A luau party means the motif is tropical. It doesn't need to be expensive and you could just find some things at home to use.

What To Wear:

You could ask guests to wear anything with Hawaiian motif. Like for the guys they could go in board shorts or floral shorts and razorback plain colored shirts. Or they could wear draw string pants and then floral polo (collared) shirts. For the girls if wearing a grass skirt is not your type, then you could wear floral wrap around skirts and spaghetti tank tops or spaghetti floral dress. Just accessorize yourself with pearl stud earrings or even beaded necklaces. Wear flip flops and sandals also with your dress.

Decoration:

If your backyard has a pool it is much better to have the party at the pool area so you could have some floating candles on the pool and sprinkle it with petals or let some hibiscus flowers float. If you do not have a pool just decorate your backyard with cut out paintings of surfing boards and some tropical plants like birds of paradise in big jars. You could also put some palm leaves in the jar to go with the birds of paradise. If you have kids who have pet parrots or toys you could also ask them to lend it so you could have that tropical paradise look. If you are going to have the party at night the table for the guests should be dim lit and decorated with floating candle in a glass half-filled with water. Decorate the glass with fresh flowers you could find in your garden. To make this get one block of flower foam soak in water. The block should be of the same size as the base of the glass. Cover the block with foil and then just insert or cover the sides with the flowers and some leaves or baby's breath. When finished you could put the glass on top of it. Have a plain tablecloth with the shade of orange or pink or something to go with the tropical theme and one which will not contrast the other decorations. The buffet table should also have a tropical ambiance. You could do it by putting a medium size jar at the center with birds of paradise or you could also put a large bowl half-filled with water. Put a large pineapple at the center then put some floating hibiscus flowers (small ones) surrounding the pineapple. For lighting you could put some Christmas lights or if the table is under a tree put some lanterns on the trees. You could make your own by using light bulbs covered with clothes in square frames.

Food:

You could have tropical fruit salad or just fresh fruits with cream at the side, roasted pork with pineapple sauce, some recipes cook in coconut milk will also do and beverages like mango smoothies, Hawaiian punch, fruit juice, etc. Anything with a Hawaiian touch.

Music:

Jamaican theme songs will set the mood and maybe some reggae.

It will also be a fun party if you will have some parlor games. You could have some games you knew and convert it so that it will go with the Hawaiian theme.

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