Image: Shutterstock
If you are planning a fun party for children, here are some Luau party ideas for kids that you can try. From wearing loose-fitting, breezy clothes to wearing flowers and garlands around the necks, this tropical party idea can be unique and entertaining. Children can dance to music while you serve grilled, barbecued food. Such themes can be good for summers that remind you of cool drinks and surfboards. So here we are to help you with some easy yet interesting ideas to host a Hawaiian party for your children. From cooking the tastiest dishes for your young guests to making the decor suit the vibe, we have you covered for it all. So, read on to know more.
Key Pointers
- Food, open-air decorations, entertainment, music, games, and dancing are included in the Luau party.
- The celebration is made unique by incorporating elements native to Hawaii, such as lei and traditional musical instruments like the ukulele and drums.
- Luau-themed party invitations, decorations, dressing, games, and food are all part of the Luau party.
- To make your party more memorable, wear colorful, flowery, and vibrant clothes, put on a tissue paper lei, and play Luau games.
What Is A Luau Party?
A luau party is a traditional Hawaiian feast which includes open area decorations, beautiful and large tents outdoors, delicious food, music, dance, games, and entertainment. Lei is a crucial part of the luau party.
A lei is a necklace of colorful flowers, kukui nuts, and ferns that men and women wear to a Hawaiian party. Often, people make their own lei for the celebrations.
Drums and ukulele, the traditional musical instruments, are also an important part of luau parties.
16+ Fun Luau Party Ideas For Kids
Luau party ideas comprise several aspects, such as luau party themed invitations for different occasions, decorations, dressing, games, and food. Here, we list some of the traditional luau party ideas that will help make your party enjoyable and memorable.
Luau Party Invitations
1. Send ‘Message In The Bottle’ Luau Party Invitations
Image: IStock
You Will Need:
- Lots of plastic bottles
- Bowls full of sand
- Small, colorful invitation cards
- Mailing labels
- Sketch pens
- Glue
How To:
- Fill the small invitation cards with the message ‘Aloha! Please join us for luau birthday party celebrations of our dear ‘name of the child’. Grace the occasion to enjoy hula and limbo with us in your island attire’. You can write these messages with colorful pens, glitters, etc.
- Put some sand into the plastic bottles along with the invitation cards.
- Fill the mailing addresses of your expected guests on mailing labels, stick the labels on the bottle, and send it to the guests.
2. Flip-Flop Luau Party Invitations
You Will Need:
- Colorful construction paper
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Sketch pens
- Glue
How To:
- Draw the shape of a pair of flip-flops on a bright construction paper by using a pencil.
- Cut out the pair.
- Write a creative message on the upper area of the slippers.
- Cut out two strips of colorful paper and paste them on top of the slippers by using glue. Your flip-flop invitations are ready to mail your friends and family.
- You can also send T-shirts with ‘Aloha!’ print on them along with flip-flops as invitations.
3. Sun umbrella invite
You Will Need:
- Cardstock or paper
- Markers or pens
- Stickers or clip art
- Envelopes
- Glitter or sequins
How To:
- Choose the theme of a tropical beach or sun umbrellas for your invitation.
- Draw or print tropical elements on the cardstock, leaving space for event details. Add sun umbrellas, palm trees, or flowers.
- Use colorful markers to write the details, including the date, time, location, and dress code.
- Decorate your invitation with Hawaiian-themed stickers or clip art. Arrange them around the tropical elements for a festive look.
- Add a touch of sparkle with glitter or sequins to make your invitation more catchy.
- Decorate the envelope with a matching theme, or use a tropical stamp to set the mood right from the start.
Luau Party Decorations
4. Create Beach Decorations For Luau Party
You Will Need:
- A big plastic wading pool for kids
- Water
- Sprinklers
- Water supply for sprinklers
- Beach towels
- Beach umbrellas
- Small chairs
- Beach balls
- Bathing suits or swimming suits
- Sand
- Coconuts and pineapples
How To:
- Setting up the beach theme for luau party in the summer is a splendid idea as your children would enjoy playing in the water in the months of summer.
- Give your kids swimming or bathing suits and tell them to wear them before the luau party begins.
- Fill a large plastic wading swimming pool with water, and let kids play in it.
- Set up some sprinklers and make sure they receive a good supply of water.
- Spread some sand on the ground to give a beach-like feeling.
- Set up beach umbrellas and arrange small chairs for kids below the umbrellas.
- Decorate the tables by spreading coconuts and pineapples on them.
- Give the kids colorful towels.
- Also, give your children beach balls to play at the beach-themed luau party.
Did you know?5. Set Up A Sandbox
Image: IStock
You Will Need:
- A big sandbox
- Lots of sand
- Beach toys
- Beach buckets
- Toy shovel
- Toy Starfish and other toy aquatic animals
- Decorative shells
- Small stand
- A circular plank
How To:
- Fill the sandbox with plenty of sand.
- Place colorful, attractive beach toys in the sand.
- Place a small stand in the middle of the box and place a circular plank on it. You can also set up a beach umbrella creating a perfect beach theme.
- Encourage your kids to get into the sandbox and play. Arrange beautiful shells on the, fill the beach bucket with sand by using a toy beach shovel.
6. Mini Palm Trees
You Will Need:
- Paper towel rolls
- Brown paint
- A paint brush
- Green crepe paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Brown paper coconuts
How To:
- Arrange paper towel rolls in a vertical position.
- Color the paper rolls brown by using brown paint and paint brush, and let it dry. Brown roll makes the stem and bark of the palm tree.
- Use scissors and cut the green crepe paper in several green strips and glue them on top of the brown stem to look like long green leaves of the tree.
- Glue the brown paper coconuts at the beginning of green paper leaves on the tree.
7. Paper Plate Fruits
You Will Need:
- White circular paper plates
- Various food colors, such as yellow, orange, red, etc
- A paint brush
- Green and brown construction papers
- Glue
- Scissors
How To:
- Color the paper plates orange, yellow, or red by using various colors.
- Use scissors and cut out a small stem and leaves out of the brown and green construction papers respectively.
- Paste a little leaf and stem at the top of each paper plate fruit and it is ready.
Luau Party Dressing Style For Kids
8. Flaunt Hawaiian Dressing Style
Image: Shutterstock
You Will Need:
- Flowery clothes
- Lots of colorful flowers
- Hair pins
- Haku lei
- Aloha shirt
- Colorful flip flops or rubber slippers
- Hula skirts
- Sunglasses
- Straw hats
How To:
- Wear colorful, bright clothes having flower prints on them.
- Pin fresh, bright flowers in your kid’s hair. Give some flowers to guests as well.
- Decorate your tables by spreading flowers over them. Stick flowers on your walls if you are hosting a luau party inside your home. You can also use tissue paper flowers for decorations.
- Try giving the boys Aloha printed shirts to wear at the party.
- Give girls beautiful Hula skirts that match the Hawaiian theme.
- Let all kids wear sunglasses.
- Put on straw hats. They suit best for a Hawaiian party.
- Give kids colorful flip flops that match their outfits appropriately.
- Tell kids to wear adorable Haku lei on their heads. Haku lei is a floral crown that you create by using fresh and dried flowers.
Trivia9. Tissue Paper Lei
You Will Need:
- Long yarns of various colors
- Colorful tissue papers, such as pink, yellow, and orange tissues
- Straws cut into one-inch pieces
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Hole punch
How To:
- Draw the shape of flowers on colorful tissue papers and cut them out. Punch a hole in the middle of the flower.
- Give each kid a long piece of yarn, six one-inch long straw pieces, and 12 paper flowers to create leis.
- String a tissue paper flower, then a piece of straw, then again one soft flower, through the yarn and follow this sequence to create beautiful leis to wear at the luau party.
- Tie the ends of the garland together and make sure that the garland hangs loosely around the neck.
10. Plastic Grass Skirts
You Will Need:
- Green colored plastic garbage bags having drawstrings,
- Scissors
How To:
- Hold the green garbage bag upside down and cut its bottom off.
- Place the bag with drawstrings upwards, let your kid step into it, and then pull the drawstring appropriately so that it fits around your kid’s waist.
- Use scissors and cut thin, long slits into each green skirt making it suitable for the luau party.
- You can decide the length of the grass skirts according to your child’s preference.
Hawaiian Party Foods For Kids
11. Tropical Fruit Salad For Luau Party
Image: Shutterstock
You Will Need:
- Small pineapple chunks
- Kiwi chunks
- Cut oranges and sweet limes
- Yogurt
- Vanilla flavor
- A half cut coconut
- Coconut shavings
How To:
- Use half cut coconut as a bowl.
- Place kiwi chunks, pieces of sweet lime, orange slices, and pineapple chunks in the coconut bowl.
- Add yogurt and vanilla flavor to the fresh fruit pieces in the bowl and mix.
- Garnish the fruit salad with coconut shaving and chill it till you serve them to kids.
- Besides fruit salads, you can also give finger foods, such as papaya slices, fresh mango slices, macadamia nuts, and pieces of pineapple with cubes of ham.
12. Pineapple Punch
You Will Need:
- Eight cups of water
- Freshly extracted juice of six lemons
- Crushed pineapple and fresh juice
- Red cherries or mint leaves
How To:
- Mix plenty of pineapple puree and juice with water and lemon juice in a large container.
- Stir the mixture of fruits well and refrigerate the pineapple punch.
- Serve the punch in glasses.
- Garnish the pineapple punch with red cherries or mint leaves.
Luau Games For Kids
13. Limbo
You Will Need:
- A limbo bar
- Music player
- CD or pen drive having Hawaiian songs and music
How To:
- Set the limbo bar as high as possible.
- Play music and ask the kids to pass under the bamboo stick while dancing.
- Children who fall or touch the floor need to leave the game.
- After every round, keep lowering the limbo bar.
- The preschooler who makes his way without falling or touching the ground is the winner.
Did you know?14. Tiki Nut Hunt
You Will Need:
- Cups
- A small ball or nut
- Leis and other Hawaiian decorations
- Chocolate box or sweets as prizes
How To:
- Show the ball to all the kids.
- Now arrange all cups upside down on the table. Decorate the table with Leis.
- Place the tiny ball under one of the cups on the table, and shuffle the cups.
- The child who guesses right, in minimum attempts, wins.
- Give chocolate boxes or sweets as prizes.
15. Coconut Stomping
Image: IStock
You Will Need:
- Long strings or ribbons
- Lots of air-filled brown balloons
- Music player and music CDs
How To:
- Attach both the ends of the air-filled brown balloon.
- Tie the other end of the thread around one of the ankles of each kid.
- Brown balls represent coconuts.
- Play some music.
- Instruct kids to pop the coconut balloon or other kids by stomping on them, while ensuring that your balloon doesn’t burst due to other kid’s stomping.
- The last child with an air-filled ‘coconut’ ball wins the game.
- Also, you can incorporate real coconuts and tell kids to play coconut rolling. The kid who turns the coconut the farthest is the winner.
16. Hula Hoop Toss
You Will Need:
- Hula hoops
- Pineapples
- Coconuts
- Flip flops
- Beach ball
- Decorative shells
- Folded beach towel
- Marker
- Paper
How To:
- Mark a line on the floor.
- Arrange various targets, such as coconuts, flip flops, pineapple, shells, folded beach towel, and beach ball, on one side of the marked line on the ground such that some targets are near the sharp line while others are far away.
- Now, tell kids to stand at a particular distance from the marked line opposite to the placed items and give them hula hoops.
- Instruct children to throw the hula hoop on the targets. One child should throw the hoop at a time.
- Allow one point for throwing the ring on the items nearest the line and increase the points as kids toss the hoop at distant targets.
- Note points on the paper against the child’s name. The kid who bags maximum points is the winner.
- You can throw hula dancing into the proceedings and watch as the children try to twirl their hoops in delight.
17. Hawaiian Scavenger Hunt
You Will Need:
- Paper
- Colorful markers
- Leis
- Coconut shells
- Beach toys
- Sea shells
- Other Luau-themed items
How To:
- Create a scavenger hunt list and print as many copies as needed.
- Take all the Luau and Hawaiian-themed items you’ve collected and hide them everywhere in the venue.
- Make some items easier to find and some more challenging.
- Hand out each list to a child along with a marker and send them out to look for the items.
- You can also divide the children into teams to make the game more interactive.
- The child or team that finds most items on the list is the winner.
Luau Party Favor Ideas
18. Mini Beach Pails Full Of Goodies
You Will Need:
- Lots of mini beach pails
- Sweets
- Wrapped chocolates
- Cookies
- Beautiful leis
- Cherries
- Pencils
- Sketch pens
- Small beach ball
How To:
- Fill each beach bucket with various candies, cookies, beautifully wrapped chocolates, artistic leis, cherries, sketch pens, pencils, small ball, and other goodies, and small gifts and create a luau party favor.
- Gift each child one goodie-filled pail at the end of the party.
Themed birthday parties with Luau decorations are always the best and can easily take the party to a higher level. So if you are looking for kitty party themes or birthday party themes for girls and boys, we have got you covered. This list of the best Luau party ideas for kids contains all the information and tips you need to throw the perfect Hawaiian party. This article can be your one-stop solution for all Hawaiian party-related ideas, from decoration and food to game ideas. So make your child’s birthday a memorable one filled with cheer, dance, luau music, and luau food. Make sure you include luau favors to complete the day!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does a luau symbolize?
Luau is a Hawaiian feast that marks the celebration of an important event such as an achievement or reaching a significant milestone and is celebrated with family and friends (1).
2. What are Hawaiian appetizers called?
Appetizers or starters in Hawaii are called “pupus.” They are small food portions had before meals and do not make a filling dish.
3. What age group is a Luau party suitable for?
A Luau party is a fun and versatile theme that can be enjoyed by all age groups, from children to adults. Its colorful decorations and exciting activities appeal to children, while Hawaiian music and good food can entertain adults.
4. How can I create a budget-friendly Luau party for kids?
Create your own party invitation. Choose a beverage that is affordable and conveniently accessible. Opt for homemade munchies. With the help of family or friends, you can decorate the party location yourself. You can also make some DIY decorations with colorful paper lanterns, painted coconut shells, and handmade flower garlands. You may even rent or borrow party supplies. To further reduce your costs, you may host the event on your lawn.
5. Can you recommend some Luau party music that kids will enjoy?
You can play ‘Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride’ from Lilo & Stitch by Disney. ‘Under the Sea’ from The Little Mermaid, ‘Kokomo’ by The Beach Boys, and ‘Coconut’ by Harry Nilsson are also good options. Alternatively, to keep the children entertained during the party, you can also include some upbeat, catchy children’s songs.
6. How far in advance should I start planning a Luau party for kids?
Planning a Luau party six to four weeks in advance gives you ample time to plan and organize the party. It gives you the flexibility to make changes to suit your plan. It also allows your guests to reserve that day so they can be present for the party.
7. What are some Luau party crafts that kids can do at the party?
You can ask the children to make paper flower leis or decorate seashells with paint or glitter. They can also make tropical-themed masks using paper plates and craft materials, design personalized flip-flops with fabric markers or stickers, and create craft paper or cardboard surfboards.
8. How can I set up a Luau photo booth for kids to take pictures?
Create a tropical backdrop using colorful fabrics or a printed beach scene. Hang a string of fairy lights or paper lanterns to make the ambiance more interesting. Be sure to have accessories on hand, such as flower leis, sunglasses, straw hats, and inflatable beach toys. For convenient self-capturing, mount a camera or smartphone on a tripod.
9. Can you suggest some Luau-themed desserts for kids?
You can try some Coconut Macaroons, Rice Krispies, Sand pudding (made of edible sand), and Pineapple cake. These desserts can make your little guests happy.
10. What are some Luau party safety tips to keep in mind for kids?
Luau parties are mostly safe for children. Even so, you must exercise caution around children because they have the potential to inadvertently cause harm to anyone. Ensure an adult is watching all children and that the party area does not contain any sharp objects. Serve food considering common allergies that children suffer from. Avoid throwing a party when it’s too hot outside.
Infographic: Ideas For Organizing A Hawaiian Theme Party For Children
Children love parties, games, food, music, dance, and outdoor activities. So what better way to give it to them than a Luau party? The following infographic presents fun and exciting ideas on the games you can play at this Hawaiian-themed party with your children. Illustration: Momjunction Design Team
Illustration: Joyous Luau (Hawaiian) Party Ideas For Kids
_party_ideas_for_kids_illustration-360.jpg.avif "Joyous Luau (Hawaiian) Party Ideas For Kids")
Image: Stable Diffusion/MomJunction Design Team
Let’s have some fun! Check out this video for 10 fun luau party games for kids. Perfect for a summer birthday or beach party!
References
- Lawrence Agustin Manongdo (2017); CULINARY IDENTITY: CULTURE, PLACE, COMMUNITY;
https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/20263/Manongdo_umd_0117N_18168.pdf?sequence=1
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