Real Parties: Hello Kitty Lemonade

Happy Friday all! It’s been a nonstop few weeks for me but I’ve finally had a bit of down time, and the opportunity to edit photos from my daughter’s 5th birthday party. My sweet girl has had her heart set on a Hello Kitty party for the last 5-6 months, but to make it a little more summery we tied in the Lemonade theme for an sweet sunshiny twist.

Our party location this year was completely different from any of the parties I’ve done for her in the past, at a local water park, which the kids absolutely loved. It was quite an experience to get everything transferred and setup under such a short time-frame but it all came together beautifully and just in time!

I began with the invitations.

Then 1 month before the party, started gathering all of my supplies for the celebration. I’ve got a good amount of odds and ends on hand from previous parties that I’ve done, so it was nice to be able to  re-use! Such a great way to save money!

For most of my character parties, I choose to keep the details a bit more subtle. I usually start with a white backdrop because I love having a blank canvas to work with. I tie in my colors from there. We went with a pink and yellow scheme, with Hello Kitty hand printed designs throughout. I put an emphasis on hello kitty’s silhouette and bow and centered the prints around those 2 components. Everything from the invitations, to the bunting for the dessert table, lemonade stand and cupcake toppers and labels were all created and printed in photoshop using these details.

I’m kind of obsessed with oversized balloons these days as I love the look and feel they add to a parties, so I made sure to incorporate those in pink, yellow and white, along with a few Hello Kitty character balloons. We had plenty of mismatched mason jars that I filled with loose stem blooms in shades of yellow and white for a bit of a shabby feel. Many of the flowers I was able to use from my Mother-in-laws garden. Another great money saver!

The kids had their own table in the center of the room with color coordinating placemats and a favor bag filled with themed goodies.

We chose to keep the menu as simple as possible but still a bit gourmet. We had a build your own sandwich station with plenty of options to choose from and my mom made her homemade fried chicken. We served it all alongside fresh fruit, side salads, and fresh chips and crackers with dips and antipasto.

We had a designated location for homemade lemonade which I made by hand squeezing what I think ended up being nearly 40 lemons with homemade simply syrup and purified water. We had mix-ins for the kids – fresh fruit puree’s and for the adults–homemade lavender syrup, rosemary and mint, in addition to other assorted beverages.

For dessert:

We served homemade lemon sugar cookies with royal icing, shaped like lemons, hello kitty’s face and hello kitty’s bow. I’ll have the lemon cookie cutters available for purchase in the etsy shop within the next week!

The cookies were decorated with the assistance of my two lovely sisters! I also made homemade lemon bars using the recipe I found on Bakers Royale which turned out amazing! I highly recommend the recipe. I chose to make the crust dairy free and they were still so great…definitely worth trying!

Cupcakes were homemade with a strawberry lemonade buttercream frosting. Each cupcake was lined with a Paper Eskimo baking cup and then garnished with a pink paper straw and a quartered strawberry for a finishing touch! They turned out so pretty!

In addition to the desserts, we had fresh lemon jelly wedges, yellow and pink sixlets and lemon drops displayed for our guests to enjoy. The candy was displayed in vintage milk glass dishes, miniature wood crates from Michael’s and mason jars.

The cute little miniature lemonade stand decoration seen on the dessert table was hand-made by yours truly. I’ll have DIY instructions up soon!

I also  made a special bunting specifically for the birthday girl’s cupcake!

Here she is blowing out her candle! Happy birthday to our sweetheart!!

and here’s baby sis enjoying her cupcake! I made a few dairy free for me, her and a few other guests to enjoy!

We finished the party with pin the bow on hello kitty and gift opening. All of the kids seemed to have a great time and after the party was over, my daughter came to me and my hubby and told us that it was the best day she’s ever had!

Ahh, I so love these moments, and the fact that she’ll have the memories to look back on for a lifetime. It is truly a blessing to have such special daughters. They are my main source of inspiration and the reason I do all that I do. Seeing them happy is what life is all about.

Thank you all for reading! Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Much more to share soon!

xo

This specific Hello Kitty Lemonade invitation and party design is hand created and specific to Posh Little Designs, seen first on Posh Little Designs. All Rights Reserved. 2011-2014.

All Images are photographed and owned property of Posh Little Designs. All Rights Reserved 2014.