A Kokeshi Birthday

Happy birthday to my September girls!

We celebrated the girls this weekend with a super fun birthday theme, a Kokeshi Birthday!

The inspiration for this party. The Kokeshi dolls my husband bought me in Japan. I love these girls! And MY GIRLS!

The girls had one request for their birthday party this year, well two. One was that they wanted a jumpy house, and the other was to have Chinese food! Which is how I came up with the Kokeshi theme. I know, Chinese food is clearly not Japanese, but I claimed the day Asian to make it work! Which for those that know me, know this party theme is right up my alley! I was happy the girls were as excited about the theme I came up with as I was!

A Kokeshi Theme Birthday

The Invitation: Luckily, as I’ve mentioned before, my husband is an artist and we have been making the girls’ birthday invitations for them since their very first one. It is a treat for us and for them, since I save them as a a memento for them every year. I love looking back at the invitations past.

So the invitation. I gave my husband very little instruction. I said, “the girls need to look like Kokeshi dolls” and this is what he came up with:

Then before sending them off I had stamped a Geisha on the envelopes!

The Decor: The basis for the decor was to keep it simple. The color scheme was blue and green with natural bamboo accents. For the tables I chose white table covers topping them with bamboo mats. Then on top of the tables, I chose to fill large glasses vase we already owned with raw Thai rice (smells good!) and a colorful paper parasol stuck in the rice to keep it secure; and also, to give some shade if needed for the guests at the tables without an umbrella.

Decor outside, the rice filled vases with a paper parasol embedded, all on top of a table dressed with a wooden woven mat.

Up close with Duck Sauce in vintage bowls

On the beverage table I used a white cover as well, then placed a colorful parasol laying on its side to decorate the space and to shade the beverages. It worked out real well.

The drinks table, below were coolers and on top of the table was iced pink lemonade, sangria, sodas, and a parasol to keep it shaded.

For hanging decor, I reused some paper fans from Easter that were colorful and got a few white tissue balls and tissue streamers to decorate the house and the fence. My husband made signs and enlarged Kokeshi daughters for me to hang up as well. It came out great, and the yard was perfect!

As the party was unwinding. You can see a guest using the parasol for shade.

The Food: The girls one big desire for this party was Chinese food. So my husband and I thought putting a Chinese Buffet together would be great, and easy! Which is what we did. We ordered all the great appetizer/finger foods we could think of: Chicken wings, Chicken fingers, Spare ribs, Peking raviolis, Fried shrimp, Veg Fried Rice, Veg Lo Mein, Crab rangoon, hu siang Broccoli, and a bunch of other things that I can’t think of right now. The restaurant supplied us with fortune cookies, all the sauces, and chopsticks.

The Cake and Treats!: This is where I had a lot of fun! We made Candy Sushi (click link to find out how we did that) of all types and it was a blast making them.

Lay a swedish fish on top and then wrap with a strip of a roll up. DONE!

These were for our dairy intolerant friends, all candy sushi made with marshmallows. Real cute!

All set up on a Japanese styled plate separated with sushi grass.

Then we figured instead of buying a massive cake like we have in the past, which we end up having around the house for a week, that I would make cupcakes. Which is what I did. One daughter wanted vanilla and the other chocolate. Then I decorated them simply with a little of my vanilla frosting and then topped them with a colorful cocktail umbrella. Keeping with an Asian feel. They came out great!

I am not a talented cake decorator, but they were real cute!

The Girls’ Outfits: For the start of the party, I had the girls wear Geisha styled / Asian styled costumes. It was a great way to tie in the theme and make the girls feel special.

The girls together dressed in their outfits

Pinata Time: The best part of the day was the pinata, ONLY because a sledgehammer made an appearance. YES, sledgehammer. The pinata was made so well that no child nor adult could crack it open..and we all tried! But we had a great time trying! Here are some pics of the event.

The asian take out containers we used for the pinata goody bags.

The Pinata and newly decorated bat! We had a fun crafting afternoon making the bat.

The kids tried so hard to break it... — The kids tried so hard to break it…

but we had to intervine..here is my sister in law showing the pinata who is boss. ha! — but we had to intervine..here is my sister-in-law showing the pinata who is boss. ha!

didn't have a chance! — didn’t have a chance!

Face Painting and Geisha Hair dos: This year I opted out of doing a craft, only because a jumpy house was going to be the focal point of all the children, but my mother in law offered to face paint. She is amazing, and I definitely recommend her for your party too. Look her up here.

Then I made a small station for hair and makeup. I had made chopsticks for the updos and had a lipliner and eyeliner for makeup. The girls could choose to put their hair up, and if they didn’t get face painted, I painted on eyes and lips to mimic the Geisha style. It was cute and fun for the girls of all ages.