Host a luau party for your next event and don't forget the leis.
Create a tropical oasis to set the theme for your luau party. Whether you're planning a wedding reception, a girl's night, a barbecue or a birthday party, you can incorporate familiar tropical details like palm trees and tiki torches as decor. Keep your guests entertained and in the luau spirit with games that will have guests dancing.
Palm Trees
Palm trees can help liven up your luau party by adding flair to your tropical décor. Use inflatable or artificial palm trees to decorate the entrance of your event or to highlight food, gift and favors tables. If inflatable or artificial palm trees are not readily available, use poster board to create large palm tree cutouts you can hang on the walls. Cut smaller palm trees to create place cards for your tables, thank-you favors for guests, or menu cards.
Tiki Torches
Tiki torches are a common party decoration used to set the scene for a luau party. Instead of going the traditional route of placing tiki torches at the entrance of your venue, have guests participate in a craft activity to create their own tiki torches. Create tiki torches using red and yellow tissue paper as flames. Place the tissue paper inside of a paper towel tube using glue or tape. Illuminate the tiki torches by placing a small flashlight inside of the paper towel tube. Turn this craft into a game by having guests race to create their tiki torches.
Leis
Greet each one of your luau guests with a lei to welcome them to your tropical event. If you have assigned seating at your event, you can incorporate leis into your place-card setting. Place a lei at each guests' seat with a place card made out of card stock. Include a message on the place card, instructing guests to give their lei to the person on the right or left of them. This can serve as an introductory activity for guests to help get them acquainted with the people seated at their tables.
Hula Dancing Contest
During your luau, encourage guests to participate in a hula-dancing contest to win prizes. No hula contest is complete without grass skirts and leis. Rather than only using tropical music for the hula dancing contest, use different genres of music and have guests attempt to hula to each. Mix country, rhythm and blues, bluegrass and rap music as your guests try to hula dance to the various beats.
Limbo
Find out "how low" your guests can go with a game of limbo. Have guests select partners to participate in this game. The objective is to have both team members get under the limbo stick each time it's lowered. While it's likely more economical to create your own limbo stick using wood, you can purchase sets from local party supply stores.
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