Luau Party Planning Guide

To plan a successful Luau, you’ll need to consider how many people to invite, where to hold the feast, your decorations, menu and music. This guide will help you achieve a fun Hawaiian atmosphere.

As a first step, make a guest list. Make your own invitation cards or buy them from a stationery store, but remember to send these out exactly a week in advance. Follow up by a personal phone call three days in advance to know the exact number of expected guests.

Depending upon the numbers, you must decide on a venue. After that, you should survey your venue site and take broad measurements. Make a rough plan on paper to decide your decorations, seating etc. The seating, of course, depends upon your guest list. Always remember to keep the seating down to fewer chairs than the number of people you’ve invited, as many of guests like to stand and mingle. Decide where to put your buffet table and your drinks counter. A good tip: it’s always best to keep them apart, as people will crowd around them both.

If you’re running short of tables and chairs, borrow some from friends or rent some out. You may even want to create some rustic sitting arrangements by placing logs of woods with large cushions on them, or by using plywood boxes. Almost anything can be made to look interesting by dressing it up with grass table skirts.

Make a menu list and do your shopping two to three days in advance. Plan to do the cooking a night before the party, and if you have many guests, why not get some help from friends and relatives?

Start decorating on the morning of the party and involve teens from the neighborhood or call over your nephews and nieces to help. You should devise a general plan of decoration and explain it broadly to your helpers, but allow them to add their creativity to create a unique décor.

Plan to welcome your guests with leis and have two of your young friends dress like Hula dancers to hand the leis out while saying ‘Aloha’ (‘hello’ in Hawaiian). Keep the music ready and involve an enthusiastic friend to take care of changing it and to initiate the dancing. It’s always best to pre-plan when you would like the dancing to begin, and where to have it. It would be great if you can have an instructor who can teach Hula to your guests.

Don’t forget to appoint a keen photographer among your guests, and let them shoot away. Plan at least three games lasting half an hour each and don’t forget to buy interesting prizes for the guests. End your party with some funky painted shells that say thank you on them and hand them out personally to each guest.

If you plan well, yours could be the Luau of the season!

Luau food has its origins in traditional Hawaiian culture. These are some food and drink recipes you could try at home for your Luau.

Pork with rice is a classic Luau dish. For the traditional Hawaiian, cooking preparations start early in the morning on the day of the Luau. Large wooden logs are placed in a pit dug in sand and covered with river rocks. The logs are set on fire, and the pig, along with sweet potatoes, is placed on top of the heated rocks and banana leaves. The pit is covered with sand for around 8 hours. It takes that long for the Kalua pig to be ready.

Other traditional foods at a Luau are poi, chicken long rice, lomi salmon, haupia or coconut custard, sweet potato, salad, fish, rice and tasty tropical drinks like pineapple daiquiris, mai tais, piña coladas or chi chis with fresh fruit garnishes and tiny umbrellas. You can add alcohol to these drinks to enliven the mood of the party. The serving table is usually decorated with leafy greens, fruit and vegetables.

A Luau meal could have the following menu: Kalua Pig, Poi, Sweet potatoes, Luau or laulau, Lomi salmon, Tropical fruit such as pineapple, mango and papaya, haupia, Mai Tai Drinks.

These are some common Luau recipes:
Luau Chicken
This is made by removing the skin and bones from chicken breasts and cutting the chicken into inch long cubes. Some oil is heated in a large pan and the chicken cubes are sautéed along with garlic, until light brown. Stock is added to this and cooked until chicken is tender. Spinach and coconut milk is added to this and cooked along with the chicken.
Long Rice and Chicken
Long rice is soaked in warm water for almost 30 minutes while boneless skinned chicken is cut into inch-long cubes. These are sautéed with garlic until light brown. Stock, ginger, soy sauce, mushrooms and long rice is added to this and cooked over low heat for 20 minutes or until chicken is tender. It is served topped with green onion rings.
Pickled Onions Hawaiian-Style
A large bell pepper is deseeded and sliced into quarter inch long strips. These strips, along with small whole onions, are placed in a glass jar covered with rice vinegar, water, salt and crushed red pepper to taste. The jar is covered tightly and refrigerated overnight and it is ready to serve.
Haupia
This is made with sugar and cornstarch blended in water and stirred well. This mixture is added to coconut milk and cooked over low heat till the mixture thickens. This thickened dessert is chilled and cut into little squares.
Mai Tai
This classic Hawaiian cocktail is made by filling a large glass with an ounce of light rum, half an ounce of orange Curacao, half an ounce of candy syrup and juice of one fresh lime. The glass is then topped with orange juice and ice. It is served garnished with mint leaves and a pineapple slice.

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.