One of Kitty-chan’s favorite foods is the inspiration for her birthday sundae.
There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself to a little sweet reward when you’ve been working hard, and no one works harder than Hello Kitty, who’s been especially busy these past few weeks making new friends and learning sign language. That’s not the only reason the timing feels right for the Hello Kitty Loves Ice Cream campaign at Baskin-Robbins Japan, either, since November 1 was Kitty-chan’s birthday.
As of November 1, Baskin-Robbins (or “Thirty-one,” as it’s more commonly called by fans in Japan) is serving up frozen Sanrio fun, so we made sure to hurry to our nearest branch to order a Hello Kitty Special Cup. This is a two-scoop ice cream cup (680 yen [US$4.55] for small scoops or 930 yen for regular-size) that comes in a special container covered in adorable Hello Kitty illustrations.
▼ Baskin-Robbins Japan has stuck with the pink-and-navy blue color scheme that the chain recently shifted away from in the U.S., and it’s also featured on the cup.
We suspect some fans might wash the cup out after they’re done eating so that they can keep it as a memento of this sweet moment, but even if you don’t, you also get a Hello Kitty charm, in which she’s enjoying a cone of Baskin-Robbins’ Popping Shower, perennially one of the chain’s most popular flavors in Japan. While it comes attached to the spoon, the charm can easily be unclipped and transferred to a bag strap or key ring.
Also included with the Hello Kitty Special Cup is an icing cookie, featuring one of three randomly selected icing renderings of Kitty-chan. Sweet and crunchy, it also helped prevent brain freeze by keeping our mouth from becoming overly chilled from the ice cream.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for the collaboration, though. According to her official profile, one of Hello Kitty’s favorite foods is apple pie, which brings us to the Hello Kitty Apple Pie Sundae.
This sundae in a cup gives you two small-size scoops of ice cream, an apple-shaped chocolate, and pie crust sticks. Swirled at the top is whipped cream drizzled with a sweet apple sauce with bit of apple in it, and dipping the pie sticks into the cream gives a flavor like eating a slice of apple pie.
As with the Hello Kitty Special Cup, you can pick what flavors of ice cream you want for the 1,370-yen Hello Kitty Apple Pie Sundae. We opted for one of this month’s special limited-time flavors, which is also a nod to Hello Kitty’s tastes, Caramel Apple Pie, and this turned out to be an excellent choice for meshing deliciously with the rest of the sundae’s ingredients.
The Hello Kitty Apple Pie Sundae comes with three toothpick-style Sanrio character decorations. You might be wondering why Hello Kitty appears twice, but as Sanrio scholars know, November 1 isn’t just Kitty-chan’s birthday, but also the birthday of her twin sister Mimi. Mimi generally leaves the limelight to her much more active sibling, but every now and then she’ll make an appearance too, as she does here along with Kitty’s teddy bear pal Tiny Chum.
And while you don’t get the charm strap with the Hello Kitty Apple Pie Sundae, you do still get a very cute extra in the form of a reversible cloth cup sleeve.
The Hello Kitty side features a bow in the colors of Baskin-Robbins’ Banana and Strawberry ice cream flavor, while Mimi’s has the hues of Caramel Ribbon. No matter which side you have facing outward, though, it’s warm and fuzzy in both the literal and emotional sense.
Basking-Robbins actually has even more Hello Kitty-themed sweets and merch available right now, but it turns out that eating three frozen desserts in one sitting is beyond even our capacity (we know, we were shocked to discover this ourselves).
But with the Hello Kitty Loves Ice Cream collaboration running until November 27, there’s still time to fit multiple visits into your dessert schedule.
Bottom image: PR Times
All other photos ©SoraNews24
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