Hello Kitty Birthday Party

Are you planning a party with a Hello Kitty theme??? 

That cute little kitty is making a huge comeback and I love it! She was awesome when I was a kid and is just as awesome today. I am so thrilled that my daughter loves her because I get to relive the whole HK thing all over again, but this time I get the goods. I really didn't have as much HK as I wanted as a kid. My daughter on the other hand... has what seems like EVERYTHING! Especially after her birthday party. 

While planning my party I scoured the web for ideas on how I could make the party special for her. I started months in advance and quickly realized that I would have to make a lot of the things myself to get the effect I wanted. The good news...I have assembled it all for you right here. Directions. Links to where I bought my supplies etc. Here we go. 

READY MADE- EASY TO FIND 

Party supplies like cups, plates, napkins, table covers, favors, games, decorations like crepe paper and balloons   are all available for easy purchase at Partycity or Walmart.

Walmart also had several really cute pink filigree table covers for .97  each!  How can you go wrong?






MORE PERSONALIZED OPTIONS

Now for favor bags you can buy some small pre-printed plastic ones as well but where's the fun in that??  Why not make your own?  I did, and they were super easy and very cute!  The wonderful thing about HK is that she is EASY as pie to draw.  I bought some plain white sack lunch type paper sacks and drew her face on with paint pens and sharpies.  It seemed that the black sharpies worked better and were more vibrant.  For her bow I cut cardstock and outlined the details in sharpie.  I really like to accentuate the cartooniness (?word) of HK.
Cute Right?


In the photo above you can see that I also made some HK beer koozies.  Now why in the world would we need those at a little girl's party?  Well I'll tell you.  Each year we had a party we started to notice that it was typically the dads that would bring their respective daughters.  So this year we decided to honor our daughter loving dads with something their very own.  So thus was born the Hello Kitty beer koozie.  Not too shabby.  I ordered plain white koozies on ebay.  We bought a set of 12 for $9.99 and when you buy 2   (which I did with a friend) you get 12 more free.  So 36 koozies for $20.  Pretty good.  I then used the freezer paper method of stenciling to imprint HK's face onto the koozies. I freehanded outlines of the bow and nose and glittered up her bow (cause I could) and VOILA! a pretty snazzy HK Koozie. 

* You don't know the freezer paper method??  Check this site out for some awesome instructions.  Once you start you will never stop.  It is so cool.   http://www.dana-made-it.com.


PINATA

For the first time ever my daughter wanted a pinata.  Getting an HK pinata proved a bit more difficult than I thought so I made my own.  I searched and found a great tutorial here at www.cutoutandkeep.net.  I made mine bigger and more true to HKs true cartoon form.  I did however use the same structural build as the tutorial but since our candy was super heavy I added a cardboard strip around the center between the front and back.  I glued and taped all pieces together for strength.  I used picture wire as the hanging mechanism and then covered it all with brown paper bags before adding the decorations.  My decorations consisted of strips of crepe paper fringed by cutting slits about 1" apart.  Only cut halfway up the paper for obvious reasons.  For her face and bow I cut out pieces of cardstock, outlined with sharpie and decorated with glitter.  This whole project is a bit time consuming  (took about 2 hours) but really turned out great.  The kids loved it!


CAKE AND CUPCAKES

For the cupcakes I had come across some really cool ideas on the web that I wanted to do but my daughter saw some at Sams Club that had rings in them so she had to have those.  The rings can be purchased on e-bay.  Just search HK Cupcake Rings or something similar.  So this year I got off easy with the cupcakes.  We used a funfetti cake box mix and I made Wilton's buttercream which is my favorite.  Added pearl nonpareils and a rind.  SIMPLE.  If you want to see some of the other designs I liked go on over to my Pinterest board and check them out.

For the cake I wanted to do something with fondant, but she HAD to have this HK candle.   So I had my daughter look at some pictures with me on the web and she liked these hot pink mod style flowers so that's what I tried to emulate.  I really wanted to do a cute little HK Ballerina on the front but this turned out cute so no harm done right?  Really do check out the pinterest board because there are some awesome ideas out there for party ideas.










How about Cake Pops?  These are awesome from www.bakerella.com.  In fact everything she does is awesome.









DRESS UP

We made our party into a little dress up party.  I made tutus for all the girls as well as HK Headbands.  We also painted each girl's face with whiskers and a yellow nose.

The tutus were easy to make and a tutorial can be found here at www.cutoutandkeep.net/.  Things I did differently were to sew the elastic before wrapping the tulle and I didn't pull so tight because I found that it would stretch out the elastic.  After the tutu was complete I sewed a single line stitch around the waistband to reinforce the tulle and to ensure it would not unravel.

For the headbands I bought some "craft headbands" and sewed some fleece ears.  Stuffed them with the fleece scraps  (waste not) and hot glued them onto the headband.  I then covered all exposed headband with more fleece and made a felt bow (tutorial for bow here).  These turned out AWESOME.  I love them.





BALLOON IDEAS

If you have either a lot of help or a lot of time here are some ideas with balloons.

Flower balloons.  Now these are so cute and can be found on kimmccrary.blogspot.com

www.prettys13.com

 HK  face balloons.  Instead of a balloon bow you could use cardstock.  I also think that a regular shaped balloon would work just fine.  She just needs darker whiskers in my opinion.  I had full intentions of making these but ran out of time.  :(

PARENTS.COM

WAYS TO MAKE THE BIRTHDAY SPECIAL

Fill your child's room with balloons after they fall asleep the night before their party.  This was a huge hit at our house.  We also put her large bag of presents in the middle of the floor in the balloon pile.  So much fun.

Another idea is to crepe paper their doorway so they have to bust through it in the morning.  How Cute!.

secretsofasupermommy.blogspot.com

 

 OK now I know there's more so I will continually update this as I remember things I did or find new ideas.  If you have any great ideas I'd love to hear them.  Have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY party Helly Kitty style!

Super Cool Product Find!!

Now I am not usually the type of person that goes jumping for the latest gadget out there but every once and awhile something jumps out at me and makes me wonder why I didn't think of that.  This week it was the Boon Grass drying rack.  Now Really this is so neat.  It fulfills a few of my basic musts that are practicality and simple good looks.  Why can't a drying rack look cute?  This is just so cool it makes me want to go out and buy it even thought we have long since put away our bottles and boon spoons.  Find it at Amazon.

Getting prepared.

My husband has been on this kick lately to get prepared.  Not really a doomsday kinda thing but a makes him feel better that if disaster struck we'd be ok.  For a while at least.  So I decided to post a few of the things we've gotten together as well as where to find them.  That way you can be prepared too.

ESSENTIALS
Some of the very first things we purchased years ago were those basic things that everyone should have already.  If you don't then run out and get them cause these are essentials!

First aid Kit
Flashlight and Extra Batteries
Battery powered radio or if you are feeling extra fancy go for a hand crank version.
Matches and extended burn candles.  Preferably in a glass so you can move them around easily.
Whistle
Thermal blanket
Fire extinguishers

FOOD FOR 3 DAYS
We started with the basic pantry stock.  Most folks will have enough food for more than 3 days when you take into account the food in the fridge (this will be eaten first for obvious reasons but may not last long depending upon the availability of power) .  So we focused on 3 days of non-perishable food.  Once the fridge food is unavailable you can move to the freezer and eat what is still fresh.  Now you can move to the pantry.  Please make sure you have a manual hand operated can opener.  Or you may be forced to hack at your cans with a hatchet.  *not recommended.  Some recommended items include ready-to-eat canned goods, protein bars, dried fruit and crackers.

WATER
One gallon of water per person per day is recommended.  Sounds like a lot right?  Well don't forget you will need this water for sanitation as well.

TOOLS
Wrench or Pliers to turn off utilities
Hatchet to chop wood for fires to cook or for heat.


GOOD TO HAVE ESSENTIALS
Moist towelettes (hand wipes) - so you don't have to use up your water
Larger wipes found at drugstores for bathing
Paper plates, cups, eating utensils.

GET A BIT MORE SERIOUS

Food for a month, 3 months or even a year!  Sound CRAZY!?  Well it's not as hard as you might think.  With the invention of freeze dried foods you can now store a year of food under your bed.  Pretty cool right?  We haven't gotten that far in our preparedness but members of my family have.  My family lives in Hawaii so as you can imagine even the slightest disaster could mean months without many essential items.  Everything out there is flown in or barged in at some point.  So they really have to be prepared.  What's really cool is that you can get awesome freeze dried foods.  We have purchased items such as Granola with blueberries and milk.  Mmmmm.  This one is my favorite!  Teriyaki chicken, Lasagna, Fruits, Vegetables,  ICE CREAM, BROWNIES!!  OK I'm getting hungry, better stop.

You get the idea.  Just about anything is available.  We got our food from The Ready Store where we found the best prices and a huge selection.  Best of all... the food has an expiration date of 25 years from now.  Holy mackerel!



Water purification tablets - just incase the water available is untrustworthy
Solar battery charger and rechargeable batteries
Solar Oven or build a brick oven in your backyard  (great DIY instructions can be found here)

Realistically we will (hopefully) never have to use any of these items except maybe the flashlight and some band-aids.  I am already planning a very long camping trip for our family in about 20 years just before our food is set to expire.  Sounds a bit gourmet to me!!  At least in the mean time I can relax and take a bit of comfort in knowing that we are pretty well prepared.

By no means is this list all inclusive and I will keep updating it as I come across more practical preparedness items.

Roasted tomatoes... Mmmm.

These little babies are delightful.  Such a yummy addition to just about any meal.  I love them on sandwiches and in pasta and mixed with feta or goat cheese as a filling or dip... you get the idea.  I never realized they were so easy to make until recently.  They will amaze you with the deep flavor of sundried tomatoes all the while keeping their juiciness.

Here's what you need...
Quantities are up to you.

Roma tomatoes
Dried herbs.  Oregano and garlic work well
Sea salt
a sprinkle of sugar
Drizzle of olive oil
Drizzle of Balsamic vinegar

Here's what you do...

Wash and dry the tomatoes.
Quarter the tomatoes lengthways
place them in your baking dish in a single layer
drizzle the oil and vinegar
sprinkle your herbs and salt
place in a 450 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes
Give them a little shake every 5-10 minutes to prevent burning and sticking

Yes, It is that easy.  Keep them handy in your fridge.  They won't last long.

All ready for the oven

Just coming out