Princess Kitty Birthday

Our middle daughter recently turned seven and requested a birthday party based on her current favorite book series, Itty Bitty Princess Kitty by Melody Mews. The stories feature an endearing kitty named Itty who lives in Lollyland with her parents and is best friends with a unicorn, butterfly, and bunny. There are thirteen books in the series so far with a fourteenth one set for release early next year. The books navigate many topics in regard to friendship, how to treat others, and be true to yourself. It also features grumpy fairies, mermaids who sing the time, and magical places where treats grow on trees. It’s no wonder these books have been such a hit with my daughter. Even her older siblings have borrowed them from time to time to read and reread. Here is how my kids turned our home into Lollyland to celebrate my daughter’s birthday with her family and friends. Hoping these ideas and printables may be helpful and fun for your princess, cat lover, or young bookworm!

Decorations:

In the stories, Itty and her friends travel by flying on clouds. Throughout our house, I adhered white paper plates to our walls with painter’s tape to create clouds and cut out characters from white poster board to “fly” on top. Here is Itty flying above our small kitchen table.

The head cook in Lollyland palace is a grumpy fairy named Garbanzo. I used my projector to project her image onto a piece of white poster board and painted the rest of her with acrylic paint. I used another white poster board to make foldable wings and hung her up with fishing wire to “fly” around in our kitchen.

I made a rainbow banner for my daughter featuring the colors as they appear on the cover of the books. I really enjoy creating banners for my kids’ birthdays and special occasions as they are a simple and inexpensive way to decorate. The rainbow banner is available here. I also added my husband’s jelly bean treat dispenser as a nod to the treat dispensers Itty enjoys in the stories.

I made another rainbow banner that says Welcome to Lollyland and hung it up high in my kids’ playroom. It is free to download for personal use and is best printed out onto white cardstock, cut, and strung up with ribbon, yarn, or twine.

I painted a large picture of Itty’s friend, Chipper on another piece of white poster board. I made another Itty and adhered both of the them on top of more white paper plates to fly in the kids’ playroom.

I love taking pictures of my kids and have so many on my phone. I like using their birthdays as an opportunity to develop and display more pictures of them.

Here I made a display of the birthday girl through the years with a crown, book, and in princess dress. My kids added some of the crafts they made to the display as well. They always get so excited and really enjoy helping me to decorate. I used these little acrylic picture stands to prop up more Itty books throughout our house.

I used more books to display with pictures. We found this gem at our local library. My kids have really enjoyed books by Thao Lam. The beautiful photo above was taken a few years ago by PNW photographer Brighid Hackett at Including You Photography.

More paper plate clouds and a large number seven air filled balloon was added to decorate another large blank wall.

In the living room, my kids helped me to create a large balloon garland. We purchased this balloon tape from Walmart that was about 16 feet long. My husband and kids just used their lungs to help me inflate about fifty balloons. I helped to tie them and they randomly stuck them into all the holes in the balloon tape. We added a few gold star balloons we purchased from the Dollar Tree. The kids also took out all our furry and cat themed blankets and stuffies to further decorate the space. Lastly, I added these bean bag chairs that I recently purchased to house all of my kids’ extra blankets and stuffies. In the books, Itty’s room is known for her comfortable bean bag chairs. They were not only comfortable but have helped to reduce so much clutter from my kids’ bedrooms.

In our dining room, which we later used to decorate cookies and have cake, we hung another balloon garland. This time we added some tulle to the stars and some copies of some of the illustrations from book four (Star Showers) showing Itty watching her shooting star disappear and return. After my daughter blew out the candles on her cake one of the star balloons with tulle fell off and my daughter exclaimed it must be her shooting star!

On the far wall of our dining room, I created a simple rainbow out of paper plates, using the colors as they appear on the cover of the books. I like creating this for our annual Saint Patrick’s Day party too.

Outside, my son, father, and mother-in-law helped to hang up one more balloon garland. We also made many larger than life wooden cutouts of all the characters. They are made from panels of particle board. I used a projector to outline their images with a large Sharpie and my kids painted the rest. They are low cost, big impact decorations that my kids always enjoy helping me to make. Shown above is the birthday girl posing with Itty Bitty Princess Kitty that she painted herself.

We turned our outdoor space into many themed places from the stories. My kids helped me to paint a large strawberry, pumpkin pie, and Itty’s friend Chipper. We added a sign that said Goodie Grove. In the stories, Itty would often meet her friends there after school to enjoy treats as well as her friends’ company. The Goodie Grove sign is free to download below. I just printed it out onto white cardstock, hot glued it to a plastic balloon stick and inserted them into pots we had.

Here is the birthday girl painting the large slice of pumpkin pie. My father later helped me to cut all the pieces out with his jigsaw.

Here is big brother painting Itty’s friend, Chipper.

Little sister painted the giant strawberry.

We also made Itty’s parents, the King and Queen of Lollyland.

Here is the birthday girl with her younger sister painting Itty’s father. She had the idea of turning him into a corn hole game feeding him cookie bean bags as in the stories, he is always trying to sneak treats from the kitchen.

The cutouts were each used as a party activity (see below) and doubled as fun photo props.

In our living room, I used three pieces of yellow poster board to create this large chapter seven sign which hung above our main craft table. The details for each activity is described below.

Party Activities:

I filled all our shelves up with art that my kids made for the birthday girl. My oldest daughter (9) used paint pens and drew numerous pictures of each character from the stories. She made these completely on her own whim for her sister. I thought she did an amazing job and framed them to display throughout our house. She also upcycled a box to create the Lollyland castle. I filled the rest of the shelves with my kids’ favorite cat books. My kids have all enjoyed Pete the Cat, Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel, Kitty-Corn by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham. Not pictured (as it was probably taken by the birthday girl to read) is Catwad by Jim Benton. Lastly, I added some princess crowns, a bin of dress up clothes, and more cat themed toys.

I made some personalized coloring pages for the birthday girl. They are available here. I make more personalized coloring pages for kids here.

I projected several pictures onto large white poster board to create a coloring wall for the kids. This helped to take advantage of the unused space in our hallway for more activities. This activity was also very quick and inexpensive and is always enjoyed by kids… and some adults too.

Here is Luna getting excited and trying not to spray everyone with glitter. I used a thick black Sharpie to create the outlines for kids to color in.

Here is happy Itty as the new princess. I used push pins to hold the cups of crayons up but you could use less damaging command strips. A very young party guest tackled this one.

Here is Itty’s friend Chipper enjoying a feast from Goodie Grove. I added white triangles to all cups and bowls to further add to my daughter’s theme.

Lastly, I projected Itty’s friend Esme as pictured when she caught her wish granting star. It’s one of my daughter’s favorite pictures from the books which are filled with so many adorable illustrations.

The kids colored and decorated princess kitty crowns that I made to resemble the crown Itty Bitty Princess Kitty wore.

This crown is free to download for personal use and is best printed out onto white cardstock. I included crayons, markers, glue, scissors, glitter glue, adhesive gems, and sequins for the kids to embellish, cut, assemble, and wear. I make more party hats here and crowns here and here.

I made these kitty bookmarks for kids to color.

This file is best printed out onto white cardstock and cut around the border to create four bookmarks for kids to color and decorate as desired. This was a hit with the kids and I had to print out many more.

My kids helped me to paint a bunch of toilet paper rolls in kitty colors and we set this activity up so guests could make party cats.

I included a tin of paint pens, some googly eyes, and construction paper cut into triangles for kids to glue on as party hats. My kids also helped me to hole punch circles out of construction paper for the top of the hats.

My daughter found these hilarious tattoos featuring pictures of real cats in party hats. I just laid them out on a table with some baby wipes as another easy activity for the kids. Temporary tattoos are always an inexpensive and fun addition to all my kids’ parties. The party was over a week ago and my kids are still covered in them. Looks like our cat also approved of them!

I found these little kitty beads on Etsy and included them in a tray filled with alphabet beads, pony beads, and larger white wooden beads for the kids to make their own necklaces. I also included white elastic string, scissors, and pipe cleaners. This simple activity was well received and her guests made many bracelets, necklaces, and cat collars.

I purchased a few paint with water kittens books from the Dollar Tree and brought this outside for kids to do. My kids always enjoy these books and they make for a really easy to set up and inexpensive party activity.

I laid out two bins of all of my daughters’ unicorn toys and propped a large cutout of Itty’s best friend, Luna, next to it as another invitation to play.

Here is big sister painting Luna.

I hung the small wooden cutout of Itty’s friend, Esme, on top of our white Christmas tree. We pretty much have our artificial tree out all year in the kids’ playroom and decorate it for all birthdays and holidays. I cut scratch art paper into butterflies and hung them with some twine for kids to grab and decorate.

Here is the birthday girl painting Itty’s friend, Esme.

I cut some cat ears and tail out of white poster board and glued them to my son’s big bin of random Legos as another easy to set up party activity.

I laid out my kids’ bin of magnetic tiles and paired them with little cats we found at the Dollar Tree. They came in sets of four and some contained pet dishes and even tiny cat carriers. I always enjoy setting up easy invitations to play like this as they don’t take much time but lead to lots of open-ended play.

I displayed more books with different activities that related to each book. Here is a simple sweet shop set up that paired well with book 13. I just grouped my kids’ pretend ice cream toys together. I also recycled a croissant container from Costco and filled it up with cut up pool noodles as donuts. The sprinkles were made by gluing on cut up bits of yarn.

I also turned their play kitchen into a sweet shop. Everything was seven dollars in honor of my daughter’s seventh birthday. I like to save my recyclables for play like this. Here, I have reused an empty buttermilk container, vanilla extract bottle, and egg carton to add to my daughter’s sweet shop. I make more dramatic play set ups here.

Another small table was set up for pretend tea party play and went nicely with book nine.

We hosted a story time. Story time is always a low cost and welcomed addition to all of our kids’ parties. As grandpa was visiting from out of town, my daughter asked him to do the reading. He read aloud the chapter where Itty becomes the new princess when her shooting star arrives.

We made a homemade pinata out of a moving box, some priority mailboxes (I like to save them when we get packages), tissue paper, and crepe paper streamer. My kids have become experts at helping me to tape and glue everything on. They always enjoy helping me to make these larger than life pinatas and filling them with their favorite sweets.

Here is a picture of the finished piñata.

Outside, my son, mother, and father-in-law used twine to hang this balloon garland that my kids helped me to make and we propped the wooden cutout of Itty that the birthday girl painted. It created a nice backdrop for photos.

We filled a water table up and added a wooden cutout of Itty’s mom next to it as another easy activity. The addition of flower petals, some funnels, scoopers, whisks, and watering cans led to another easy and inexpensive invitation to play.

We set up a painting station nearby where kids could paint rocks to add to our royal garden. I included trays of acrylic paint, paint pens, and some adhesive gems and the kids really enjoyed this.

I filled another water table up and added more little toy cats as well as kitty sponges that we found at the Dollar Tree and the kids had fun giving all the miniature cats a bath.

I made chocolate chip bean bags like I had made previously for my kids’ Sesame Street birthday and turned the cutout of Itty’s dad into a corn hole game.

I made a simple ring toss game by taping the ends of pool noodles together and adding similar color paper plates cut into triangles for cat ears. The cones are just from the Dollar Tree.

We filled the sand table up with some kinetic sand and added shells, treasure chests, shovels, and little sand castle molds. I added a sign that said mermaid cove to tie this activity into the stories.

The printable signs feature three places from the stories (Royal Garden, Goodie Grove, and Mermaid Cove). They are best printed out onto white cardstock and cut around the black border. I hot glued all the signs to plastic balloon sticks and stuck them into little pots we had in our garden.

I laid out a large parachute and a cat stuffy my daughter had on the grass for kids to play with. Some kids also had picnics on it.

Whenever possible I used white or pink containers and added kitty ears to them to further add to the party theme. I filled this container with sidewalk chalk to bring outside as another simple and inviting activity.

Food:

We included the birthday girl’s favorite foods as well as a lot of homemade kid friendly favorites. My daughter loves meatballs, mac and cheese, and queso.

I cut white cardstock into triangles to glue onto white paper plates to create kitty plates. This was a really quick and inexpensive way to add some more themed fun.

My daughter loves corn dogs. When I asked her what her favorite thing about school was last year, she replied recess and corn dogs. I used the delicious recipe from Natasha’s Kitchen. The kitty food tents are available here.

We served some Vietnamese ham also known as cha. They are made from wrapping ground pork into logs and either steaming or frying them. Though I have made my own before, I purchased this batch from Hong Phat on 82nd St. and like to always have some in my freezer for quick sandwiches and finger food. For the setting of the party they were cut into little triangles and arranged to look like little cats.

My parents made their delicious fried rice and brought a vegetarian version for my mother-in-law too.

I made a simple tuna ball by mixing two cans of tuna with two packages of cream cheese, half an onion, and some chopped pecans. We served them with some fancy crackers we found at Costco.

We served these delicious egg rolls.

Here is big sister who is an expert egg roll roller and my husband who fried all of our corn dogs, shrimp chips, and egg rolls. We make the egg rolls as a family usually one to two weeks prior and freeze them. On the morning of party day, I just dump them all into a large roaster oven to reheat them and keep warm to serve. We usually make around one hundred and don’t have much leftover.

Growing up, I always had shrimp chips at my home birthday parties, and I love continuing this tradition for my kids. They really enjoy watching these chips expand when they cook and how they practically dissolve on their tongues.

I made these easy string cheese party cats. All you need is some Sharpies in the color of your choice. They are great to make ahead, ready to pull out on party day. They also make a fun addition to kids’ lunches for school.

I purchased these kitty shaped cookie cutters from Amazon and my kids followed this recipe to help me make some sugar cookies. We left them unfrosted and made vanilla buttercream frosting for guests to frost at the party as another fun activity. We also added muffin tins filled with sprinkles and candy eyes. This activity was a pure joy to watch as everyone really enjoyed decorating and eating, and wanted to share their kitty creations. I now have so many pictures on my phone of happy kids showing me their kitty cookies.

Here is the birthday girl cutting out all the kitty cookies.

I used this recipe to make banana sheet cake. I just used a little cutter to cut them out as wish granting stars.

We served a raspberry sherbet punch. This was made by adding one gallon of raspberry sherbet to three 2L bottles of ginger ale. Before the party was over, I had to add one more 2L bottle of ginger ale.

The sign for the drink is free to download. It is best printed out onto white cardstock, cut around the border, and placed in a frame. I found these acrylic frames from the Dollar Tree.

My daughter requested a raspberry cake just like Itty and the King’s favorite. I used this recipe from My Cake School to make it. I always use Two Sister’s recipe for buttercream frosting. I added the tops of two sugar cones to create the cat ears and used a Wilton 1M tip to pipe pink rosettes. My daughter picked out the candles from the Dollar Tree.

I made some simple cupcake toppers, adhered them to toothpicks with some scotch tape, and inserted them into vanilla cupcakes. The toppers are available here.

Favors:

Each guest received a party bag filled with a little cat notebook, a cat stamper, some cat stickers, and party blowers from the Dollar Tree. My daughter browsed on Amazon with me to pick out what she wanted to include in the bags and I have linked all the items we ended up purchasing. Guests also filled the rest of their bags with pinata candy as well as any crafts they wanted to take home. The Itty inspired bag labels is free to download below for personal use. I create more party cat treat bag labels here. They are best printed out onto sticker paper, cut into four, and adhered to small paper bags.

I have always loved helping to bring books to life for my kids so this party theme was really fun for me. There wasn’t much out there when planning so that gave us a lot of creative freedom. As many of the pictures inside the books were in black and white, we had to use our best guess as to what we thought all the characters really looked like. I also enjoyed getting my kids involved in the whole party planning process. Maybe someday it will help them to recreate something inexpensive and fun for their kids too!

I create more printable activities for kids here with the goal of helping to grow kids who love to learn.

To see my other kids’ parties click here.

If you use these printables or party ideas, I would love to see it! Please use #sodangfun on social media, tag me @sodangfun on Instagram, or post to my Facebook page.

I hope this post can help you to create some inexpensive and magical fun for your princess kitty fan!