Top 12 Finds at the Hello Kitty Exhibition Show

For the last few weeks, there have been ads in the subway cars for a Hello Kitty exhibition show at the SETEC building in Daechi-dong. We all know that my heart belongs to Domo, but Hello Kitty is still a pretty funny and notorious character, so we decided to check out the show.

We each paid our 5,000 Won admission and entered. We were delighted to immediately find a variety of cardboard cutouts to pose with.

We had no idea what the show was going to be like because the SETEC website just redirected to a website that sells Hello Kitty stuff when we tried to research the event. Turns out, that information was representative of what the show was all about: it's a gigantic Hello Kitty product sales floor. The show was divided into two sections. The first part that you come to is an exhibition of products that are not for sale and are to be admired from a distance (we were scolded for touching the t-shirts) and then in the second part you can buy most of the things that were showcased in the first section.

At first we thought they could have been a lot more creative with this event, for example at least have a big Kitty character walking around for me to pose in pictures with, but that wasn't really what the show was about. This is shopping bidniss only. There was, at least, a small golf game (seen above) to promote a line of HK golfing clothes and accessories.

A line of goth Kitty products were also showcased. I blame Twilight.

Alright, on to the merchandise! We all know that Hello Kitty is like the Krusty the Clown of Asia- she'll slap her name on anything to make a buck- so some of the products that we saw were really ridiculous. Here are my top 12 favorite products from the Hello Kitty Exhibition:

12. Hello Kitty snowboards. If you want to be a macho man on the slopes.

11. Hello Kitty Korean Red Ginseng Kid Tonic- even just the product name alone makes it sound like something you should NOT feed your kid. A tonic? Not unless there's gin, thanks.

10. The Hello Kitty Toilet- you know it's a good list when a Hello Kitty toilet only makes tenth place. PS: We already own the toilet brush in the above photo.

9. ROCKS! Hello Kitty rocks! Plain, white rocks with Kitty's face painted on them. This actually exists!

8. Hello Kitty water, served in a bottle that has BREASTS.

7. Everything in this Hello Kitty car makes the list, particularly the Hello Kitty GPS device.

The Kitty car's headlights even had eyelashes.

6. Hello Kitty toilet paper!! 24 rolls for $25, but they throw in two bonus rolls with your purchase. Small pink Kitties were printed on each square.

5. Hello Kitty lunch bags. No fancy ziploc strip or Kitty graphic on the bag, just a plain plastic bag.

4. The Hello Kitty cleaver. This would make such a cute murder weapon!

3. Hello Kitty tofu. Because when you think Kitty, you think unflavored tofu shaped like Kitty's face.

2. A Hello Kitty VAULT! With three styles to choose from, and (at 30% off) only $400, it was very tempting to buy one of these. And if I had bought a Hello Kitty vault, the first thing I would have secured in it would have been...

1. HELLO KITTY PADS! Girls, when it's that time of month nothing beats the absorbancy of a Hello Kitty sanitary napkin.

Sadly, with a wedding to pay for and an education to fund, we didn't have the extra spending money to buy special vaults, rocks, pads or even Hello Kitty brand magic beans, but Mel did wind up buying a handsome red HK umbrella. When we left, we were happy to each receive a decent sized free gift bag with some Hello Kitty pencils, paper and other little things. What a nice touch.

SO, if you're in Seoul and you're a Hello Kitty fan... or if you're just on the rag and need supplies, head on over to the SETEC convention center before May 8th. It's right outside Hangnyeoul Station, exit 1.