Sunny by Design: Mara's Hello Kitty inspired 4th Birthday party

I can't believe my little Mara just turned 4. She such a wonder and a joy and she always brings a smile to my face. She's very girly and playful so it's no wonder she loves Hello Kitty. I mean who doesn't. So I knew her party had to be Hello Kitty with lots of pink and playful notes throughout.

The Table

Since it was so close to Valentines day I took my Sweethearts Valentine collection and added Hello Kitty stickers and some cute imagery I downloaded off the Sanrio website. I also used some coloring pages to line the table with instead of using a table cloth. This proved extremely inexpensive and was such a great way to keep the children entertained while they sat. I also used Mara's collection of Hello Kitty dolls to sit at the table with our little guests.

There were tons of adorable Hello Kitty parties already on the Internet so it wasn't difficult to find inspirations for this. My favorite was PaperGlitter where I got the idea to use coloring pages and the stickers. Her party is so adorable and perfect in every way. I know mine doesn't even come close but my little Mara was happy and that's all that matters.

I had to decorate with paper poms, of which I am a sucker for. No they probably don't go with every occasion but if I can throw them in I will. I found the tutorial for these cute potted paper poms at Frog Prince Paperie. Another lovely and adorable site full of tons of party inspirations.

The Treats

All the guests received a set of felt kitty ears. White for the girls and black for the boys. I found these adorable ears on Pinterest and followed the party back to Hostess with the Mostess. I made the ears with felt, hot glue and a headband. I couldn't find a tutorial so I made my own, here's how. They were such a hit. Mara wore them the whole week before the party and a few of the parents wore them during the party. It really helped us get into the Kitty spirit.

I wanted an original treat bag so I designed a paper purse to go along with the party. I also hope to have the tutorial and templates available for these soon. Mara even tested these out for me the week before the party by carrying hers around everywhere we went, with her kitty ears on.

The Food

We had cupcakes of course with my printables and Hello Kitty cake made by me. I'm getting a little more adventurous with my cakes now. The cake was strawberry and vanilla with pink buttercream frosting. Mara pretty much told me she wanted a big Hello Kitty face on the cake so that's what I did. She also picked out the huge Hello Kitty card on the table next to the cake. It made a cute sign.

We also had Chocolate covered marshmallow heart pops, chocolate covered strawberries(these went really fast), sweetheart candy and oreo cake hearts.

As per Mara's request we had sushi which was also a big hit. We are a sushi loving family or as Mara calls it "Shushi". My husband made it and it was wonderful. We included soysauce, wasabi, dipping bowls and chopsticks to eat it with. Here's a picture of my oldest son chowing down. I'm sure we were the only family at the Yabadoo play area that brought sushi for thier party.

Happy Birthday Mara

Thanks to all who attended and helped us make this such a special day. I'm sure she will never forget it.

Credits

To my husband for putting up with my crazy party madness, running out to get the pizza and all the manual labor... and for making such wonderful sushi.

To Frog Prince Paperie for the wonderful paper pom tutorial.

To PaperGlitter for creating and sharing her amazing Hello Kitty party.

To Sanrio for the adorable Hello Kitty downloads and the Hello Kitty character that my daughter is so in love with.

To Yabadoo for letting us use thier play area and being such accomodating hosts.