all hello kitty, all the time

not surprisingly, i was super excited to check out the hello kitty supercute friendship festival.  like, i started the day off at barre like this:

the bean was similarly excited, and even more so when she realized that we were going to be heading out to the forum in the same car as two of her fellow daisy scouts.  none of them really knew what to expect, and they chattered happily in the back seat all the way to inglewood.  this was their first hint as to what was coming:

even their "hey, take a ton of pictures but no commercial filming, yo" signage was adorable.

i think all five of us let out a collective "ohhhhhhhhh" when we finally stepped inside and got a gander at what was waiting for us.

because we were there on a weekday at noon, it wasn't overwhelmingly crowded.  not one bit.  and so the line at the first photo op wasn't bad at all.

i mean...you know how much i love hello kitty photo ops.  and of course, i had to strike the classic asian pose for most of them.  because...well, duh.

the girls were immediately drawn to the giant hello kitty bounce house.  i chatted a bit with the poor volunteer who got stuck with this assignment and asked her what they got in exchange for their time. she said they got a t-shirt, a lanyard and some pins, and a meet & greet with hello kitty herself - basically some of the VIP swag without the 3-digit price tag.

the stage shows were pretty amusing, to say the least.

 and of course, exclusive festival merchandise was available at two separate shopping stations.

there was a fun origami activity and several stations for drawing the sanrio characters for the girls:

and a small exhibit of hello kitty merchandise - much like the displays we'd seen at the japanese museum.

 hello kitty haute couture.

we had fun at the "no shoes, please" little twin stars photo op, too.  it was hard to balance on that moon-shaped prop.

hello kitty spam musubi, anyone?  the kits that we found at hello kitty con were available here, too, with a live demonstration.

there was face painting and tattoos, too.

we managed one last photo op before venue security started ushering everyone out.  the festival lasts for three hours, and they definitely stuck to that time limit.

oh, and if you'd managed to miss your shot to do some shopping...well, they've got you covered.

i wonder whose fabulous vehicle this was:

ah, hello kitty.  how i adore you.  and that last-minute sewing totally paid off - our dresses were super comfy, and it was kind of cool when we were approached by several fellow kitty fans who asked where we'd gotten them.  i may have beamed with pride as i replied "oh, i made them."

maybe just a little.  heh.