Making Luau Decorations – Fun, Easy and Low-Cost

Got a luau coming up and want to have fun before it starts? Make your own decorations. Throw your own great luau for any occasion, no matter what it is — wedding anniversary, birthday, or just for no reason at all. You can make your party a lot of fun and still keep your costs down by getting creative yourself with some magazines, scissors, plastic fish, Styrofoam, and a glue stick.

Time to go to the tropics — at least temporarily

Use your decorations to create a mood of living in the tropics. Use images like palm trees, coconut leaves, tropical flowers like orchids and hibiscus, Hawaiian ambience-inducers like erupting volcanoes and humpback whales, just about anything that will bring the spirit of Hawaii into your party — make that luau.

You can make collages with your magazine pictures using images all of turquoise blue oceans, sailboats, sundrenched beaches, ocean sunsets, beach shacks, or anything that’s going to invoke a wife for you, for your party invitations. If you’re really feeling mischievous, send the invitations out in Hawaiian, and then let your friends figure out just what it is you’re trying to say.

Decorate the sides of tables with make-believe grass skirts by cutting green garbage bags into long thin strips not more than 1-1.5″ wide. On a warm day, have a table or ceiling fan working lazily to create an impression of an ocean breeze blowing softly through the hula skirts.

Your luau needs a theme

Next, you need a theme for the decorations you are going to use for your luau. You can use a beach party theme or a marine backdrop, for example. If you want an ocean theme, find tropical fish in plastic at a toy store or party store, then use fishing line of to hang them from your ceiling.

String them at different lengths to give the illusion, when looking up, that you and your guests are on the ocean floor and the fishes are swimming overhead in the open ocean. Drape plastic seaweed from floor to ceiling, pin up fishing nets on the walls.

To feel like you’re standing on the ocean floor, take cheap white sheets, paint giant clamshells on them, and drape them over your furniture. You can find giant inflatable humpback whales at toy stores and other specialty stores; use one to stand “entry” at the entrance, to greet guests as they come in. This will get them ready for a party.

Beach culture for a little while

Focus on a beach “feel” for your luau decorations. Lowrise tables draped with beach towels, beach balls thrown haphazardly around the room, and beach mats placed on the floor instead of using chairs will give things that definite “beach casual” quality. Have a contest whereby you have guests come in flip-flops they’ve decorated themselves. The person with the most creative design goes home with a Hawaiian prize like a pineapple or a coconut.

Hawaii is not all about sun-drenched beaches and fun and sun. There is a deeply mystical and ancient side to the islands. To recreate the ambience of the old Hawaii, hang large wooden masks on the walls. Give your imagination free rein in making luau decorations with a ritualistic effect e.g. you can create own totems out of Styrofoam cubes and a couple of pots of paint. Look to pictures of old heiaus (temples) for inspiration.

Take your totem poles and put them in corners of the room, turn the lights down, and just like things indirectly with tiki torches and candles. Paste stars that glow-in-the-dark on the ceiling to pretend you’re out on a starry sky trek and just hanging out and have a little party.

You can also create your own volcano out of chocolate. Of course, everyone’s probably going to want a bite, which is exactly the idea. If you want to make it “smoke,” you can use dry ice. These simple ideals will do a lot to make your party into a luau with not much effort. And with them, you’ll have Hawaii’s deep, enduring spirit with you. Aloha! Remember not to take anything too seriously, and just kick back and have some fun.

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