As a Japanese mom here in the States, I’ve celebrated Japanese Girl’s Day with my daughters for the past couple of years. Every year I’ve added one or two new decorations, and most of them are acutally from Amazon! Here are some of my favorites with non-affiliate Amazon links.
1. Cherry Blossom Branches
I DIYed this cherry blossom wreath a few years ago, and it’s still my absolute favorite wreath I’ve ever created to this day! It’s so fluffy, beautiful and lights up my house instantly! As soon as this wreath is out, I feel the shift of atmosphere in my home, and it lifts up everyone’s mood.
I used a metal wreath base like this, attached a lot of cut up fake cherry blossom branches with short metal wires to the base. I’m not very good at crafts, but this project was so easy and simple! I love this wreath so much, and it’s perfect for Girl’s Day!
(Here is a quick tutorial video of the wreath on my IG!)
2. Cherry Blossom Placemats
Whenever I prepare for holiday lunch or dinner for my family and friends, I love having unique placemats to go with the theme. I think it makes the table setting look a bit more formal, and when everything is set up, it looks like you put a lot more effort into decorating the table than you actually did.
There are several cherry blossom themed placemats on Amazon, but here is what I’ve purchased. It’s a set of four, and there are two different designs. Both my girls and I love them very much, and we always look forward to using them during Spring!
3. Cherry Blossom Designed Hand Held Fans and Cherry Blossom Heads
Here are a few more decorations you can use on your table or other places in your home! I originally purchased these cherry blossom designed hand held fans to gift to my daughters, which they absolutely loved, but I also used them on plates on the table. It was a fun touch to add to the table setting, and my daughters’ friends thought it was so fancy! It was a cute little gift for them as well.
I scattered these fake cherry blossom heads all over the table to add more colors, and I really liked them too. You could use them for crafts as well: cherry blossom wreaths, banners, etc. There are so many things you could do with these cherry blossom heads!
4. Lanterns
I’m not gonna lie, I don’t remember seeing lanterns at home for Girl’s Day celebration growing up, but I also know that lanterns are a big part of many celebrations for Asian cultures. So when I was looking for some cute decorations I could use for Japanese Girl’s Day last year, I found these pink and white lanterns on Amazon and bought a pack of it right away! It comes with a few different sizes of lanterns, and I loved using them over my dinner table for the holiday in the past. It’s one of those things that instantly lights up the room!
5. Cherry Blossom Shaped Plates
With these decorations on the table, wall, and ceiling, my dining room and table looked pretty festive already. But I was wondering if I could add any cherry blossom shaped plates to it. With my children still being young, I knew I didn’t want to invest in beautiful but breakable plates quite yet. So when I found these plastic cherry blossom shaped plates, I knew I wanted to add them to my collection of cherry blossom decorations!
Unfortunately the exact same plates were no longer available on Amazon, but I found a very similar one. And if you don’t care whether the plates are breakable or not, there are so many more options of beautiful plates and bowls with cherry blossom designs on on Amazon! I highly recommend looking into them, I’m sure you will find some you really like!
6. The Hina Dolls
It is not easy to find Hina doll sets outside of Japan. Usually Hina dolls are gifted from grandparents to grandchildren in Japan, and my mom has always wanted to send my daughters a small set, but it’s a bit nerve-racking to send such a delicate AND expensive gift via mail overseas. I would love to have a set in my home for my girls someday, but until then, we use what we got! That’s my motto when it comes to sharing Japanese culture with my family; do what you can with what you have.
The tiny Hina doll set in the picture above was a hand-me-down from my sweet friend. I like that even though its size is very small, it comes with all the dolls you would see in the traditional Hina doll set.
This year I’ve been searching for a small Hina doll set on Amazon, and I’ve actually found some. They are normally just a set of a prince and princess; the two most important dolls from Hina doll sets, and I’m guessing they are quite small. So please make sure and read descriptions of the products very well before you make a purchase. But they are pretty cute, and it’s nice to know that you CAN purchase a small Hina doll set even outside of Japan if you would like! I will leave some links to Hina doll sets I’ve found on Amazon below. (Not the one in the picture above.)
And that’s a wrap!
If you’ve been wanting to celebrate Japanese Girl’s Day but quite wasn’t sure where to start, I hope this blog post was helpful! Happy (almost) Japanese Girl’s Day!