My Granddaughter’s Luau Birthday Party!

My Granddaughter’s Luau Birthday Party!

I love planning parties and all the stuff that goes along with them.  My granddaughter will be 11 soon and her party was yesterday.  This year’s theme was “Luau” with a whiff of tropical island, pirate, beach party, etc. (wouldn’t want to miss a genre!).   We had a great time (ha!) getting this all together and only had one major blow-out!

We did run into a minor, maybe major, problem in the midst of all the planning, shopping, cooking, decorating, etc. that goes along with a party.  My foot had been sorta hurting for a while – felt like I was stepping on a rock and had told my docs that this was happening but never really pinned it on a cause other than the fibro.  Then about 3 or 4 weeks ago starting hurting down-right BAD! So I BEGGED for and got an appointment with my internal medicine doc and he finally was able to give me a diagnosis – PLANTER FACISITIS.  So, while I was supposed to be resting my tootsie I was busy doing all this!  You’ll be glad to know that today I stayed off it except for a brief excursion to teach my Sunday School class and it hurts a LOT, A LOT less!

My hubbie jumped into the deep end and had to do a lot of the legwork for the party while I got to be a backseat driver for the event!  And while we did have to scrap a few things I had planned along the way the kids and even the parents seemed to have a great time.  Of course hubbie has prohibited any party talk for a good while – maybe even forever???

So now the party is over and we even weathered our first time hosting a slumber party well.  I thought I’d share some photos and things I learned along the way with you.

Forgive the order of the photos for this gallery shot (click on a photo to open a slide show with bigger photos).  No matter what I do (re-name, etc.) I cannot make it show in order!  Any help?  T.I.A.

Photo 9: We had intended to bake a cake inspired by two we saw on Family Fun dot com but ran out of time. By the time I knew I was going to be unable to bake the cake (platter fasciitis rears it’s ugly head again!) it was too late to order one from my favorite bakery (Wal-Mart!). Their cakes are always delicious and very affordable. So to fall back and punt we got a white iced cake “blank” at Wal-Mart and a “Sandcastle” cake decorating kit (from the bakery) then my granddaughter and I decorated the cake. We thought it came out BEA-U-T-FUL! CAKE DECORATING DIRECTIONS: Water – take a tub of Piping Gel and tint & flavor with Cotton Candy Frosting Creations Flavor Mix then pour over a white frosted cake and spread. Sand – take a tub of Frosting Starter and tint & flavor with Carmel Frosting Creations Flavor Mix then frost over a white frosted cake and spread. To make the sand crush vanilla wafers in a blender/food processor until resemble sand, then sprinkle liberally over the sand.

Photo 1: The fence welcomes the guest to the party. This went up like a dream once we figured out the wood was soft enough for staples! I forgot to take a photo of the “LUAU” sign by the road! Or maybe the planter faciaitis slowed me down a little!!! I traced, cut and taped posterboard over a “garage sale” sign from the Dollar Tree then used poster letters from the same place to spell out “LUAU”. Lime green ballons completed the message “the party’s here!”

Photo 2: What’s a luau in Louisiana without some lawn oraments?

Photo 3: Float & Shell Mobile hanging by the gate.

Photo 5: A narrow purple fishnet (Oriental Trading) ran down the center of this table. Two straw hats filled with fresh, whole tropical fruits sat on each end of the table. Ocean scented shells and potpourri were tumbled freely in the middle of the table and provided a delightful tropical odor to the event. This table housed the chocolate fountain, fruit & and drinks (fresh cherry limeade). We had a slight snafu with the chocolate fountain. First it wasn’t on and then even when on wouldn’t melt the chocolate. Fortunately Ghirardelli (my fav!) chocolate chips melt like a dream in the microwave when mixed with a little oil. And surprisingly they stay melted for a long, long time! You may guess that these are after shots as I was so busy hobbling around that I forgot to take snaps while the party was in progress!

Photo 6: Green tablecloth with a “runner” made from hibiscus table cloth cut the raw (and ragged) edges turn over and taped. A hibiscus garland wound down the center and a treasure chest overflowing with shells and accented with hibiscus flowers and jungle vine leaves served as a centerpiece (sorry for the bad snap – trust me it’s there!) for the “roast pig on a bun” station. We did not light the Tiki torches as it was windy (and the fact my hubbie didn’t buy any lamp oil figured into this decision heavily!). A grass table skirt completed the look (when it wasn’t falling off the table that is!).

Photo 8: This is the cake table. I used bamboo placemats (bought for 30 cents each on clearance at the end of the season) o create a table runner. Then I used palm tree balloon weights (netted in a large box with lots of other goodies at a garage sale last year) and mini sandcastle molds (Dollar General 25 cents a pack of 3 at the end of last summer) to make a centerpiece. This allowed the adults to use this table to eat on before the cake was brought out. It only took a moment to move the sandcastle molds to make room to put the cake out.

Photo 7: I found the orca door cover at the Dollar Tree last year and bought the window scenes at a local party store. They really had a great visual impact for transporting us to a tropical isle.

Photo 10: Another view of the eating and cake table. Note the flower curtain in the background, another Goodwill find. What are we going to do with all these great decorations now? Can you say “Island Paradise Bedroom?”

Photo 12: I really racked up on the tropical/island/beach party favors at a garage sale. Plus I found a lot at the Dollar Tree around Halloween (I added a little pirate flavor to the party to come up with good favors for the boys).

Photo 11: For the kid’s seating I found straw beach mat that they practically gave away at the end of last season. If you know the theme of the party you can really rack up buying ahead. One thing though, keep a careful inventory of items bought including the price so that you don’t wind up going overboard on spending. How much did I spend? I’ll never tell!

Photo 4: Welcome sign and even the trash can gets a quick makeover. I actually got the trash can cover for a song along with lots of other goodies at the local Goodwill.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy!  Please leave a comment – I live for them!  Especially now that I’m chair and couch bound for some time!

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