Hello Kitty Themed Birthday Party

If you are planning on having a Hello Kitty themed party but are on a tight budget you are definitely in the right place. As a stay at home mom of 4 I have learned to stretch that dollar to it's max. I love Candy buffets and I love to do them for my children's birthdays but I can't afford to pay for one of those candy buffet services. Besides, I love to do stuff like this!  

 Almost all the decorations were made by hand which cut down on the bidget.

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The Hello Kitty heads & sitting Hello Kitty were made by using retired Sizzix dies I had on my stash.

I had a picture of my daughter blown up at our local Walmart. I ordered it online and it was done b the same day. And just my luck walmart.com had a coupon on their website for $2 off their poster size prints for same-day service. Total cost for an 16"x20" portrait 10 bucks and some change... AWESOME!!

I didn't have a frame that size but I did have a bigger frame in my closet that had no glass because a certain someone's husband fell on it... thankfully he wasn't hurt... and that is why your parent's tell you no horse play in the house!

I wanted to detract from all the extra space that surrounded the picture getting it professionally matted wasn't an option and would have taken way too long! I had only a few days to make everything. So with the help of some digital files from Designs on Cloud 9 I decorated my frame in flourishes of the same color scheme of my party... I mean Kyan's party!

A lot of my glass containers I have used on previous parties so that was no added expense this go round. I had originally purchased quite a few pieces from Ross'... they have awesome deals and I got several pieces for as low as $3.99. The highest I paid for a glass container at Ross' was $11.99. Still, a steal seeing that most apothecary jars and and glass containers can run upwards from $30-$40. And who says you have to use "apothecary" jars?? Sometimes flowers vases work really well... just like the one above.

I downloaded some Hello Kitty images from off the internet and made little tags to decorate each container. Hot glued it in place with some coordinating ribbon voila instant Hello Kitty cuteness!!

Now, these are new! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, milk glasses!! Again, tight budget = no milk glass money. :(

But, my good friend Pinterest came through for me again. I saw on a fellow blogger that used Starbucks' frappuccino glasses. They look almost exactly like milk glasses but with a slightly different lip... no biggy (no one even noticed). Especially after you throw a paper straw in it! I know, über cute, right?!

Speaking of cute... would you believe this cute tray is the cardboard tray the the frappuccinos came in. I bought mine from Sam's Club for a little over $13 for a whole case. They all came in a little cardboard tray kind of like how soda companies used to sell cases of soda. I just prettified them by covering the box with scrapbook paper, ribbon, and regular white card stock. Add a button and ta-da ... awesome!!

OMG...  THESE ARE TOO STINKIN' CUTE!

I had bought some paper straws from Michael's that were on clearance a while back. They were marked down to like $0.25 a bag because they were leftover from Easter. Another "SCORE"!! So I scooped them up not knowing what I'd use them for but hey, they were pink... what can you do, right?! Good thing I did pick them up too because they matched perfectly!

Paper pom-poms. Another decorative staple in my house.Depending on where you get yours from they can also be really inexpensive.Buying pom-pom for $15 is not gonna happen. Well,  lucky me, I have learned to make pom-poms with proficiency. Added a Hello Kitty kick to them by hanging handmade HK paper medallions and now I have pom-poms that no one else have.

And, why only hang pom-poms from the ceiling? I once used pom-poms as centerpieces and they looked like huge floral blooms sitting on the table. But here, I made a pom-pom into this cute little Hello Kitty topiary.

Again... AWESOME... and sooooo kawaii!!

Here are my girls all ready for the party to start... and of course the birthday girl is the one sporting the HELLO KITTY!

Hope you enjoyed this Hello Kitty Party (on a budget) post!

Craft Happy Friends!! Always, craft happy!!

I know I do! And, I also know that I'm helping my children have amazing memories!

The cupcakes picture above were recycled from a previous post. You can check it out here.

Sweet 16 Candy Centerpieces

Hello again crafty friends!! I've been busy busy busy!! A while back I had volunteered my help to a friend for her daughter's sweet 16 birthday party... little did I know I was gonna be the sole decorator. I don't mind doing the work at all but it's getting down to the wire... her birthday party is this Saturday and we just got to see how HUGE this room is this morning. I'm gonna have to put in overtime to fill that space. I still need to make her birthday banner, make more props for the photo booth, decorate a photo mat, and make about 150 cake pops and all in 2 days. I know what you're all thinkin'... "Mitsy, you are CRAAAAAZZZYYY!!!"... YES, yes I am!!

BUT, the good news is I did finish a couple project that weren't listed above. Yes, there was more on my to-do list. Here are the 2 projects I did complete:

These are gonna be decorations for on top the candy buffet table. Probably gonna put them between the candy jars. 

CHEVRONS ARE SUPER HOT THIS YEAR!

I got these from Design's on Cloud 9's Chevron Labels file for the medallions centers.

The cupcakes were made using the Cupcake Fairies file . I printed the jpeg image on my printer. Then I blew up the image with a projector and traced the image onto mat-board  and cut it out. The great thing about using mat-board is that it comes in different colors! I did not need to paint the boards! I did, however, chalk them and add detail to them in the same way I would a regular paper piecing... but I used the chalk inks with extra large daubers instead on finger sized ones. For extra stability I hot glued  a wooden dowel to the back of each cupcake. This made the backs straight otherwise they would bend and slouch.

 Here you can see how tall these cut-outs really are... they're as tall as my daughter and she's about to turn 5.

For you out there who have a handy man in your life... have them cut these out of wood instead! then you won't need the wooden dowel! I, unluckily, do not have a handy man nor the tools to do that myself so cutting it out of mat board was the best option for me. When cutting mat board make sure to use a heavy duty pair of scissors or a sharp xacto knife or utility blade and always be very careful when handling sharp objects.

If anyone would like me to do a step by step tutorial on how to make your own giant cut-out message me or leave a comment below.

I think I'll try this for Christmas next!

HAPPY CRAFTING EVERYONE!!