Hawaiian Luau 8-10yr - Tiki Lamps

10yr and 8yr old  Hawaiian Luau Theme   July 2002  I began planning a luau after great ideas from this website! 

Not having access to a computer, I purchased Hawaiian themed invitations for my son and daughter's birthday luau.  Several weeks before the party, I began making decorations.  I made "grass skirts" out of grocery sacks, to put around the edges of the tables. 

I bought inexpensive TIKI lamps at BIG LOTS, and decorated them with bows of raffia, and glued on seashells.  I purchased a sign that said ALOHA, and streamers in bright colors.  I bought a fishnet at the $ store, and decorated it with colored pictures of sea life, and hung it on the side of the shed.  Tables had $ store tablecloths, with Hawaiian themed confetti, and our homeade grocery sack table skirts.

We planned a variety of foods, to give the party the feeling of a feast.  I made fruit kabobs, with Papaya, pineapple, cherries, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and kiwi.  I marinated diced chicken in teriyaki sauce, and prepared chicken/pineapple kabobs, with some red pepper, cherry tomatoes, and green pepper for color.  I also made ham/pineapple/cherry kabobs.  The effect was incredible!!  The table looked beautiful!  I served an assortment of pretzels, chips, dips, fish crackers and oyster crackers in funky straw hats. 

I made a tropical punch using V-8 Tropical Splash, club soda, pineapple juice, a splash of ginger ale, and had slices of oranges and limes floating in it. This was a big hit!  I also had a variety of bottled water, iced tea and lemonade as well. The birthday cake was of course, pineapple upside down cake. 

My daughter wanted Lilo and Stitch, so we had a small one of those too, from a local bakery. Each guest was greeted with a Lei, and girls received a grass skirt, bracelet, flower for her hair, and each boy received a beachcomber hat. We had a blast trying to remember to call each child by their Hawaiian name! 

We found a great LIMBO slip n slide, and the kids enjoyed getting wet while Beach Boys music played in the background. I found a lot of music on the internet (www.kazaa.com), and made a party CD of several tunes, including several different versions of WIPEOUT!!!, that played as each child slid down the slippery water slide.  We set up a board covered in balloons, with "piranha teeth" drawn on them. "Pop the Piranha!" was a lot of fun. Please take caution with this game, as it does include using sharp darts! 

I drew a palm tree on 3 pieces of posterboard and taped them together, and cut out "coconuts" from brown grocery sacks.  I wrote each child's name on a coconut just before their turn, and they played Pin the coconut on the palm tree!.  The hit of the party was the coconut bowling.  The kids rolled large coconuts towards 2LTR bottles, emptied of soda, and filled halfway with water. This brought a lot of laughs from everyone at the party.

Most of the children and parents who attended this party had never been to a Luau, and could not stop complimenting us on the fun they had. This party was a lot of work, but I planned it over several weeks.  I purchased most of the costumes from Oriental Trading Company, and the rest came from either the $ store, or we made it ourselves.  I am already thinking of next year's theme, however, I doubt anything will ever top the fun we had this year!!!