Luau Party Planning Guide

Luau party supplies can be found at most party stores and on the Internet. But if you don’t find what you need here, you can look around flea markets and curio stores to find tropical motifs.

For planning and decorating, you will need to buy invitation cards (if you are not making your own), placement cards, straws, Hawaiian music, leis, candles. Tiki torches, Hula dolls, paper lanterns, large candles, bamboo baskets, plastic flowers and fresh flowers will give an authentic atmosphere. You can buy shells, fruits, sunglasses, decorative hair combs, fruit and large stuffed parrots and flamingos too. For costumes, think about using coconut shells to make bras and straw to make skirts. It is fun to get the guys wear these to and do the Hula!

Most gift shops stock Luau decorations, invitations, tableware, Hawaiian gifts, and more. Plates and glasses with tropical patterns and color will add to the ambience. Tropical straws, stirrers and tiny umbrellas to dress up your glasses, and plastic flowers to decorate the room are all easy to find if one starts hunting for them early enough.

When should you have a Luau party? Well, they’re ideal to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, baby showers, weddings or any other occasion that calls for fun! Luau parties are traditional Hawaiian feasts, characterized by the use of colorful flowers, tropical fruits, Luau food, funky clothes, foot-tapping island music and lively Hula dancing. Generally held outdoors, Luaus can also work indoors with the right ambience and props.

The good thing about a Luau is that it need not be expensive. It’s fine to ask your guests to bring along some of their own cooking. In fact this makes it even more cozy and fun!

Your guests will have to be told beforehand what they should wear. Most people have something tropical in their wardrobes and if not, it’s easy to put something together in a jiffy. If nothing else, a colorful lei on a plain white shirt works best. Men can wear shorts and sandals and women can wear flowers in their hair.

Whatever the occasion, Luau parties will bring an exotic flavor of island life to your homes.

Let your imagination run wild while decorating for a Luau. The essence of all decoration ideas must be bold and bright colors, and anything that will recreate an island in your house! The most basic decoration must be done with flowers and foliage and then other island props should be added to complete your decoration.

Before purchasing anything, it’s a good idea to look through all your old stuff to hunt out any straw hats, shells, bamboo sticks, colorful umbrellas, sunglasses, tropical print door curtains, streamers, beach accessories, fish nets or even an old set of oars. Use small electric lights in the Hawaiian style to cover your shrubs. You will need a lawn sign that you can easily paint yourself on wooden planks to announce your Luau.

Make cutouts of palm trees, hula girls, parrots, flamingos, other colored birds and large tropical flowers; then put them all over the house. Paper lanterns are a great, inexpensive way to light up your place. Some essential decoration items are the bamboo ‘tiki’ torches and lei (you can use cheap plastic flowers if you want). These garlands can be draped around doors, pillars, windows, trees and on your chairs and tables. Make male leis by stringing together any medium size flowers like carnations, marigolds, orchids or roses. Save some plastic flowers to float in a small kid’s inflatable wading pool or even in large kitchen bowls. Make cardboard Hawaiian masks, and if you cannot draw, download and print mask designs from the Internet.

Collect shells from friends and spread them all over the party area, along with confetti on the serving tables. These should be laden with tropical fruit like pineapples, bananas, grapes and mangos. Place large colorful candles surrounded with flowers as your centerpiece, and make the table skirts out of straw. All your tables must look like Hula dancers! Cutlery can be placed in bamboo baskets, and fishnets strewn with colorful flowers may be placed behind the tables to give them the ultimate island feel.
Make bouquets of colorful balloons and hang them around.

With all these Luau decoration ideas, your feast is bound to be successful, with friends and family wanting to return again and again!