Hello Kitty Party -1yr- Hello Kitty Entertainer

Since I am an avid Hello Kitty lover, I was thrilled to see HK making a comeback. I thought this would be a fun theme for my daughter's first birthday! I picked HK when she was around 4 months old and purchased all throughout the year...this made it much easier and the cost seemed less expensive. 

INVITATIONS: I used a local printing shop to make my invitations. They were a giant hot pink 1" and had flowers scattered in the corners of the one very girly and feminine. The invitation read "Hello Kitty ice cream jumping fun Our little cupcake is turning one. Please join us on May 2 2008 for Paisley's first birthday RSVP to Mommy. I used this instead because I didn't want to use a fill-in and obviously HK does not make invites so this worked perfectly with our theme. We decorated the outside of the envelopes with Hello Kitty stickers for some fun.

DECORATIONS: I utilized my local Party City and decorated with the HK theme that was pink and purple. We used the HK streamers balloons noise makers stickers the autograph pillow crepe paper and I also hung two pinatas over my stairway balcony. I filled in with the "1" stuff from Party City that is all in pink. I used their streamers their highchair cover and the "1" pinata to hang on my front door for a door piece. I also used hot pink feather boas to wrap around our front columns. I also filled three large glass hurricane glasses with candy of all sorts and had pink roses coming out of the tops.

I also used Hello Kitty marshmallow lollipops to stick out the tops. They turned out so cute! These served as my centerpieces on the buffet. I rented two nice tablecloths for my main tables and then used pink and purple plastic tablecloths for outside. Along with the rented tablecloths I rented 20 chairs for more seating. I also rented a Helium tank and was most helpful in blowing up 100 balloons!

ACTIVITIES/GAMES: A local company in Nashville called Copycats for Kids came and brought a character dressed as Hello Kitty. She stayed for 1.5 hours and the kids just loved her. She talked in a high pitch voice just like Hello Kitty. She was great and the highlight of the party. We also purchased a cardboard castle for $25 from Celebration Express that the kids could color on. This was a huge hit and we also had HK stickers to decorate the castle with. We also rented a pink castle moon jump and a coton candy machine with strawberry cotton candy. The adults really enjoyed this!!

COSTUMES:Most of the children came dressed in HK shirts. My daughter wore the cutest dress that a lady from  E-bay made her that was adorable!

PARTY SNACKS AND CAKE: Because we had close to 70 guests I had a close friend cater and help prepare food...worth the money! We had mini turkey sliders fancy PB&J with frilly toothpicks in the shape of HK's face chicken satay skewers with dip hummus vegetables spinach dip mac and cheese pink fondue and an assortment of fruits/cheeses. We served sugar free lemonade and iced tea along with bottled water and Vitamin Waters outside.  For the children I purchased pink daisy sippy cups from celebration express that were adorable!! We have used these many times over since the party!

For the cake it was two -layered round pinkpurple and black with stripes and dots. I used a HK topper of just her face and it turned out AWESOME!! The smash cake matched the big one. We also served Blue Bell ice cream. Because I am a cupcake lover we also had HK cupcakes to offer a variety. Also on Ebay I purchased water bottle wrappers candy wrappers and popcorn bags that were personalized with HK and my daughter's name and date. They also included personalized Thank You notes. 

FAVORS:I checked the 1$ bins at Target all year and found tons of stuff (stickers pencils pads stuffed HK purses etc.) and stocked up for my swag bags. I used pink and purple buckets purchased from dollar store and painted the kids names on them. I also had the cake decorator make individual cookies that said "1" on them in pink and purple. She tied them with polka dotted ribbon. My local Chick-Fil-A gave me free milkshake coupons to put in their bags as well.  Overall the party was a huge success! I doubt Birthday #2 will be this much of a blowout. However I am partially an events planner by trade and I really enjoyed planning this party. Everyone had a great time so it was well worth the trouble. Good Luck!! KJG   "