Lilo & Stitch Party 5yr - Seashell Bracelets

For my daughters 5th birthday we did a Lilo and Stitch Luau! It was kind of a girlie party, but I have a 7 year old son and nephew. For them I found Hawaiian shirts on sale and gave them at the start of the party. I asked them to be our Hawaiian helpers, so they could assist me if they didn't want to do some of the activities. As it turns out, they wanted to do all of them!

INVITATIONS- I bought those packs of blank cards and envelopes you can get anywhere (got mine at Target). On the front we used letter stickers to spell "aloha" and had a picture of Lilo and words all printed from the computer. Inside was a picture of Stitch and all the party info, all printed from the computer. Also on the inside we glued some foam flowers. The inside info said that lunch would be served and to wear a swimsuit and bring a towel.

DECOR- The party was to be out on our patio. So, I hung an Aloha sign and twisted bright orange and hot pink streamers all around the patio. I also bought a 7 foot fold out palm tree to hang on the patio. My daughter wants a Hawaiian room, so the sign and palm tree would serve another purpose after the party! I also had a Hawaiian sounds CD that played throughout the party.

ACTIVITIES- First, when each child arrived, my daughter greeted them with "Aloha" and gave the parents a plastic lei. I told our family and friends to dress the part, so once everyone was there, we all looked pretty festive.  1. On our patio table I had set up a lei making craft (Oriental Trading- all their stuff is very inexpensive).  2. Treasure hunt in our sandbox. I hid those Mardi Gras beaded necklaces, gold coins and starfish (Oriental Trading). 3. Back to the patio table for another craft. The kids made seashell bracelets (Oriental Trading). 4. Water balloon toss. This went very quickly as I only filled about 20 and none of the kids seemed able to catch them! 

LUNCH- Pretty much all finger foods. We had a veggie tray with dip, a fruit tray (grapes, melons, strawberries and pineapple), a meat tray (ham, turkey, pepperoni and salame) with little cheese squares. Bottles of water and a BIG bowl of punch- Hawaiian punch and Sprite mixed. 

CAKE- Grandma always does the cakes as she is a cake decorator. It looked really simple, though. On a quarter sheet, she did one side with crumbled vanilla wafers (sand) and the other side with blue gel with some green sprinkles mixed in (water). She cut a seashell necklace and lined the bottom of cake with it. I had bought a pack of Lilo and Stitch characters, so she had a mini surfboard and put Stitch on it, Lilo and Nani were on the sand, then she had a little beach chair, a drink umbrella for a beach umbrella and a palm tree.

SO CUTE!  PRESENTS- I had all the kids sit in a circle. We used a plastic coconut and played hot coconut (hot potato). I had a mini cd player, so I controlled the music. When it stopped, the kid would open the coconut, take a prize from inside and hand my daughter her present. Inside the coconut I bought metal hair clips and a vine of fake flowers at Michaels. I hot glued one flower to the hair clip. Be sure to have extra- my daughter wanted one and I ended up wearing one, too! Also in the coconut was a mini squirt gun for my nephew (didn't think he'd want a hair clip).  After presents we had a BIG inflatable pool already filled with water and pool toys in the yard, so we let the kids have water play until parents came to pick up.

GOODY BAGS- We had their bags handy with their names printed on them to store all the stuff they aquired throughout the party (treasure hunt, leis, bracelets and hair clip). Also in the bag was a flower straw (after summer sale- pack of 20 for $1) and Lilo and Stitch coloring pages (www.coloring.ws/liloandstitch1). Even though a lot of thought went into it, it was really easy and A LOT of fun!