Recently I was asked to decorate a party for a 3 year old with a Luau theme. Of course there are mountains of the decorations and food ideas out there, but I wanted to make this Luau kid friendly. I started on my research and as always I began with the client's interest. What I realized quickly was the mom was pretty laid back and pretty much left all of the planning tome with one exception, there were plenty of leis. Also, because the parents were supplying the food, that was one thing I could strike off of my list. I thought and thought but there were no reallllllly different ways to host a Luau. This is what I came up with, instead of having actual fruit skewers, I had fruit skewers made of fruit slices and marshmallows...really cute and quite simple.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5210760_make-candy-kabobs-kids.htmlNext, for my centerpiece, I took a traditional tropical party hat and decorated it with artificial Green Ti leaves and a leis (you can find them at most dollar stores), of course I used the Luau themed tablecloths, napkins and plates. I also, made a tropical punch with lemonade and fresh kiwi, strawberries and berries. The chairs were decorated with grass skirts and the kids played Limbo with Hawaiian music playing in the background. There were plenty of leis and grass skirts and as an arts and craft activity, the kids made their very own leis out of construction paper flowers (you draw the flowers and cut the flowers out fold the flower in half and punch a hole so that it's in the center), 2 drinking straws per leis (cut 2 drinking straws in 8 pieces**4 pieces per straw**) and yarn (thread the yarn through the straw and thread the flowers as well until you have the desired amount of flowers.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Lei It may sound weird, but it's really easy. I topped the party off with tropical cupcakes with luau umbrella picks. It turned out great and the little princess and her parents were happy!
Recently I was asked to decorate a party for a 3 year old with a Luau theme. Of course there are mountains of the decorations and food ideas out there, but I wanted to make this Luau kid friendly. I started on my research and as always I began with the client's interest. What I realized quickly was the mom was pretty laid back and pretty much left all of the planning tome with one exception, there were plenty of leis. Also, because the parents were supplying the food, that was one thing I could strike off of my list. I thought and thought but there were no reallllllly different ways to host a Luau. This is what I came up with, instead of having actual fruit skewers, I had fruit skewers made of fruit slices and marshmallows...really cute and quite simple. http://www.ehow.com/how_5210760_make-candy-kabobs-kids.htmlNext, for my centerpiece, I took a traditional tropical party hat and decorated it with artificial Green Ti leaves and a leis (you can find them at most dollar stores), of course I used the Luau themed tablecloths, napkins and plates. I also, made a tropical punch with lemonade and fresh kiwi, strawberries and berries. The chairs were decorated with grass skirts and the kids played Limbo with Hawaiian music playing in the background. There were plenty of leis and grass skirts and as an arts and craft activity, the kids made their very own leis out of construction paper flowers (you draw the flowers and cut the flowers out fold the flower in half and punch a hole so that it's in the center), 2 drinking straws per leis (cut 2 drinking straws in 8 pieces**4 pieces per straw**) and yarn (thread the yarn through the straw and thread the flowers as well until you have the desired amount of flowers. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Lei It may sound weird, but it's really easy. I topped the party off with tropical cupcakes with luau umbrella picks. It turned out great and the little princess and her parents were happy! 
