Having a Japanese theme for a birthday party gives a whole range of ideas for decorations, food and party favors. Japan has a very distinctive culture, cuisine and aesthetic that can be incorporated into a birthday party on any scale for people of any age. There are lots of decorations and products with a Japanese theme that are made of bamboo or paper, so they can be very inexpensive and allow you to embrace the theme effectively, even with a small budget. Does this Spark an idea?
Decorations
A Japanese theme lends itself to beautiful decorations, many of which you can create yourself at home. Others can be bought from party supply stores or stores stocking Japanese goods. You could make lots of origami shapes, from plain or patterned paper to match the color theme. The shapes can be threaded into a garland to hang from the ceiling or strung along the center of a table. Paper lanterns and parasols are widely available and can hang from the ceiling and from walls or sit on tables. An unusual centerpiece can be made by folding a giant origami shape from a large sheet of paper, like a sheet of patterned gift wrap. Paper fans can be made very quickly and easily; use printed Japanese origami paper, or decorate plain paper with painting or rubber stamping, then simply pleat the paper and secure with tape at the bottom. Plain paper napkins and invitations can be decorated with a rubber stamp featuring Japanese-style motifs.
Food
Good Japanese finger foods to serve at a birthday party are sushi and bowls of rice crackers. Not everybody likes sushi though, so alternatives and extras you could serve are salads with Asian dressing, teriyaki chicken skewers, hot or cold noodle dishes, plain white rice and edamame. You could serve small portions of these dishes in little rice bowls or sake cups if guests are not going to sit down to eat. To decorate a birthday cake you could write "Happy Birthday" in Japanese and pipe this in frosting on the cake. If you are creative with cupcakes and desserts you could use food coloring and frost them to look like sushi. If you can find an inexpensive Japanese tea set, serve a pot of green tea or use the tea pot to serve soft drinks for children too. For adults, offer sake as part of a wider drink selection.
Party Favors
Japanese-themed party favors for your guests to take home can be simple, homemade and inexpensive or as special as you like, depending on your budget and number of guests. You could save sushi take-out boxes or buy plastic bento boxes to package party favors. Bento boxes have separate small sections so you could place a small gift or trinket in each one. Inexpensive party favors you could make at home are origami bookmarks and paper fans, or you could purchase little Buddha ornaments or decorated chopsticks. If there are only a few guests or you want to give them something more special, you can purchase miniature Zen gardens, or find postcards of Japanese scenery or artwork and frame them.
Tags: party favors, birthday party, could make, could serve, from ceiling, hang from, hang from ceiling