Wet N' Wild 12yr - Decorate Flip Flops

For my niece's 12th birthday I decided to have a "Wet N' Wild" Luau.

We started with the invitations. We ordered the Hawiian T-shirt invitations from Oriental Trading. In addition to the place, date, and time, we included an insert to inform the guest to bring bathing suit and Towel. Water gun optional. 

Decorations:  We had two areas, the front and back yard. We decorated the garage with pin-up palm trees, topical fish and hawiian scenery. We hung orange, yellow and green balloons all over the front yard.  We decorated the backyard with blow-up palm trees, and a put up beach scene setters all around the backyard fence. We bought the decorations from Garden Ridge and Party City. 

Party day:  We wanted the first 30 minutes of the party to be laid back and fun. As the guest arrived, my niece handed them a leis and directed them to the craft table we had set up. We had flip flops for the girls and visor hats for the boys.  We had gem stones, beads, flowers, letters and many other decorations for the girls to decorate their flip flops. We had football, soccer, baseball and basketball foam decorations for the boys to use on their hats. We also had the "Snack Shack" open. We offered watermelon, grapes, strawberries, oranges and pineapples along with sno cones and popcorn. We also had a volley ball net set up out front for those who did not want to do a craft. We had hawiian music playing.

After all the guest arrived, we began playing games: We had the yard already set up for all the games. Each game had a name and a sign was posted in the yard where the game would be played. We divided the kids into two groups. The first game was "Sponge Run". The teams were each given a sponge and a large bucket of water. The first team to fill their empty bucket across the yard with water using the the sponge won.

Next we played "Splipery Lagoon".  We set up two small baby pools. Each team member was given a balloon(we blew these up prior to the pary). The teams had to race with their balloons to the baby pool. They had to then burst the balloon by sitting on it in the baby pool. This was so funny. The kids loved it. We then had a hula hoop contest and a Limbo contest using a water jump rope that is connected to the water hose.

Prizes: We gave out journals and glitter stickers and tatoos for the girls and nerf footballs and kick sack balls for the boys. We bought the prizes from Michael's and target. The kids took a break and enjoyed some snacks at the Snack Shack. We then moved to the backyard. We had the Banzai Falls waterslide set up and a family blow-up pool set up. The kids were given free reign to have fun.

After about 30 minutes of playing on the waterslide and pool, we brought out the water balloons and let the kids fill up their water games and the water war began. After all the water play, the kids were hungry. We had ordered pizza and hot wings and had that waiting for them in the garage.  After eating pizza, cake and ice cream, many of the kids finished up their craft project and then began a fun game of volleyball. This allowed the kids to dry off before parents arrived.

We had prepared the grab bags and put each childs name on the bag using a Hawiian name tags. They were given tropical fish shaped paddle ball, bubbles, fish shaped ring pop, flip flop note pad, shades and a variety of candy. The girls were also given rubber luau charm bracelets and the boys luau key chain. The items were bought from Oriental Trading. Everyone had a great time. Hope this gives you some ideas for your next party.