Luau Party / Beach Party Ideas

Whether you like to hula or limbo, or prefer sipping tropical smoothies, this is the party for you! Click on the links below to check out some great ideas for your "hulapalooza":

Invitations
Decorations
Tableware
Food & Snacks
Birthday Cakes
Games & Activities
Party Favors

Luau Party Invitations

Unique invitations you can make for your luau or tropical beach party:

• Palm Tree
• Airline Tickets (see directions below)
• Message in a Bottle (below)
• Surfboard
• Aloha Shirt

Airline Ticket Invitations

These are easy to do! Make them rectangular. Add information such as...

Passenger: (Guest's Name Here)
Destination: (Party Address here), just outside of Waikiki (or Paradise, or whatever you like!)
Arrival: (Party Date & Start Time)
Departure: (Party End Time)
Flight Number: 010496 (Child's Birth Date)
You will need text explaining that this is a Luau Party / Hawaiian Party, which you can put on the back. Sample text:

Aloha! Join us at a tropical luau celebrating the birthday of (Child's Name). Join us for hula, limbo & pupus. Be sure to wear your island attire!

Message In A Bottle Invitations
I love these tropical message in a bottle invitations! . They come with the plastic bottles, sand, mini-umbrellas, invitations, and mailing labels. Unique invitations your guests will always remember!

Luau Party Decorations

Try these great luau decorations for your party:

• Surfboards cut from cardboard and painted
• Tropical Posters on the windows, or use these Tropical View 'Windows'
• Use Beach Towels (especially tropical print) as wall hangings
• Table Skirts of cut garbage bags or raffia, or buy them at our Party Store
• Tiki Torches
• Bowls filled with sand & shells as centerpieces
• Serve crackers or chips in a straw beach hat
• Make a 'Tiki Bar' or 'Snack Shack' --Use raffia to decorate an area of your house (this is great for a deck outside, or maybe your kitchen or a breakfast nook for an indoor party) to look like a grass hut. Make a 'Tiki Bar' or 'Snack Shack' sign. Serve fruit smoothies, or set out the snacks here.
• Get a custom Luau Banner. Celebrating a birthday? Have 'Hau'oli La Hanau' put on it (Hawaiian for Happy Birthday)

Beach Party Tableware

Think bright and bold for your luau tableware. Mix it up a little - Red plates, yellow napkins - all the colors of the flowers of Hawaii! Or check out these unique items:

• Get great cups like the Tiki Cups and Coconut Cups from our Party Store
• Serve snacks in Seashell Plates
• Don't forget Drink Umbrellas!
• Impress your guests when you serve up treats in this Palm Tree Tray
• Get these tropical theme plastic forks, spoons & knives
  
  
  

Luau Party Food & Snacks

Food fit for your King Kalakaua or Queen Liliukolani!

• Pineapple - You can't have a Hawaiian feast without Pineapple!
• Goldfish crackers
• Sea Creature Jell-O --Put crumbled graham crackers in the bottom of a clear glass bowl (a fish bowl works great for this!). Add blue Jell-O, following the directions for adding fruit to it. For the fruit, add the sea creature shaped pineapple (made by Dole). **Please note - I have been unable to find this pineapple lately... it may just be that I can't get it locally anymore, but it's possible they don't make it anymore**
• Tropical Fruit Smoothies
• Fruit Kabobs (Chunks of fruit on skewers - Use bananas, pineapple, etc. Top them off with a maraschino cherry!)

Beach Party Birthday Cakes

Try this great Pool Party Birthday Cake sent in by Tracy S. in Florida:

Click image to enlarge, use your Browser's back button to return to this page.

This cake has blue Jello in the 'pool', and has Teddy Grahams sitting in gummy Life Savers.

Birthday Party Games & Activities

Fun things for guests to make and do at your luau:

• Lei Making - Cut flowers from colored paper (use a paper punch to put holes in the center), cut colored straws into approx. 1" pieces. Let kids string flowers and straws onto a length of yarn.
• Hula Hoop Contest
• Pineapple Bowling - Set up 3 pineapples and use a heavy ball - like a basketball or bowling ball - to knock them over
• Limbo
• Pin the monkey on the palm tree
• Pass the coconut (like hot potato)
• Decorate coconuts with faces, hats, etc.
• Hula dancing
• Play Luau Party Music in background
• If you have a sandbox, you can put some sand toys in it, add a little water,and have sandcastle building.
• Get a Luau-Themed Pinata
• Sand Art

Birthday Party Favors

Greet your guests island style with a lei! If you're planning to make paper flower leis as one of your activities, greet guests with a shell lei!

Check out these other great party favors:

• Beach bucket & shovel. You can give these in place of a goodie bag to put the other party favors into.
• Beach Balls
• Frisbees
• Bubbles
• Sunglasses
• Squirt Toys
• Toy Ukuleles
• Grass Skirts - buy them cheaply or make them. You can make them with green crepe paper tied to elastic, or by cutting the bottoms of drawstring garbage bags (garbage bag skirts are waterproof!)
• Shell necklaces - Great party favors & very affordable!
• Send guests home with their very own Hula Doll
• Flower bracelets (which can double as napkin rings)