Luau Pool Party -13yr- Blow-up Coconut Trees

For my 13th birthday party, my mom and I decided that I could have a luau/pool party.

INVITATIONS: We just bought some tropical themed invitations and included all the info (who, what, when, where, etc) and sealed them in a blue or pink envelope with a hibiscus glued onto it with their name written on one petal.

DECORATIONS: my dad was travelling the week before and brought back some cool decorations such as a blow-up coconut tree, coconut cups, leis, and crepe paper pineapple and pineapple trees. We set them up around the bbq and pool area and also put in a bunch of pool toys in the pool such as rings, noodles, rafts, water balloons, beach balls, and water guns.

GUESTS: I invited 6 girls and 7 boys and had the girls sleep over.

ACTIVITIES: once everyone arrived, we played Ulumaika, which is a Hawaiian version of lawn bowling where there are pineapples set up in the traditional bowling way and the person bowling uses a hollowed out (or  not) coconut to try and knock them down. This was quite hard as the pineapples were heavy.

Next, we went swimming and had a water fight. There were two teams, and each got the same amount of weapons. After that we had dinner and then split up into different teams, this time for a relay. One by one, each team member and to sit in an extremeley big ring and had to get two coconuts from one end of the pool to the other and then finally go back for a gigantic beach ball (there were two) that everyone would sign at the end of the party.

After that, we divided into girls and boys and had a tug of war where the losing team would fall into the pool. Finally, we all swam and had another water fight or hung out until the boys' parents came to pick them up.

FOOD:  We served hot dogs and hamburgers with mocktails and sodas and chips and french fries and other snacky stuff.

The cake was really good: it was a two layered rectangle cake, but the second layer was a surfboard that said 'Happy Birthday Becca!' on it and decorated with icing flowers and tiki designs. The first layer was a light blue and the candles were placed aroung the surfboard. Everyone thought it was a really cool cake, and said it was good too! (triple chocolate fudge cake)

SLEEPOVER PART: the girls and I had to help a little with cleaning up, like deflating the inflatable tree and bringing in some of the decorations, but then we got to go upstairs and watch movies for the rest of the night. The movies (chosen by vote) were: The Bride Wars; Monster-in-Law, Marley and Me, and Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa.

FAVORS: Everyone got a little surfboard keychain and the girls got flower bracelets and the guys got a shark tooth necklace (not real, of course). Everyone had a blast and were talking about it for a month afterwards! It was fun planning it too!