Turning 6 - Sushi Style!

Each year my girls and I have so much fun planning their birthday parties. It starts - oh about the day after their last birthday party - and lasts up until the guests arrive for their special day. When my youngest turned 6 she was insistant on have a "Sushi Party". She loves California rolls, wonton soup, edamames, and that lovely salad they always serve with the meal.
Quick story about my youngest Jensen - She was born without the fear gene! Recently, when we were out having sushi, I was rooting in my purse to find a kleenex and stumbled upon the shower cap from a hotel stay. I started to laugh and told my kids I would give either one of them a dollar if they put it on in the restaurant - eat the rest of dinner and walk out like nothing was the matter. My oldest, Logan, died right there on the spot, and was just as mortified when Jensen said "easy money - hand it over"! She did it alright. She put that shower cap on, wore it proudly, and even stopped up at the register and got us all dinner mints. No fear! (I completely envy her)!



My mother, who is always helping me put these special events together, made these adorable oversized oragami dolls to welcome guests as they arrived at Jensen's Sushi house.



With my hubby's help, I took the legs off our dining room table, which really set the mood. My mom found the sweet little centerpiece dress at Marshall's.



My hubby, my folks, and I all wore authentic Japanese robes and welcomed guests with a bow and "Ohayo Gozaimasu".
For the craft, each little girl was given a canvas. My mother is holding up a Japanese card with different sayings on it.
We made photo copies for each girl of different symbols they could put on their canvas. Some drew the symbol for love, others' happiness, but they all had "This is fun" written all over their face!



Since her birthday is February 11th - we always try to incorporate a little valentines action into each party. This one was no different. For the game, we had two huge bowls of conversation hearts. Each girl was given child friendly chop sticks. When the timer started each girl tried to grab as many hearts as possible with her chopsticks and put them in the cup in front of them - Everyone was screaming! They had a blast and all agreed it was harder than they thought.



When it was time to eat they came up and found their goody "Bento Boxes" at their places. I found little sushi magnets, sushi erasers and fun little Japaneese candy and toys. Lunch consisted of sweet sticky rice, california rolls, edamames, little PB&J's that I cut to look like sushi and fruit. Of course they all had to eat with chop sticks. I think they had as much fun eating as they did playing the games. I had her cake made at a local grocery store. I gave the saying "Happy Birthday Jensen" in Japanese to the bakery. They did a beautiful job putting the same expression on the cake.

When the day was all done they both agreed that they...