PARTY ET CIE EVENTS - A CUTE KAWAII PARTY
My daughter as of late has been obsessed with "all things cute." From her Hello Kitty notebook, to Pusheen plushy, to squishmallows..she wants them all. Kawaii, a Japanese word which translates to "cute" in English, has taken over a whole new meaning in the Western World. Anything that is cute, or more specifically, has cute faces on them fits into the genre of "Kawaii." After searching for Kawaii Party content, of which there was very little, I decided to take on the challenge of styling a Kawaii Party for my daughter's 9th birthday. And yes, the theme was approved by my daughter!
THE TABLESCAPE
I knew from the beginning that I wanted to create a unique and show-stopping balloon garland over the table while keeping the table itself simple. After starting with a simple light pink tablecloth, I decorated the center of the table with disco balls and a few colorful honeycomb balls and diamonds.
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As a fun detail to the table, I added a "9" Ombre Jelli Number balloon. This particular balloon only comes in a small size, and I didn't want to add it to the Balloon Garland because I thought it would just get lost in the mix. I stuck it to one of the disco balls instead to become part of the centerpiece and it ended up looking super cute!
THE PLACESETTINGS
Because the theme itself is of Japanese origin, how could we not serve sushi? I decided to forgo the usual knife and fork setting and went instead for chopsticks! I love placesetting nametags and had the idea to create personalized paper chopstick sleeves with cute Kawaii characters.
Kawaii is a cute and colorful theme, so I wanted to carry that idea over to the tableware. I decided to mix plates, cups and napkins in various pastel colors and patterns with pops of bright pink.
THE BALLOON GARLAND
I am constantly pinning ideas, and if you're not following me on Pinterest - you really should! One thing I always look for is installations - I find a wealth of ideas there that are different from your typical party decor. I came across a Balloon Garland idea similar to the one I created, so I can't take credit for this. I was able to recreate the look with some simple household items, and will be showing you the full details in an upcoming blog post. In short, I gathered differing styles, sizes, colors and patterns of balloons, including the long and skinny 260Q balloons which I twisted and zig zagged. I strung the balloons along a twine, mixing all the styles and colors and voilà! Something unique and fun!
THE CAKE
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The cake, although turning out quite cute, wasn't originally supposed to look like this. I'm embarassed to say that my original idea is so very far from the end result that I won't divulge details. Suffice it to say, my original idea ended in disaster, and I had to pivot into an "abstract" cake idea with a mishmash of pastel icing colors. To make it "Kawaii", I cut out little star and heart shapes from fondant in a pastel rainbow shades and drew Kawaii faces on a few, to be on theme. I topped it off with pearlized sprinkles and edible glitter.
I added some cute candles from the shop: The Pale Pink Glitter Dipped Candles and the Pastel Swirly Candles - I've never added two styles of candles to a cake but I think I love this idea now! It adds some dynamics and dimension to the cake!
THE TREATS
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In addition to serving the main course of sushi (I ordered delivery!) and chicken fingers, I wanted to keep the treats simple and cute. I quickly whipped up a batch of white chocolate popcorn with sprinkles (think microwave popcorn drizzled with white chocolate and sprinkles), pretty marshmallow twists and rainbow fruit kabobs!
THE PARTY CRAFTS IRL!
I ran two crafty activities with the kids - and they were double successes because they are not only a fun party activities, the results double as party favors! The first craft was a Kawaii Candy Keychain (blog post here), and making Candy Sushi (blog post to follow).
I boxed up the candy sushi for guests to take home in cute paper boxes lined with pretty parchment paper.
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Enjoy more photos from this adorable party below!
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