When it comes to Kids Luau Party invitations, just think tropical. So palm trees, shells, tropical flowers, coconuts etc are all good starting points.
You could easily make your own invites by drawing or printing tropical images onto craft card and then writing something like the following :
Aloha (child's name)
Are you ready to party?
You are invited to limbo on down at : (Address)
Put flowers in your hair and wear your best "island wear"
And great ready to hula and limbo if you dare
Alternatively you could buy ready made Kids Luau Party invites such as these:
Tiki torches and lanterns If it is an evening party, go overboard with lots of lanterns and tiki torches dotted around the garden or porch or lantern paper garlands
Towel seats Forget chairs and get the kids to sit on beach towels when eating.
Wall decorations String up netting on the walls and attach paper fish and shells. Paint a beach scene on lining paper and attach to the walls or buy a ready made tropical wall scene setter. Get down to your local travel agents and ask for posters of tropical islands and even have a few holiday brochures dotted about.
Get flowery Put brightly colored flowers everywhere. Make them yourself out of tissue paper to save money. At the entrance to the party, fill a large bowl with water and float some orchids or lilies in it. Erect an inflatable palm tree in one corner of the room or save money and make one yourself. Ask your local carpet shop for long cardboard carpet rolls and then paint them brown and attach some palm leaves made out of green craft paper.
Table decorations Use coconut shells or scooped out pineapples as serving bowls. Serve the drinks in coconut shells or bright plastic cups with a paper umbrella. Dot shells around the tables. If you are a dab hand at napkin folding, make napkins in the shaped of a lotus flower. Here's how.
Music Get the kids luau party swinging with some topical luau party music. The Hawaiian Luau CD below even has Hula dance instructions so no excuse not to dance!
Luau Party Food
The idea with a kids luau party is to think fruity or if you think that the younger kids might turn their noses up at that, bring in the BBQ. The more exciting the food looks the more it is likely to get eaten.
Use empty coconut shells, scooped out melons and pineapples, banana leaves, wicker baskets and plastic sand pails as serving dishes to give a real tropical feel.
Fruity kebabs. Use seasonal fruits and skewer bite size pieces on sticks. Have a bowl of melted chocolate sauce to dip them in to tempt those who are wary of fruit!
Hawaiian pizza
Snack buckets. Serve mini snacks in sand buckets with plastic shovels as serving spoons
BBQ chicken is always popular
Melted marshmallows Toast marshmallows on sticks round a camp fire
Fruit smoothies. Put fruits, plain natural yoghurt and a little fruit juice in a blender. Give it a whiz and create a really refreshing smoothie drink. Serve in tall plastic glasses, topped with an umbrella and a glace cherry.
Hawaiian cocktails. Mix fruit juices with some lemonade. Top with ice and get cool! More drink ideas.
Blue lagoon. Add a small dash of blue food coloring to a glass of fizzy lemonade. Top with an umbrella and a bendy straw.
Volcano bombs. Pile scoops of ice-cream on a large platter to form a volcano shape. Drizzle with strawberry and chocolate syrup. You could even set it alight by placing a half egg shell on the top filled with a tablespoon of brandy. Set it alight and watch the kid's faces! (Remove the brandy egg shell after the flames die down )
Flower cookies. Make or buy plain cookies and top with sugar flowers
Island cake. Using a large square tin, prepare a basic cake using a packet cake mix or my all-in-one cake recipe. When cooked and cooled, cut out small indentations to make an island shape or your choice. Place on a large cake board covered with blue cellophane to represent the sea and then cover the cake with pale yellow frosting to represent the sand. Decorate the cake with plastic palm trees, umbrellas and clusters of sugar flowers.
A Kids Luau Party is a fun theme which calls for lots of fun activities and games. So take your pick from the following :
Tropical Sarongs. Buy some cheap with material and teach the kids to tie die. Hang to dry and then let them take them home at the end of the party
Coconut heads. Give each child a coconut and let them make coconut heads using stick on eyes, wool, puffy paints and other odds and ends. You will need to get some strong craft glue as otherwise the bits will fall off too easily.
Fabulous Flowers. Make paper flowers and use them as hair or bracelet decorations or string smaller flowers together to make a necklace.
Erupting volcano. Fill a paddling pool or sandpit with lots of slightly moist sand. Get the kids to each make a volcano sand mound with a hole in the center. Place a small disposable cup in the hole, put in 1 tablespoon of baking soda plus 2 tablespoons of water in order to make it dissolve. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar to which you have added a few drops of red food coloring, and then watch it erupt! You can repeat the activity over and over again.
Sunshine luau party hats. Using fabric paints, get the kids to decorate straw hats
There lots of fun games that you can do at a Kids Luau Party. Below are some of my favorites :
Limbo contest This is a real fun activity for all ages and really gets the party momentum going and is a must. You can make your own limbo stick easily out of some garden canes or you can buy a
ready made Limbo kit (US store) or at
Party Delights UK Store
Hula hoop contest A great game and the kids are usually much better at it than the adults! You could even get the kids in pairs and get two swinging their hips in one hula hoop.
Musical beach towels Lay out enough beach towels for each child, minus one. Put on the music and get the kids to dance around. When the music stops, each child has to quickly lay down on a towel but the child who doesn't get one is out but can then help you with the music.
Coconut bowling Line up some small plastic bottles filled with sand. Give each child a couple of coconuts and see how many bottles they can knock down.
Digging for treasure. ALWAYS popular with all age groups. Fill a large paddling pool with sand and bury in some small trinkets and coins. Give each child a plastic bucket and see who can find the most treasure.
Coconut bombs Line up some coconuts and see who can hit them the most times using small water balloons .
Beach ball volley ball Use a blow up beach ball rather than a proper volley ball as they are a bit hard.
Piñata Having a piñata is always a great success at kids parties. The following places have some great kids luau party pinatas such as tiki totem poles, Hula girls and palm tree pinatas.
Have a supply of extra things just in case the kids want to organize their own games such as Frisbee, kites, a large tub of bubbles and bubble blowing equipment, water balloons etc
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