If you happen to have a summer birthday girl or boy, a Hawaiian Luau party for kids can be a fun party theme. And if you have access to a pool, then you can go all out and make it a pool party. We celebrated my daughter’s birthday in the summer and she had a luau for her 6th birthday. In fact, she enjoyed it so much that she asked to have the same theme for her 8th birthday too.
While I wouldn’t exactly call this a dress-up party, she did wear a grass skirt and a frangipani flower clip in her hair. Many of the guests also got into the party theme by wearing floral Hawaiian shirts. Then when they arrived at our ‘tropical getaway’ each guest received a floral lei so everyone looked the part.
Hawaiian Luau Party – Decorations
I started with hanging this cute wreath on the front door. To make it I simply stuck a bunch of cocktail umbrellas into a styrofoam wreath. I found the wreath in the craft section at Lincraft.
I then blu-tacked the palm tree that I had made for the pirate party to a wall. My daughter added some coconuts she had made out of leftover ferrero rocher wrappers. On arrival, we got guests to take a photo with the birthday girl by the palm tree.
To add to the tropical atmosphere we played a mix of background music including “Beach Boys”, reggae tracks and “Wipe Out”.
Hawaiian Luau Party – Food
In Australia at least, ‘Hawaiian food’ means ‘pineapple’ so for lunch we served bacon-wrapped pineapple pieces, and pizzas – Hawaiian ham and pineapple of course. I had water bottles for each of the kids, and I decorated them with crepe paper grass skirts. A tropical fruit platter carried through our theme and kept tummies full until it was time for desserts.
Hawaiian Luau Party – Games and Activities
Our first game was “Pass the Coconut”. The kids sat in a circle passing around a coconut. When the music stopped the person holding the coconut was eliminated. There was a prize for the last child left.
Next up was limbo. We played the limbo song and had a giggle as the kids attempted to pass under a piece of dowl.
Since my daughter loves to dance, our third game was a hula dancing competition.
We finished the games with a relay race. We put the kids into two teams. Instead of passing a baton, each child wore a flower lei which they had to pass on to the next runner.
After running around in the all games, it was time to refuel with cake and sweet treats!
The All Important Birthday Cake
Since we have twice held Hawaiian Luau parties, I actually have two separate cakes to show. On both occasions I went with a circular cake iced in a white fluffy frosting. I decorated the cakes with ‘frangipanis’ made out of white marshmallows and either some yellow fondant or a hint of yellow food colouring.
Hawaiian Luau Party – Dessert Table
To decorate our Hawaiian Luau party, I went with a mix of yellow, green and blue to create a beachy, tropical look. This worked well as yellow has been the favourite colour of my daughter since she was two years old. I hung paper fans in these three colours on the wall behind my buffet. I used a pale green table runner (which has previously featured in Peter Rabbit parties) along the buffet. Our plates and serviettes were a mix of greens and yellows. I also made use of anything else ‘beachy’ that I had around the house including shells and fake palm fronds.
For sweets we served cupcakes decorated with mini marshmallow flowers. We had lollies such as pineapples and mint leaves, and I had cut up ‘pine-lime splice’ ice-creams into bite-sized pieces and served them on toothpicks as ‘splice bites’. But the stand out feature on the dessert table was the ferrero rocher pineapple!
After the sweet treats, the kids were keen to go for a swim. If a pool is an option for you, of course it is great fun and matches this theme perfectly. Just make sure there are plenty of adults keeping a close eye on all the excited sugar-fuelled little people around the water!
Hawaiian Luau – Party Favours
The first time we had a luau party, I used thong shaped candles as prizes in the games. As favours, each child went home with their leis and a thong shaped notepad and pencil. At the next party we just used chocolates as prizes for the games. I made frangipani cookies as the take home party favour.
We all enjoyed our Hawaiian Luau parties and have great memories of two fun celebrations. Check out our printables pack so you too can escape to the tropics for your next party.