Undeniably, the best part of having a summer birthday is having an excuse to throw ultimate pool parties. Like our Under the Sea Pool Party last year, and our bestie’s Mustache and Splash pool party earlier this summer, our luau party was a great way to celebrate summer’s fun and sun.
I let my daughter do all of the planning for her party this year. She really liked the look of the vintage hula girl, so we tried to incorporate that vibe as best as we could. I had minimal time or energy to plan or make decorations, but we perused Pinterest together and I helped her organize her plans. I had a small budget to work with, so we used many things that we had on hand. Fortunately, the dollar stores are overrun with luau themed party supplies in the summer, and that helped make this a very budget friendly party.
My daughter specifically wanted red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. I found the petal cupcake liners at the grocery, and the hula girl on the top tier is from the dollar store.
We kept our luau party food very simple and kid friendly: “crab” sandwiches, pasta salad, palm tree fruit kabobs, chips and a veggie tray. Because we had a pinata filled with candy, the only sweets we served were cupcakes and a few little candies on the table.
We saw these crab sandwiches on Pinterest and could not pass up the chance to make them for our party. Seriously, how cute are these? Use croissants for the body, sliced black olives for the eyes and radishes for the mouth. (Except our crabs have tongues because our radishes wouldn’t stay on, so we had to use toothpicks to attach them.)
Hawaiian punch and pink lemonade. The pineapple straws were bought at the dollar store and the cups were ordered from Oriental Trading (along with the leis and grass skirts). I made the hibiscus flower decorations on my Silhouette machine.
Of course, our party also had lots and lots of swimming. And pinata smashing. And limbo-ing. A luau just isn’t a luau without the limbo dance. Or so I’m told.
This was a fun party to celebrate my daughter’s 10th trip around the sun and to wrap up another great summer. Have you been to any fun pool parties this summer?
Happy party planning, DIY’ers!
~julee~
