It's Luau Time

It's always interesting that themes seem to come in waves and the wave that appears to be riding in to this summer is the Hawaian theme. Having never done a Hawaaian party before we had a sudden influx in enquiries and requests. One such request turned into this fun and colorful birthday party luau.





The guests were given their first taste of the Hawaiian tropics with palm trees and surfboards ushering them inside.

 The table setup was designed to somewhat resemble a tiki bar. Flanking the table on either side were two large tiki torches. We used grass skirts to line the front go the table with the added touch of cerise pink to bring in the flamboyant colors associated with Hawaii. 

As usual the child's name adorned the table as a centre piece this time in pink and lime the chosen theme colors for this event.

To add to the centre piece the pots that held the letters were turned upside down and each one received a grass skirt. The middle one was converted into a dancing hula girl. We also added pineapples onto the sticks of the letters and then my favorite aspect were the mini palm trees which I made from carlton roll innards and bright green paper for the leaves. Above the name hung a 'tiki bar' sign that I painted to look like wood and then rolled foam into tubes to look like bamboo and form the letters. I also embellished it with some palm trees and a hibiscus flower for color.

 

With the influx of Hawaiian parties I had already done two Hawaiian themed cakes before this party. This cake therefore became a combination of two previous cakes  with elements of each. It did however have one never before done aspect with the grass hula skirt wrapped around the bottom tier. 

For the themed food we provided some gorgeous brightly colored macaroons which we packed into a glass jar for aesthetics. Then we made some marie biscuit beaches. I love these multicolored paper umbrellas. The biscuits were in the shape of surf boards this time and I stuck to the to main theme colors. I went wild with the piping bag and simply added onto the boards whatever fun patterns came to mind. We also provided marshmallow fish on request of the client, which I think is such a cute addition to a Hawaiian theme party.

Each child also received a lei to place around their necks and get into the spirit of Hawaii. An entertainer was also provided to play games with a Hawaaian theme and to teach the kids a bit of hula. 

A summer's day is the perfect backdrop for this theme. It's great to get the kids outdoors and to be able to redefine surfing for them so that it no longer simply involves a computer screen and some square eyes.

A Dora ble

Dora has been exploring her way into party themes for a while now and yet she's still well loved amongst the youngsters. She's ideal for 3-5year olds who want a say in their party themes and to have their favorite fictional characters to be present. 

For this party a friendly Dora waved the guests into the party room, where the food table was decked with Dora. 

For the table we mainly stuck with the girly lilac and pink colors of Dora leaving out the bright orange. As usual we had the child's name on the table which actually proved slightly more tricky than normal as Francesca is a rather long name and the coffee table we were using was not. However after a bit of maneuvering I eventually somehow managed to squish her name so that it was still readable. To bring in the theme to the centre piece were Dora and Boots flanking the name.

                            

For the themed food I made Dora cookies on sticks. For these I used royal icing, but made the eyes from fondant as I found this easier. Then we made some marshmallows dipped in chocolate with hundreds and thousands, which are actually one of our most popular food items. We also had themed popcorn cones and lollipops as well as cutting the sandwiches into heart and star shapes. 

For the cake we had Dora and some of her friends sitting on top under some trees. The rest of the cake was decorated in a way to look cute and girly with flower cutouts and butterflies.

 My favorite item that I made for this Dora party were these party packs made to look like Dora's backpack. We used purple packets and I simply cut out all the facial features and added some wiggly eyes. And of course the map had to also be added because what's an explorer without a map. I hope this blog can act like a map for you guiding you to create a great Dora party or simply leading you to our doorstep.