Emoji Party Tips and Ideas from an Expert Party Planner
I used to plan 150 events a year for Saks Fifth Avenue (along with handling all their marketing and PR needs). So my brain is used to being filled with a zillion party planning ideas and it’s no wonder I’m always in search of my next reason to throw another fashionable party (even though I no longer work there). Anyone who knows me knows I can use anything as an excuse to plan another party… (how does my hubby put up with me..I know…). Emoji party anyone??
This time, inspiration came from all the emojis happily smiling at me wherever I went. #trending?? They were everywhere on every article of clothing, fashion accessory, kids’ backpacks, lunch boxes and now did you hear? There’s even an emoji MOVIE coming out!
Little J loves emojis! She happily sends texts with her chubby 4 year old fingers to all her friends and family filled with her carefully-chosen emojis. And she loves imitating all the silly faces with her own. So I decided it was time Fab Kids threw an emoji-themed party where finally, everyone had the perfect reason to show off their happy, silly, and cool emoji style.
I partnered with NY Kids Club and aptly titled the event, Mommy and Me HAPPY Hour. It was a happy hour unlike anything you’ve ever SEEN! Imagine wine for the moms…pizza and play space for the kids. I mean with this padded play area, you could literally, leave your child in there and sip away knowing they were having a blast! Easy peasey. And cheers to THAT!
Besides having wine nearby, we couldn’t help but smile ear to ear while being surrounded by all the bright, sunny yellow-not to mention all the smiling faces! 
Plus did I mention the PIZZA? Ehem, I could live on this stuff!
To really envelop ourselves with the emoji theme, guests were challenged to come wearing their best emoji style. What better way is there to express yourself than through fashion anyways?? Of course, Fab kids brought it!
The moms didn’t disappoint either!
Any mom that can get into a theme is a fab mom to me btw! Besides the super cute dress code, I made sure smiles surrounded the party people. Everything from the walls, to the railings, to the bathroom doors were emoji-fied! 
NY Kids Club gets 2 thumbs up for brilliantly decorating their trampoline with chalk emoji drawings too! (Insert clapping hands emoji here.)
The dessert and snack station featured a wall of linen that waterfall-ed into the table. (Can you believe this was fabric from my college days…it used to be a curtain that I DIY-ed for my dorm). From here, I simply taped up smiley face emoji plates which you can find here.
Budgeting tip! Instead of splurging on emoji lollipops, I bought simple yellow ones and stuck emoji stickers on them. I found this pack of emoji stickers at the dollar store). Score! The suckers stand perfectly in the gift-wrap covered styrofoam and add needed height to the table. 
Coordinated cupcake holders were filled with crunchy, organic, kid crackers. Pretzel poo was made simply by sticking free poo printables onto mini pretzel packs. 
The emoji cookies were from Dylan’s Candy bar, and the sprinkle cupcakes were simply topped with DIY emoji toppers and cupcake liners to complete the look.
Every kids’ party needs a fun activity. For this emoji party, I wanted an emotional craft that was fairly quick and easy to do for kids of all ages. This emoji photo booth prop was the perfect thing! Kids were able to customize their own face by choosing from features like sunglasses, heart eyes, smiles, and winking eyes to create a photo prop personalized to their #currentmood! Little J was very proud of hers!
NY Kids Club staff were sooo awesome at helping to prepare all the pieces by cutting out everything beforehand so the kids could simply select, glue, and GO! It was so fun that kids often could not stop at just making one.
Once emotions were let out through this crafting activity, kids were invited to do their happy dance (all to a great playlist customized by me making sure moms could enjoy the latest happy tunes). And GR8 games included a fun emoji ball toss, as well as a game of pass the emoji (think hot potato game and all set to the lively tune of “don’t worry be happy”.) I had so much fun brainstorming all these details!
Thanks to Little Spoon who helped make the night possible through their taste-testing sponsorship of the event and beverage bar!
Their delicious, organic baby food gets delivered to your door with free shipping (and also tastes great mixed into prosecco with pomegranate seeds, I learned!!) These products are so hot, there’s a wait list so get on it, Mommas!!
And thanks to Lulu Fete who supplied all the emoji balloons and decorated /executed my silly selfie station area! This was such a blast!!
In the end, style awards and raffles were given away and guests left with goody bags and emoji balloons. We all left smiling ear to ear! The party ended too soon for us. We wanted to keep dancing and playing all night long. But alas, that’s what the next party is for….
*********************************************************************************************************************************
SAVE THE DATE! June 24th, we’re hosting another party at the NY Kids Club and YOU’RE INVITED!
THEME: Geek chic Graduation party (come wearing bowties, nerd glasses, argyle, suspenders etc.) We’re celebrating the fact that school’s out and that summer is IN! Those 5 and under have all graduated from something and this I think calls for a congratulations in party form!
LIKE facebook.com/fabkidsnyc and follow @fab_kids on IG for all the details coming soon!
**********************************************************************************************************************************
BIG THANK YOU to the NY Kids Club Tribeca for making this event seamless and all-around super. I couldn’t have asked for a better team!
To see how the yellow chair covers (featured in the crafting room) were last used at little J’s bunny-themed 3rd birthday, hop on over HERE for more party planning tips!
With a diverse mix of families celebrating a birthday, giggling girls coming in for an after-school treat, to tourists and the random old man, the room is filled with a curious audience entranced by the spell these girls cast. These happy-go-lucky maids dressed in stereotypical maid costumes only seen during Halloween in the States, dance, sing, play toys and games, pose for photos and encourage you to singalong and cast a spell onto your food. What? Yes. Form your hands into a heart and in your most adorable voice, repeat after me…”“moe, moe, kyun!”
I, as an American tourist did not understand. But I didn’t care. And neither did my 4 year old who was just as entranced as I was. She had so much fun she even exclaimed that she changed her mind. She didn’t want to be a doctor anymore. She wanted to be a waitress! Great. Just great. We left in bliss anyways. For more on Maid Cafes click 
How is it that in the States, we were never allowed to touch owls?? Apparently they’re super friendly and enjoy being petted?! We got such a kick out of this place and couldn’t believe how many different owls there were..ones I didn’t even know existed. It was surreal. Every few steps, we met a wildly different owl. Check out this one that looked wooden!
We got to pet (with the back of our hands) about 15 different owls that day. How cool is that? Juliet just learned about owls at school too and was super psyched. Hoot Hoot! What an amazing learning experience for the kids to learn fun facts about owls hands on. 
A game of I spy in here could include unicorns, bunnies, and gigantic mushroom sightings that will have you feeling like you’re hallucinating in this trippy place. Talk about wild and wacky Tokyo!
And don’t worry, while the name of the restaurant may sound scary, there is nothing scary about this place. It’s more of a dream than a nightmare! I would love to know what sort of dreams little J had after experiencing this place…
Address: YM square building 4F, 4-31-10, Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo. Opening Hours: 11.30am-4.30pm and 6pm-10.30pm daily.
It’s so hard to find the words to describe how much I enjoyed this weird, highly Instagram-able wonderland. 
It’s burning man on a sugar high! Think dazzling lights, estatic costumed performers, beaming laser lights and Transformer-like robots coming at you…”roboto roboto” their main song will be singing in your head for days! It’s sensory overload in the most over-the-top fashion and you will wonder how you’ll ever go back to normal life again..
I’m uploading some insider videos of this place and all our Japan adventures on our Youtube channel soon so subscribe to see all the wild details. TIP: secure reservations beforehand. get the biggest discount from the Metro Magazine at the airport when you land or click 
The Japanese are so amazing at inspiring us moms to try creating food art at home. 
So what do you think? Which of these 5 hot spots would you most want to try? What would YOUR kids most enjoy?
