admired by adults, as well as kids. Dinusha’s daughter, who is a fan of Alice in Wonderland, was the inspiration for this theme. She was seen dressed as Alice and having tea parties all throughout the day from 15 to 17 January. The cafe was named “It’s always tea time”, and it featured a range of teas, coffee, juices as well as an extensive spread of high tea sweets and savouries.  

Dinusha notes that the love of the idea was even more important to her than any financials, as she wanted to create an atmosphere for her daughter as well as other kids to really enjoy the role play and bring the story to life. “It was an almost impossible task to get this project off the ground. With the venue only getting finalised on 10 January, I had to work until 3 a.m., just hours before the cafe’s opening, to get all the prints and props ready, as I work full time as well. We had to pack most of the items together, including furniture and an oven for mom to bake with, etc., and move it all to Galle, which was also very costly. This was truly a labour of love for all those involved.” 

However, Maureen and Dinusha were both very happy with the overall result, which visitors also overwhelmingly enjoyed and positively commented on. In fact, they hope to do it all again at the next Galle Literary Festival, so that even more kids can have a good time while their parents relax or even join in, if they so choose.

Visit Auntie Maureen’s Cakes & Bakes on Facebook and Instagram, at Auntiemaureenscakes, and Dinusha can be contacted on 0773002274, while online home furnishings store Keep It Simple is also reachable via instagram.com/minimal.simple.