Hawaiian Luau Party Tips

The children have gotten their school holidays. The temperature is the hottest it has ever been. The days are longer. Do you know what that means, right, smarties? Summer is here! We can spend a lot of our time outdoors playing basketball, volleyball, golf, and other outdoor games, going to the beach, and picnics. You can also go swimming, surfing, water-skiing, and play other water sports to help with the heat.

We can host many get-togethers and parties in summer because of the holidays. But there is one particular themed party the summer season is perfect for hosting. Can you guess what party it is? A Luau party? You got that one right, smarties. Some of our smarties might not know what a luau party is. A luau party is a Hawaiian party completed with yummy food, hula, music, and games.

My sister's nanny is planning a Hawaiian-themed birthday party for her daughter, who is turning one! I told her I would help her with some party planning inspiration by creating a blog. So I thought to share my ideas with you too. Enjoy!

Venue

Where should you host this party, indoors or outdoors? Of course, Smarties, the best places to host a luau party are outdoors or on a beach. But, of course, your backyard is a good place too. Have a pool? Even better! 

Dress Code for the Luau Party

Tropical style dresses would be suitable for the occasion. However, bright-colored dresses with palm leaves and flower prints are some you can go for. 

Decoration

Your goal should be to create a tropical ambiance. Use wooden tables. Colors like hot pink, yellow, turquoise, green, blue, and orange can be used in decoration. 

Remember to include floral prints in your decoration. Fishnets, labeled glass jars of tropical colored candy, tagged tropical colored buckets of beverages, tropical colored paper hanging lanterns can help you set the party. A touch of tropical flowers will do you good too. We can't forget the tiki torches. The light of the Tiki torches will be perfect at night. 

Plates and utensils are a part of the decoration too. You can use wooden plates like Palm Leaf Eco-Friendly Disposable Dinnerware Value Set or plastic plates or Turquoise Vintage Round Disposable Plastic Dinnerware Value Set in tropical colors to fit the theme. You can place small snacks in wooden bowls. Palm Leaf Eco-Friendly Disposable Soup Bowls would be perfect. Utensils you use can be Classic Gold Cutlery Plastic Silverware Set. You can serve drinks in cups made from coconut shells.

You can make banners with appropriate Hawaiian words for the party. For example, since I was helping out with a birthday, we had a banner wishing my sister's nanny's daughter. 

Note - Get someone fluent in Hawaiian to help you with words. 

Centerpiece Ideas for the Party

You can use a glass vase filled with sand and seashells, table torches, DIY Totem Poles, DIY umbrella pick centerpiece, DIY drink, or DIY pineapple candleholder as centerpieces.

Food 

Luau parties are known for the delicious food served. So, Smarties, we should keep up with the reputation.

Fruits are a must! Hawaii is a tropical island, after all. You can slice mangos, dragon fruits, kiwis, papayas, strawberries, pineapples, oranges, and other fruits and place them beautifully on plates, Palm Leaf Eco Friendly Disposable Dinner Plates. Placing neatly cut cubes of fruit on skewers is a good idea too. You can stick the skewers in pineapple for presentation. You can serve fruit salads in carved-out pineapple bowls if you fancy serving them!

Pineapple salsa and Hawaiian rolls, cream cheese stuffed jalapeños, and grilled shrimp are party favorites too. 

Serve Grilled Tofu Skewers to your vegetarian guests! They will love it. 

You can grill sweet yams and sweet potatoes on the BBQ.

Even Hawaiian pizza, kebabs, meatballs, pulled pork, burgers, sushi, and Huli Huli chicken scream perfect. 

If you serve pineapple and coconut upside-down cake, piña colada popsicles, banana bread, Mini fruit tarts, pineapple coconut cake, passion fruit bars, and bread pudding. In that case, your guests will be very pleased. 

Luau Party Drinks

No party is complete without drinks. Smoothies, pineapple lemonades, piña colada mocktails, Blue passion fruit mojito, Tropical punch, and Hawaiian coffee can be served as non-alcoholic beverages. Hawaiian coffee is best when served after dessert. 

Mai tai, blue Hawaiian punch, blue Hawaiian cocktail, tropical rum punch, Paloma cocktail, and cherry rum punch can be served as alcoholic drinks. 

Make sure to set up different stalls for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. We don't want any accidental underage drinking action to happen. 

Games and Fun Activities

Smarties, heard of the game "hot potato," right? Replace the ball with coconut and have fun. Want to bring the competitiveness out? Start a hula-hoop competition with the guest. Whoever can do the hoop for the longest time wins. Pictionary is another fun game to play. Since this is a Hawaiian-themed party, use things and places related to Hawaii! 

Party Favors

Decorate inexpensive flip-flops by attaching faux tropical flowers to the thong with hot glue. Then, have the footwear ready for party goers to slip on when they arrive. 

Fill little glass jars with tropical-colored candies, decorate them with ribbon, then label them with the year and name of the event for the guests to take home. -

A retro Hawaii travel poster rolled up and tied with a ribbon (I found several adorable signs on clearance at AllPosters.com, all for less than $4.00 each!) 

A tin or box of coconut tea smells fantastic, tastes great, and is delicious iced.

Smarties, it is essential to set the mood from the beginning of the party. Greet your guests as they arrive with a lei (you can buy them or make them yourself out of flowers, shells, feathers, leaves, or nuts). You could even appoint a special greeter dressed in fancy luau garb for this duty. Remember that a properly worn lei drapes down in the front and the back. Also, it's traditional in Hawaii for the guest of honor to be given a special lei to wear, so they stand out from the other guests. 

Present your guests with name tags showing their Hawaiian names (you can translate your guests' names into Hawaiian at Internet Island). 

Fill a pretty basket with silk plumeria blooms for the women to wear in their hair. Don't forget to have some bobby pins handy too. In Hawaii, wearing the flower behind your right ear means you're single, and behind your left ear means you're taken.

 

Party on Smarties! With Love, Smarty Had A Party!