Suntans, schoolgirls, ninja, and sushi chefs all part of 50th birthday celebration for the Sanrio star.

Hello Kitty’s 50th birthday is coming up next year/ It’s a big milestone, and McDonald’s Japan is getting the Sanrio star’s birthday party started early with a gigantic Hello Kitty Happy Meal collaboration.

McDonald’s always has a few types of toys in each of their Happy Meal lineups, but they’re marking Hello Kitty hitting the big 5-0 with no fewer than 50 different plushie straps!

Of course, the drawback to having so much variety in a random prize pool is that there’s a statistically small chance of getting any individual Kitty. The upside? They’re all adorable, representing a wide swath of Japanese eras and fashion trends.

Obviously, you can’t leave out Kitty-chan’s original design and outfit from 1974, but that’s just the start of this retrospective of kawaii culture, so let’s take a look at some of the other Hello Kitty versions appearing in the Happy Meal tie-up.

▼ Hello Kitty’ chic monochrome treatment from 1987

▼ In 1996, Hello Kitty got in on the trend of tropical/floral prints that swept Japan.

▼ Heisei Gyaru Kitty reflects schoolgirl fashion of Japan’s Heisei era (1989-2019), and her tanned version came about when sun-kissed skin became an ascetic asset in the late ‘90s.

▼ Embodying aspects of classical Japanese culture are the matsuri (festival), kimono, ninja, and itamae (sushi chef) Kitty straps.

This being a McDonald’s collaboration, a few of the Kitties are dressed in the fast food chain’s uniform, including a throwback to navy/sky blue checkerboard-style ones worn by employees at the time when it opened its first branch in Japan.

There’s even a special future-focused design looking forward to the next chapter in Kitty-chan’s career.

With 50 designs, it’s hard to predict which one you’ll get, but there is one freebie you can be more or less certain about. If you put in your Hello Kitty Happy Meal order as a delivery order, while supplies last you’ll receive this sheet of stickers showing her riding one of the McDonald’s Japan’s ubiquitous delivery bikes.

The Hello Kitty Happy meals will be available from December 15

Source, images: PR Times
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