Hawaiian luaus are great, easy-to-plan summer parties. Luaus are a great way to celebrate the warmth, fun and casual air of summer with ease and style. Great luau-themed decorations, games and activities coupled with fabulous food and festivities will make yours the event of the summer.
Invitations:
Making your own invitations for a Hawaiian luau ought to be fun. You can create cute, themed hand-deliverable invitations for local guests using a message in a bottle where you print the party details on a beach-themed stationary, roll it up and place it inside of a small plastic bottle. Another cute idea for creating invitations could be putting the party details on a flip-flop or getting flip-flop shaped paper invitations. Other invitation ideas include writing your invitations then attaching them to leis, drink umbrellas or another luau-themed object then delivering them by hand.
Decorations:
With decorations, you can either get elaborate or you can keep it simple. Elaborate decorations include palm trees and tiki torches placed throughout the yard, grass table runners and tropical scene kits. You can also turn your backyard into a Hawaiian beach with simple decorations such as a fresh tropical fruit centerpiece, luau or Hawaiian music and some table coverings. You could stand a surfboard up by the door and have somebody passing out leis to welcome your your guests as they arrive.
Cover the tables with green butcher paper and fray the edges to resemble a grass skirt, place travel posters on the walls and then hang garlands of homemade tissue flowers. For little girls, use Ken and Barbie, in bathing suits, as a centerpiece.
Games and Activities:
• Hula dancing
o Hula lessons are both reasonably priced and fun for kids of all ages. Hire somebody to come out and give a brief hula lesson for the party.
• Tropical relay race
o You will need two of each of the following:
• grass skirts
• Bermuda shorts
• Pairs of sunglasses
• straw hats
• leis
• two beach bags
• two beach chairs
o Divide guests into two teams and place the beach chairs a good running distance away from the teams. The first person in line has to put on all of the items out of the beach bag, run down to the chair, come back, take off all of the clothes, and pass it on to the next player. This continues until each member of the team has completed their turn.
• Bobbing for seashells
o Fill up a large plastic tub with water and place a variety of items that float inside the tub. Write on the items number 1, 2 or 3. Make prize bags with inexpensive items, such as candy, gum, or trinkets. Players have to put their hands behind their backs and use their teeth to grab an item. They get to collect the prize from the bag that matches the number on the item they caught.
• Hot Coconut
o You play this game just like you do hot potato, but using a whole coconut instead. You pass the coconut around while music is playing when the music stops the person left holding the coconut sits in the middle or controls the music.
Crafts:
• Leis
o You will need yarn, drinking straws and colored paper. The straws will need to be cut into 1″ pieces and you will need to cut flowers from the colored paper, this is best done beforehand. Make a hole in the center of each flower with a hole punch. String the lei’s by alternating straws and flowers until you have reached the desired length.
• Sand painting
o You can create sand scenes using construction paper, colored sand and white school glue. Use the glue to draw trees, water, beaches and whatever else you like. Pour the desired colored sand on each object. Do the items one at a time otherwise the sand will mix.
Favors:
You can fill beachcomber hats with toys, flower leis, a bottle of tropical punch and some candy or the crafts that you did at the party as a thank you gift.
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