The Invitation in frame (turned backwards so can't be read) |
I was invited to a Sweet 17 Hello Kitty party by one of my
students. The invitation was given to me in person. It came in a large
envelope. When I opened the envelope inside was a black Hello Kitty picture
frame with the invitation in the frame. It also came with three small Hello
Kitty shaped papers that told the table (Tiramisu) , to be exchanged for a
Quickly (treat), and to be exchanged for a thank you gift. On the bottom of the
invitation it showed that flowers and stuffed animals were not acceptable but
presents and cards were. It also stated there was a dress code of black or soft
pink. It was held at the Shangri-La hotel.
I invited one of the expats from the Elementary part of the
school as I did not want to be at this party all alone. Since the party was on
a Friday night it was hard to get a cab. I was going to call earlier than I
did, but then the power went out in the house and so I got behind in getting
ready. It took almost an hour of calling before I finally got through to the
cab company, either they did not answer, the answered and hung up , or I got a
busy signal. I had misread the invitation that it started at 7p.m. when really
it started at 6p.m. We did not arrive until 7:30p.m. When we arrived I had the
cab driver take us up to the lobby. We found a sign at the entrance stating the
party was in the ballroom but we were unsure where that was located. We asked
for directions but at first were misdirected. At the counter in the lobby there
was a young lady with her back to us that has this beautiful pink evening gown
and what looked like a fur stole that was hanging down. We finally found the
ballroom but came at in from the wrong way. There were these black curtains set
up. We were told by this young man that we were at the entrance but when we
went through the gap we came through at where they had been taking pictures
(kind of like a prom). It appeared that the picture taking session was over.
There was a created hallway in front of
us. We walked passed an entrance to our left and kept going down the hallway.
There were lots of lights hanging down and everything was black and pink and
lots of Hello Kitty things everywhere. We passed the Quickly booth, but I
didn’t stop there. We walked to the end and there was a large group of people
but I was not sure what they were doing, so we turned back around and headed
back towards the entrance we passed. Standing in front of the entrance were two
young ladies. They were dressed in
these old fashion dresses like the 1800s. They had Hello Kitty heads that they
were wearing. We went through the entrance and I handed them my table card.
They confirmed I was a teacher and directed us to the right. They lady was
dressed in a black outfit with a pink scarf and black Hello Kitty glasses.
Everywhere was black and pink. It was incredible how fancy it was. We were taken to the farthest long table on the right, but the table was all full. I saw several of the local teachers were sitting at this table. In front of the long tables were round tables that had pink and black umbrellas above them. I think those were for the birthday girl’s friends. Since the table we were supposed to sit at was full we were taken to the left side to long table second from the end on the left side. We were seated at the front of the table behind the round tables. In the middle of the room was a empty space that had a pink and black canopy above it. On the left side (our side) at the front was a huge Hello Kitty birthday cake. Around the empty space were just box (footrest) type seating. There were also several large screens around the room where we could watch the proceedings. The tables all had really nice dishes on them and there were short and tall flower arrangements.
Everywhere was black and pink. It was incredible how fancy it was. We were taken to the farthest long table on the right, but the table was all full. I saw several of the local teachers were sitting at this table. In front of the long tables were round tables that had pink and black umbrellas above them. I think those were for the birthday girl’s friends. Since the table we were supposed to sit at was full we were taken to the left side to long table second from the end on the left side. We were seated at the front of the table behind the round tables. In the middle of the room was a empty space that had a pink and black canopy above it. On the left side (our side) at the front was a huge Hello Kitty birthday cake. Around the empty space were just box (footrest) type seating. There were also several large screens around the room where we could watch the proceedings. The tables all had really nice dishes on them and there were short and tall flower arrangements.
Trying to get picture of the cake |
Not long after we sat down the party really started. So, our
timing was actually good. There were two Masters of Ceremonies announcing
something but since it was in Indonesian we had no idea what they were saying. One
was a man dressed up in a black suit. The other was a man dressed up in a pink
sparkly corset type top and short shorts, and hose with a garter belt. He also
had a Hello Kitty bow and these high heels on.
Next, on the
stage at the front there was a group of young ladies in Hello Kitty outfits
dancing. A box came out and a guy dressed all in
silver, even his face, came out of the box and walked like a robot. The group
walked towards the entrance that we had missed to welcome the birthday girl. On
the screens the outside of the Shangri-La appeared and a white sports car with
a large Hello Kitty face on the hood pulled up to the hotel. Out of the
driver’s seat came the birthday girl. She was the one I had seen up at the
lobby counter. She was in the beautiful pink evening gown and around her waist
she was wearing a Hello Kitty head (made out of something). Part of her hair or maybe a hair piece
that looked like hair was tied in a big bow like Hello Kitty. She made an
entrance and the cameras were following her the whole way. She was escorted in
by the girls and robot guy. As she was walking down the created hallway a girl
in the entourage gave her a bouquet of flowers with a Hello Kitty face in it.
She was brought up to the stage and talked some. Then her parents and siblings
were brought up on stage and she thanked them for all they had done for her and
hoped that everyone enjoyed her party.
After this part I might not have the rest of the events in
the correct order because it was such an overwhelming night and it was
confusing since it was all done in Indonesian so I remember the events clearly
but not necessarily the order. Plus, during all of this we were eating dinner. Also, in between events there were
pictures of the birthday girl up on the screens.
I think the next event that happened was that the birthday
girl sang a song to her family and loved ones. Then there was a girl group that
sang to the birthday girl. I did not think they were that good. They seemed
nervous and couldn’t remember all of the song and dance routine. After that the
birthday girl had on another beautiful pink evening gown. Her hair was more
normal at that point. She cut the cake and went around and fed people like this
little sticks (I think it was cake). I am not sure exactly what it symbolized.
She did it to her parents, siblings, (grandparents-maybe) and some other
people. People also gave her gifts. She got jewelry, lots of bracelets and a
pink Hello Kitty guitar.
After that a young lady sang a song for the birthday girl (
I think it was a favorite song). It was the Carly Rae song “Call Me Maybe” and
in the background there was a guy and girl doing like a ballroom routine. At some point the man dressed as a
woman had changed his top to a black corset type top and had a man’s jacket on.
I think he was tired. I know earlier he had taken off the high heels and they
were back on but he was sitting down.
Then Afgan Syah Reza, a famous Indonesian singer sang
several songs. He sang a Bruno Mars song in English and other songs in
Indonesian. He had some of the young ladies come up from the audience and he
serenade them and took pictures with them. The birthday girl came out on stage
during the last song in a different outfit. This one was a slightly above knee
length black top and pink skirt sparkly dress and really high heels. After he was done and the Masters of
Cermonies duo was talking to him, the man dressed as a woman kept trying to
kiss Afgan on the cheeks. He did not seem too thrilled about that and
eventually was covering his cheeks with his hands.
After that there was something with her fellow classmates.
During a song that, I think the girl group sang, they came out with bows in
their hair and carrying one of the guys and he had a large bag with a gift in
it for her. Then they were all given roses to give to her and one guy got down
on his knee to give it to her. Then they were calling different guys up and
trying to get them to say something in Indonesian and at one point the guys had
on these shorts with suspenders and bras on. At this point not knowing what
they were saying made it really confusing. After that dancing started and we
decided that was our cue to leave.
It was almost 10p.m. by that time and were both hungry as we didn’t care
for the food and on overload.
Thank you gift-Hello Kitty Metal tree |
It reminded me very much of the MTV show “My Sweet Sixteen”
that I saw one day when I was home sick and they had a marathon on. It was just
incredible how elaborate this party and those parties are. I can’t even fathom
the cost. It makes me wonder what the wedding will be like. How does one top
these birthday parties? In the MTV show they were trying to outdo each other
and have their party be the most talked about party of the year. I don’t know
if that is the case in Indonesia. For me, it is something I will remember the
rest of my life, but it is not something that I have ever been to before and
will probably never go to again. I don’t know what it is like for people who
get invited to these all the time and probably go to several over the course of
their lives.