My Neighbor Totoro Cupcakes. With Totoro and the little black dust bunnies. All photography by Brendan.
For my daughter’s birthday party, I threw her a My Neighbor Totoro inspired party. This Japanese cartoon is one of her most favorite movies to watch, and just like the show, Totoro visits her constantly. He is her favorite imaginary friend.
I made vanilla cupcakes and decorated them with vanilla icing, fondant flowers and tiny dust bunnies (or soot sprites) on top. Totoro is made out of marshmallow and fondant.
Totoro, To-to-ro.
The best part of having Totoro birthday cupcakes is that you get to eat him.
Yummy.
Brendan made Japanese inspired hot dogs. Take an all beef hot dog, cover it in teriyaki sauce. Dress the bun with carmelized onions and wasabi mayo, and it’s completely oishii.
おいしい!
Hi-chews. Some of the best candy on earth.
For an activity, the kids made dessert sushi using rice krispy treats, fruit roll ups and lots and lots of candy.
Future sushi chef in the making.
Green Fruit Rolls-Ups act as the nori.
The "monster roll."
inuyaki, surprising good candy sushi.
Who says kids can't like sushi?
This little guy probably ate his fair share of food. And drank even more juice.
The little brother. With an auntie. And juice.
My girl spent all last week watering seeds she planted for her friends. One of her favorite scenes in My Neighbor Totoro was when Totoro helped the plants to grow. And yes, she did the “grow dance” after she watered too.
As a party favor, all the kids took home the a little spout.
We also made homemade Pocky sticks to give away too.
Pocky. Homemade.
Lots of fun, lots of friends:
A ride on the swings is almost as awesome as riding the cat bus.
This was a family party, so even parents were invited.
And of course, there were some pretty great handmade Totoro presents.
With a little sewing help from my cousin-in-law Emily, this one's from me. Thanks Emily, for saving my life.
This reaction is better than Christmas morning.
Here’s a better photo of Totoro taken the next day:
It's love.
To top it off, Grandma knitted the cutest Totoro hat using a free pattern from Hello Yarn.
I don't even need to wait for the Fall to break this hat out. She wearing it with her shorts and skirts right now.
All in all, I think it was a pretty good birthday.
Wow! You thought of every detail. Looks like a dream birthday party!
oh my goodness, veeda!
can i please come to your parties in the future!? it looks so lovely!
i love totoro.
i kept on singing the song in my head while scrolling down your blog.
The party looks amazing! Sushi out of rice crispy treats….. so creative. Cashy looks like a prince and Mei beautiful as always.
Eva, the party was so fun. Thank you!
Sasha, sure
. I’m not surprised you love Totoro too.
Juanita, we do love sushi in our household.
Holy crap Veeda. I knew I would be impressed, but really. If I thought you were amazing before…
Shedding a tear we were out of town. Sobe was super impressed as well
& Flynn will flip when he sees this…
Oh Veeda, of course you love Totoro as much as we do. I am dying over that dessert sushi! It looks like the best birthday party ever. I am so in awe.
You are so creative. I love the photos and the whole concept, even though I’ve never seen Totoro in my life. I am always amazed at your party ideas.
Megh, we are sad you guys missed out too.
Megan, dessert sushi was fun (and easy). Maybe next time we get together we can have some with our kids?
Becca, you need to stop what you’re doing and watch My Neighbor Totoro RIGHT NOW.
This is a really great idea and family friendly. Amazing!
love all of this. dessert sushi is such a great activity for kids. um. and adults. i would so eat that.
What a great idea! I love Totoro. Makes me smile. What a fun birthday!
Saravon, thank you dear cousin.
Julia, I ate my fair of those addictive rice krispy sushi rolls too.
Molly, it was soooo fun. Thanks so much!
You’ve done it again, Veeda – what an adorable party!! And I have to say, as a hot dog lover, those hot dogs sound amazing!!
Veeda! This is so fantastic. I am doing a lot of Totoro in our baby’s nursery and I MUST know how you made the Totoro doll. Please? Email me?
Alli
Alli, will do!
Your party looked so fun. You are so creative. I love all the possibilities. I know they all had fun. thanks for sharing your fun day.
waaaaaah! I wish that was my birthday! It looks like you had a lovely day, thankyou so much for sharing the pics
Hey Veeda. It’s Chaz’s little sister Melissa! I am so impressed by your Totoro party. My girls are addicted to the movie, and they’ll be sooooo jealous!!
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I’m throwing my daughter a Hayao Miyazaki-inspired party and love your Totoro details. Marshmallow & fondant… is that difficult to use together, any tips! Thanks so much!
Thanks Lizelle, I’m not a fondant pro, but I didn’t have trouble shaping Totoro around the marshmallow. I like to sculpt things and play around though, so I just treated the fondant like it was clay or play dough. I used food coloring paste from Wilton (I think) to dye the fondant and used a toothpick dipped in the food coloring to make the face and details. It’s thick stuff, so it’s easier to work with. Hope this helps! Have a wonderful party, you’re little girl is so lucky.