Luau Party 1 & 2yr - Luau at the Lake

I gave my great-nieces their birthday party as my present to them. The oldest was turning 2 and 2 weeks later the youngest would turn 1, so needless to say I combined the 2 birthdays to 1 party to make it easier on everyone. We set the party date on the first weekend in August, and that gave us the idea  to throw a luau party.    

I got all my party décor at the local dollar store! (How lucky was that!) Since it was summer time they had everything we needed! I found invitations shaped like     flip-flops, Haiwiian shirts, and tiki men. I wrote who (Ciara and Kailee's birthday party), the date(1rst weekend in August), time (3:00 p.m. till ?), where ( the local lake), and R.S.V.P. On the other page I wrote for everyone to dress like they were going to the beach, swimsuites and flip-flops ect. I also found some confetti shaped like palm trees and I sprinkled some in every invite before I handed them out. Everyone going was either family, friends, or nieghbors so I saved on stamps!   

I rented a patio space at the local lake for $35 to set up the party at because it was a common space everyone knew so no one had to hunt down someones house for the party. Also because it has a playground so we didn't have to entertain" all the kids the entire time. :) On the day of the party I tried to get there early to set up our space. I got bright primary colored balloons that went everywhere. 2 mylar balloons that had parrots and bambo that spelled out "luau" that I tied to 2 gift bags that were shaped liked hiawiian shirts to sit on the picnic table. I had banners with tropical birds and flowers on them. A centerpiece of plastic tropical flowers with a sign in the middle of them that said "party". I had an inflatable monkey parrot seahorse and pink flamingo hanging from the roof of the patio.    

On the picnic table we were using for the food table (buffet style) I had an inflatable palm tree in the middle of the table. A vase with palm trees on it was used to hold straws I found that had pink flamingos attached to them. I served hot dogs animal crackers pinnapple chunks rasins bananas and tropical fruit punch. I had the palm tree confetti and paper umbrellas sprinkled on the table around the food. A friend at the party brought a cassett tape she had of the beach boys for mood music!   

Everyone showed up dressed in their beachy best! The birthday girls came in the swimsuites and "birthday girl" award ribbons pinned to them! As they came we gave them leis necklaces some of them wrapped them around their heads as headbands. We just hung out and the kids played on the playground untill everyone showed up. A beach ball was throwed around and a pair of huge gag sunglasses were passed around the older kids for photo opps! Once we were ready everybody ate and ate and ate ( I bought way too much food). Then for the main activity I had planned for ( and yes I did ask for permission from the people who run the lake) we set up the slip and slide I had purchaced for the party! The babbies were timid at first but once they saw the older kids start running and slidding down into the pool of water to avoid the sprinkers they had a BLAST! We even had some party crashers come over ( I was o.k. with it because I had bought too much food and not everyone I had invited showed up)! For those who didn't go slip and slidding they had a water balloon fight!    

After we had gotten soaking wet by one form or another we calmed down to have birthday cake. Out local grocery store did a great job! I showed the lady a piece of decoration for the party and I handed her a few of the paper umbrellas for the cake. She gave me a sheet cake she had made to look like the beach with the ocean on the shore. She used the paper umbrellas as beach umbrellas and tropical flowers around them. The birthday candles (3 of them) were place where the "ocean" met the "shore" to make it look like tiki torches! We took LOTS of pictures!   

After cake the babbies opened presents then by that time it was getting late. As our guest left we gave out goodie bags. They were filled with toy sunglasses (10 to a pack for 5 dollars) paper umbrellas party blowouts and candy! I was proud of this party because even though it was a toddlers birthday party everyone of every age had a good time! The older guest still talk about it almost a year later and exchange pictures of the party around and the little ones enjoyed their day of water and play whether they'll remember it or not! All and all I belive I spent $50 on decor leis goodie bags and slip and slide. I think I also spent $50 on the food including the cake! The memmories of our summer luau party and the laughing faces of the birthday girls. . . . priceless! The only problem I'm having now is. . . How do I top that for this years birthday party?!?"