One of the best parties I have gotten to put together, was a Surprise 30th Birthday party for my husband. It was intended to be an outdoor party, but when the heat took a turn for too hot, we decided to move it indoors. The place we rented was one big open room, and the week before the party, I was forced to re-envision the party and layout.
Here's what the room looked like when we rented it:
Quite a transition. It was a lot of work, and most was DIY. Here's what I did and how you can do it too.
Entrance Signs:
For the "ALOHA" I went to Target and got the letter size foam core board. I painted it with acrylic paint. Then hung them on the wall with packing tape on the back.
The hat was purchased from
Oriental Trading Company. This one was a little lighter in color but the one I have linked would work just fine.
Directional Signs were made from thin wood boards (bought at Michaels and broken in half). Then painted and attached with wood glue to a paint stirrer. I used permanent marker to write the cities.
The buckets were purchased from the Dollar Section of Target and were filled with sand to keep the directional signs held up.
The bottles were collected from family (wine and beer bottles) and then painted with acrylic paint. They came out great but you have to be very careful because they scratch easily.
Candles were small mason jars, dollar store candles and colored sand from Hobby Lobby.
Bamboo leaves were purchased at
Oriental Trading as well. That is two strands taped on the tablecloth with packing tape.
Table Decorations:
The guests tables were decorated with the same buckets from the dollar section of Target with sand and directional signs as well. I used a bit smaller pieces for the directions - they were shims instead of the larger pieces from Michaels. I broke them to have the point on the end. They were painted with acrylic paint and marker for the city, then attached to the paint stirrer as well.
I purchased a few bulk leis on ebay and put 8 in each bucket hanging off the side for some color.
The smaller buckets were also from the dollar section of target and held some nut mix.
Then of course a bit of confetti on the tables and a few candles and sand in mason jars.
Food Table:
The food table was a white tablecloth, lots of bright bowls and a grass skirt we borrowed from a friend.
The bottles were wine, beer, and liquor bottles painted with acrylic paint. These were great for the separation of the kitchen and party area.
Cake Table:
The cake table was my favorite area of the party.
The 30 was made from photos of my husband, scanned and printed in black and white. I cut the 3 and 0 out of posterboard then taped the pictures onto the numbers.
The front of the table has a banner I made as well. I cut cardboard (leftover cardboard boxes). I wanted the pieces to be random so it was easy to cut. I painted them one color and then cut out the letters from cardboard and painted them a different color. I added random drink umbrellas for effect. They pushed right into the cardboard so they were a great, easy addition. I laced ribbon through the sign and attached it on the sides of the table.
The cake was 3 cakes I baked myself. I used blue food coloring for the water (high concentrated ones from Michaels).
Then I added Pirouline cookies broken in half for the edges and graham crackers for the beach.
I decorated it with little wood pieces I bought from Michaels and painted with acrylic paint. The signs on the front were purchased from Michaels as well, painted and hung on the Piroulines.
The tiki hut in back was a wood piece I painted green and added rafia to the top with hot glue.
The cookies were fun as well. Lots of work and detail but well worth it.
The cookies were sugar cookies decorated using squeeze tubes for details. I kept them in the fridge until the party so they wouldn't stick together. They were stacked coming out of the same dollar store buckets used everywhere else.
Main Room Decorations:
The main decorations around the room were twisted streamers and beach balls. I ordered the beach balls on ebay in bulk and we hung them from the ceiling with tape and fishing wire. This gave the illusion they were floating in mid air.
Band Area:
The band area was created mostly by my in-laws. We used a tent and real raffia (although you could use the fake stuff from Oriental Trading).
The fencing was from a neighbor that happened to be taking down his fence a few weeks before the party. My father-in-law, painted the slats the colors of our theme and we leaned it up against the wall. There is a beach scene behind it that you can't see really well, but it gave a great beach scene with the fence. We hung string balls made with yarn dipped in glue, cornstarch and water then wrapped around balloons. When they dried I popped the balloon and the balls were stiff and ready to hang.
We hung these with fishing wire over the fence slats.
They then added a few fake flaming lanterns to the sides for effect.
One thing that was supposed to be a focal point at the outdoor party but that got lost in the inside were two hula hoop lights. I attached string lights to the hula hoop with duct tape, then added ribbon over the top of the hula hoop. The result was really neat and I was a bit sad they ended up being a small lost area of the party. Here is a
link to the idea.
It was a lot of work, we saved quite a bit with the DIY. If you would like more ideas for your luau party you can check out my
pinterest board. If you would like instructions on how I did something, please let me know. I am happy to help in any way I can!
