Anime/Japanese Birthday Party

Over the weekend we celebrated Sere's birthday with a sleep over party. Right now Sere is really into cosplay and decora fashions as well as anime. So for her birthday party, she wanted to share these things with her friends.

We set up the food table in the kitchen. I let Sere pick the menu, which consisted of as many foods (mostly desserts) she could think of from anime/manga she has seen/read.

The above are inspired by Najika from Kitchen Princess. she makes something similar in the manga. These are cupcakes baked in ice cream cones and topped with frosting and sprinkles. The chocolate pieces were made prior (along with the eyes for the soot sprite cupcakes). They are based on some of Sere's favorite animes.


We also visited Uwajimayas, which is a rather large oriental grocery store. There we picked up some more authentic Japanese goodies, such as Ramune soda, mochi, and teriyaki crackers (some of which can be seen below).

 To incorporate the feeling of a festival or a festive atmosphere, sere wanted to incorporate edibles on a stick. So we made dipped marshmallows and dango.

                         



We made banana trifles and strawberry shortcakes (seen below). These were based on desserts from Maid Sama and  Kitchen Princess.  We topped them with whipped cream before eating them.

         

And what Japanese party could be complete without sushi?  Candy sushi made from rice krispies, swedish fish and gummy sharks. The sushi rolls are rice krispies, twizzlers, sour ropes, and wrapped in fruit roll ups. I didn't think to take a picture until they had already started eating them.  We also had mini chocolate pies and muffins.

We made the paper flowers on the wall and hung up a table cloth, to add a bit more charm to atmosphere. The lanterns came from the dollar tree. We use them during the summer in the yard as they are battery powered and hang nicely. The pom ropes came from the dollar tree as well. we made little eyes and glued them on, in order to make the black poms into soot sprites.







I had been wanting some apothecary jars for a while now, so I used this as an excuse to make some. They were really simple and easy to put together. I used small bowls and candle holders I had lying around or picked up at the dollar store or freddys for super cheap. Then fit them together the way I liked and hot glued them. Easy. I think they turned out really cute.
They were used to hold candy, the marshmallow and dango sticks and the third we stuffed full of pocky. Pocky is a biscuit dipped in yogurt or frosting. You can usually find them in your local grocery store in the foreign food section.

When we first started planning this party we tried to look up ideas online for food and treats and games, but there wasn't a ton available. So I want to share what we did in hopes that it will help someone else in the future. Because of that I have broken this topic post into two posts. The first being food and second being games and activities. Stay tuned for the second post. :)