Nolan's Luau/1st birthday party!

[mandye]

Christy,

As a thought on the food...I think it is in the August Better Homes and Gardens (I just threw it out so I'm not sure) they have a menu for a Hawaiian beach party. It had a recipe for Luau style pork. I bet you could go to the website and get it.

Mandy

[votre_ami03]

Thanks Mandy. I suscbribe & I bet I have it at home. My mag's just pile up any more. :)


Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

[cchavez]

An easy recipe would be a pork roast made in the crock pot and covered with honey bbq sauce. Just serve on buns!

Check out:

www.birtthdaypartyideas.com

They have tons of great ideas!!!

[August Mom]

Pork-and-Pineapple Kebabs

1 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloin
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon grated fresh onion
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
1 bay leaf
10 (1-inch) cubes fresh pineapple
10 (1-inch) pieces red bell pepper
Cooking spray

Trim the fat from pork, and cut the pork into 10 (1-inch) cubes. Combine brown sugar and the next 7 ingredients (brown sugar through bay leaf) in a large zip-top heavy-duty plastic bag; add the pork cubes. Seal the bag, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour, turning bag occasionally. (To keep the texture of the pork from becoming mushy, marinate it for no more than 1 hour.)

Remove pork from bag, reserving marinade. Discard bay leaf. Thread 5 pork cubes, 5 pineapple cubes, and 5 bell pepper pieces alternately onto each of 2 (10-inch) skewers.

Prepare grill. Place kebabs on grill rack coated with cooking spray, and cook 14 minutes or until done, turning and basting frequently with reserved marinade.

Note: Canned pineapple can be substituted for fresh. Drain 1 (8-ounce) can unsweetened pineapple chunks, reserving 16 chunks.

Yield: 2 servings

Obviously for a party, you would probably make the kebabs smaller, with only 2 of each ingredient or so (or whatever fits nicely on a small skewer).

[August Mom]

If you do go with ham, this marinade will definitely give it more of a luau feel instead of regular baked ham. We usually get the ham sliced 1/2" to 3/4" thick and grill or broil it after marinating it, but I think you could bake it too. If you do bake it, I think I would score it so the marinade soaks into the meat.

Polynesian Marinade

1/4 c. pineapple juice
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 T. dry sherry
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

*Combine all ingredients in small mixing bowl. Pour over ham and marinate.

**You can also use this marinade for beef and chicken.

[August Mom]

One other thought that I generated in response to another post, but that would be applicable here as well is yakatori, generally thought of as teriyaki chicken on a skewer.

[twinmama]

We just did this last month! It was all adults except for the girls, but we still had so much fun.

Here's some of what we did:
-The girls wore little pineapple print dresses and all the guests wore island themed clothing.

-Decorations were beach balls, beach towels hung every where, lots of little trinkets from Target (they had a great Hawaiian themed dinner ware/decoration line back in June, not sure if they still have it). I found some pictures of vintage Hawaii tourism posters, printed them out and hung them up. We gave a Graco Pop n Play beach cabana and we set it up in the corner. We didn't do this, but you could get a copy of Lilo and Stitch and have it playing on a little TV for the kids.

-We had leis for everyone and I printed out name tags with everyone's Hawaiian name on it. (http://www.hisurf.com/hawaiian/names.html)

-We didn't do this, but there's a game where you give everyone 5 clothespins and everyone has to call each other by their Hawaiian name. Those who forget have to give a clothespin to the person they were talking to and the person with the most clothespins at the end of the party gets a prize. I love the idea of the "treasure hunt." You could have a limbo or a hula contest. Pineapple bowling: decorate liter bottles to look like pineapples (cover with yellow and green construction paper, add detail with a brown marker) and find a small ball (paint it brown). Crab races, where the kids have to race "crab style".

-Island themed music: Beach boys, Lulu and Stitch Soundtrack, Elvis Blue Hawaii. I was at Costco the other day and saw a 4 pack of Hawaiian music CDs for $12.99.

-we did grilled pineapple marinated chicken (so simple, but everyone said it was great) with a rice salad, mango salad, and bean salad with fruit platters, macadamia nuts, snapea crisps and cheese and cracker trays for appetizers. Dessert was two mini mango cheese cakes from Whole Foods for the wee ones and a beach cake (http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/no...s/hawaiian.htm) I can give you any recipes if you'd like.

-It was all adults, so "goody bags" were floating candles shaped like fish and flip flops for the women (got them for 4 for $1 at the Dollar store) and little bags of macadamia nuts for the men. Everyone got a copy of the photo collage that I made, too.

This is getting really long, so I'll stop here, but I saved all the info (links, word docs of ideas and recipes, inspirational pictures, etc.) I had for the girls party, so if you want that, let me know! I also have pictures I can post, too. Hope this helps!

-Lisa

[muskiesusan]

The June/July issue of Family Fun shows how to make hula skirts and leis from vinyl table covers. They also show how to make a totem pole from coffee cans, which would make a cute decoration!

Susan
Mom to Nick 10/01/01
& Alex 04/27/04

[votre_ami03]

Lisa, You are awesome! Wow, thanks for all of the info.

I was able to buy a few of the "Aloha" things from Target @ 50% off. A couple plates, a pineapple tray & candle & some Aloha napkins too.

Your recipes sound great!

I will be printing this. If it goes well, I think I will host an adult Luau too. :)


Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

[votre_ami03]

I was thinking about totem poles & trying to figure out how to make them. What a great ideal! Thank you! I will see if I can't find those details.


Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03