Nolan's Luau/1st birthday party!

[votre_ami03]

Nolan's first birthday party is going to be a luau/beach party. Any suggestions for menu items, games, decor & fun are welcome. I know you ladies & gentlemen are great at this. :D

A couple of things I was thinking of:

Kid's party favors would be a beach pail & shovel filled w/Goldfish crackers, gummy sharks/fish, bubbles, cheezy sunglasses & maybe a few sea creatures.

One activity/game ideal was to fill a hard plastic swim pool w/sand & add "treasures" to it. Let the kid's dig through to each find a treasure?

I also have a large diving pool where I am sure most of the older kids will be hanging out in.

Any suggestions are welcome!


Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

[kathsmom]

Christy,

What a fun theme! I like the idea of the pail and shovel instead of bags. A friend of mine had a pirate party for her DS when he turned 5 and she had a pool filled with sand and treasures. It was a big hit with the kids. I would make sure that someone is watching the children if they are all going to be Nolan's age or toddlers, because you don't want them to accidentally eat the sand or one of the treasures! :)

Do you have a Party City in your area? I have found that they have a lot of great supplies, and as you go in the front of the store, they have a display stand with flyers printed with party ideas for different themes (luau, fiesta, over the hill, etc) and they give you party supplies needed for that theme.

Also, go to the library and check out some books on parties for children. I did this and it was really helpful! I found a lot of ideas for beach party themes in some of the books. DD had a Little Mermaid party for her 4th birthday. I had set up an area where they could run through a flamingo sprinkler, a kiddie pool to splash in, a ball toss game, and then we had our playset as well. I served pizza and had cake. For drinks, I filled cooler with ice and had bottled water and juice boxes (apple, grape, and orange).

Good luck!

[barbarhow]

Sounds like so much fun! How about a Limbo? At parties I've been at the older kids love it and the adults will usually go for it, too. Silly and fun.
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03

[jd11365]

Get an Oriental Trading catalog...they have tons of Luau stuff...

Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
May '03

[August Mom]

I'm envisioning kabobs with pineapple, perhaps ham and pineapple or pork tenderloin and pineapple. I actually have a recipe for pork, pineapple and red pepper kabobs if you are interested. You could also have a pineapple accented punch. The only thing about the sand pool with treasurers is that the kids might get dirty, especially little ones. I think the beach pail is very cool. You can get beach balls for under $1 usually, so that might be an addition too.

[NEVE and TRISTAN]

I think it sounds perfect!!!!!
Special attire for the day for pics would be on my list, but I suspect you have that covered :)...

What a great B-Day that will be!!!!
Any pinatas near you that might have a fish theme or something...
I can't wait for pics of this party!!!!
Neve
http://home.nc.rr.com/ourbabytristan
AKA "mama2be"-forgot password
and Baby Boy Tristan born @UNC
Feb 25, 2003
Brother to 3 pups "gees" and 2 kitties

[pritchettzoo]

Check them out online--their front page is luau stuff! And if you go through upromise, you get 6% back this month. I don't know if there's an ebates rebate; I just saw their site through a link from a upromise email.

www.orientaltrading.com

What a fun theme! :)

Anna

[khakismom]

My girlfriend did this for her twins' first year b-day party and it was so much fun. I LOVE the idea of a treasure hunt and the party favors (she did the buckets too and they were a hit!) She also did the invitations by writing all the information on a beach ball and mailing it, so you blow it up and then see all the party info. She also had paper laterns hanging, and tiki torches, plus lots of water play--a baby pool ready for jumping in and a sprinkler going. And of course, her kids were wearing hawaiian shirts! :)

Be sure and post pics of the event. It sounds like a blast!

[votre_ami03]

I knew you all would be able to help me with this. These are great, keep 'em coming!

I love the beach ball invite. I may have to use that one next time. This year, I printed out an invite on regular paper, burned the edges, tea stained them & wrapped it scroll style & tied w/raffia. I was going to put them all in bottles w/a little sand & small shells too, but I pooped out. The center of the page was a beach shot of Nolan taken in Newport, but no one needs to know that. ;)

Tiki toches, hula skirts & lei's for everyone. :D

Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

[votre_ami03]

I would love the recipe, if you don't mind!

I was thinking of serving a baked ham, but no one else seemed to like my ideal. Then, I was thinking barbeque pork &/or teryaki chicken? I think pork is a must though!


Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03

[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/novelties/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

[kensjen]

sent you a PM! :)