Have fun with a Luau style birthday party!
Aloha summer! What better way to welcome summer than a luau birthday party, where your little ones can feast on summer fruits and hula 'til they drop!
A hula party is a fun and fabulous way to celebrate a girls birthday in beautiful summer weather. Girls can hula until they are too hot and need to cool down with a drink under their little parasols. Be sure your little birthday girl greets each guest with an "Aloha!" and their very own lei, to get the party started. At home or at the beach, this is a fun outdoors party, so don't forget the sunscreen!
BIRTHDAY PARTY INVITATIONS
It's always fun for the creative types to go wild with birthday invitation designs. You could make up an airline-ticket design with Hawaii as the destination. Alternatively, you could work with some of the props you intend to use at the party, such as making invitations shaped like frangipani flowers or creating a simple card design with mini cocktail umbrellas included in the envelope that you can also use to decorate drink cups at the party.
BIRTHDAY PARTY THEME
The colour theme we used for the party was pink and white. The tablecloth was a light shade of pink, with pink-and-white plates and clear glasses to show off the pink drinks. We decorated the party area with pink-and-white round paper lanterns and the party guests all had a ball playing with and resting under their own pink parasols.
GAMES
No luau is complete without a hula dance. Our guests enjoyed an energetic hula version of "freeze". Music was played while the girls hula-ed, and when the music stopped, those still moving were out, until there was a winner. Other party games could include bobbing for sea shells, musical chairs with towels, or a water-balloon catching contest.
BIRTHDAY PARTY FOOD
The menu at this luau included plenty of fresh summer fruit, frangipani topped cupcakes, ambrosia, savoury sandwiches, and the birthday cake.
In the "hula cooler" we served cans of cold lemonade, iced tea, and cranberry juice to make pink drinks for the girls to enjoy. The ambrosia was a hit and consisted of a full one litre tub of strawberry yoghurt, half a bottle of whipped cream, marshmallows and milk chocolate chips.
The birthday cake was in the shape of a flip-flop, with the straps made of fruit strips and red liquorice. To achieve the hibiscus flowers, we printed out the design and cut the shape out of some hard cardboard. The card was then pressed into the icing, making an imprint which was then painted in with red food colouring. Simple, but so effective.
BIRTHDAY FAVOURS
A traditional mini flax bag with a few summer fruit lollies makes a delightful party favour for the little hula girls to take home and enjoy.
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HISTORY OF THE LUAU
The luau is a traditional feast in Hawaii and was once referred to as the 'aha'aina. A luau is used to celebrate many events, including birthdays and the arrival of visitors.
The modern luau is likely to have originated from the great co-ed feasts of the Second King of the Kingdom of Hawaii Kamehameha II (1797-1824). Traditionally, men and women were not allowed to eat together, and women were not allowed to eat certain kinds of foods. King Kamehameha II abolished this law in 1819 and celebrated this change in tradition by having a symbolic feast with women invited.
The main dish at King Kamehameha II's feast consisted of chicken wrapped in taro leaves and baked in coconut milk. This dish was called "luau" and as a result of it being one of the main courses of these feasts, the feasts themselves came to be known as "luaus".
Traditional luaus are eaten while sitting on a woven mat on the ground, called "lauhala" mats. Guests at luaus receive leis (garlands of flowers worn as necklaces) as they arrive on the scene as a display of affection to each guest.
Dress code is Hawaiian-style casual, and women can place a flower behind either their left or right ear. Placing a flower over the left ear indicates that one is "taken" or in a relationship, and placing a flower over the right ear indicates that one is available. (OHbaby! Managing Director Angela's daughters will have a flower over their left ear until they are at least 20!).
STYLING: ANGELA HARTER AND & LUCRETIA KEMP.
PHOTOGRAPHY: FIONA TOMLINSON WWW.FIONATOMLINSON.CO.NZ
