Pusheen the Cat Party

My daughter is always WAY ahead of the trend when it comes to her birthday parties. A few years ago, she chose a Peppa Pig themed party. Peppa had not quite hit her stride here in the States at that time, and there were no Peppa party supplies available in this country. I had to order plates, cups, etc. from the UK, and the rest of the decorations I made or bought from those creative folks on Etsy.  It was the same with her Yo Gabba Gabba party two years before Peppa; there was nothing in the party supply stores here for that. Now, there are whole sections devoted to those characters at Party City and similar stores. I suppose that means Pusheen will have her own display there two years from now.

Until a few months ago, I didn’t know who Pusheen was. Well, I’d seen her on the Internet, but I didn’t know her name or anything else about her then. Unless you are 1) a HUGE fan of cats in general or 2) a girl between the ages of 7 and 13, you may not know that there is a whole WORLD of Pusheen out there. However, if you are in the US, that world is sadly lacking in party supplies.

Not helpful. But that’s never stopped me before.

I started with the party invitations. Luckily, Pusheen is a pretty simple character. Basic lines, two or three colors. I figured I could probably get the result I wanted for the invitation using my Cricut Explore, which treats images as layers of color. It worked like a charm.

Just a few steps and there she is!

She’s SO cute! I put the party details on the back and sent the little cuties off in pink envelopes to our party guests. We got a lot of compliments on them.

And it just wouldn’t be the night before a big birthday party if I wasn’t up in my craft room making party decorations with my Cricut into the wee hours. I can’t help myself. The results are SO worth it.

In fairness, I tried to give my money to the Pusheen Empire. I really did.  Claire Belton*, if you are reading this post, I’m sorry! I promise, I tried! But there were almost none to be bought, so what’s a mom to do?

Yep– you DIY those bad boys however you know how. Once I figured out how to break these images into layers, they were pretty easy to do with my Cricut. The method was nearly identical to what I did for the party invites.

*Claire Belton, the creator of Pusheen, is not reading this post. She’s really not. I’m quite sure. But I’m still sorry.

I did manage to get some adorable Pusheen party bunting from a vendor in the UK, but that was all.

Having little else to work with, I used plain party decorations in Pusheen colors for the rest of the party: pink and grey table cloths, napkins, plates, cutlery, tissue pom poms and streamers. I also mixed in a light purple here and there because it is my little girl’s favorite color. This theme is pretty forgiving, as far as colors go. You could use anything.

I used my Cricut to cut out a large, glittery purple 8 as well. And what is that in the center of the table, you ask? A Pusheen piñata? Why, yes, it is! My DIY Pusheen piñata!

Thanks to a fantastic tutorial on how to make your own piñata from Katy at A Shade of Teal, I made this Pusheen eating a cookie piñata at Lark’s request. Thanks, Katy!

Thanks to Katy’s awesome instructions, it was easy to make. It did take time, though. This is definitely not the kind of thing you can just whip up the night before the party.

The little boxes surrounding Pusheen here are the party favors we sent home with our guests.

I found these little guys here. I bought a few different ones from the Pusheen Snack Time series (Pusheen eating a cookie, Pusheen in a tea cup, etc). The kids loved them. We were really lucky they arrived in time– I ordered them in early March and they came THE DAY BEFORE THE PARTY. Phew! So my advice on these is to order welllllll in advance of when you need them, or you may be disappointed on party day.

In addition to these little cuties, the kids all got a Pusheen cookie, custom made by Rocio at Cakes, Cookies and Creations. She is so talented!

That is just a whole box full of cuteness. Ms. Rocio also made the cake.

That’s a special cookie for the birthday girl on top of the cake. It’s almost too cute to eat.

 It was a little sad to watch the kids bash Pusheen, but they had a ton of fun doing it. Vicious little party goers! They wanted their candy!

I can’t wait to see what Lark comes up with for next year.

Cheers!

Note: This is not a sponsored post, although it really should be, considering I just showed major love to Cricut all over the Interwebs in this post. The Cricut Explore really is a fantastic tool, though, even if (sadly) they didn’t pay me to tell you that. Links posted are meant purely to be helpful.