Bennett's Luau -14yr- Palm Placemats

INVITES:  I went to orientaltrading.com and found these awesome message-in-a-bottle invites! They included the basic who/when/where/rsvp card as well as some fake sand, a sunglasses decal, and paper umbrella. The address went on the side of the bottle. I sent them through the regular mail and my friends told me they arrived in perfect condition! Note: I went onto Microsoft Publisher and made plane tickets with the destination of Hawaii and stuck them in the bottles, too.

DÉCOR:  Pool Room: I got 5 straw beach mats and laid them by the side of the pool, as well as a wicker basket filled with rolled up, fun-colored towels. I also hung some towels on the provided deck chairs. The towels were all embroidered with my initials (BCC). I borrowed a volleyball net from a friend and stretched that across the pool, hanging sea stars and shells from the net. I had bunches of yellow balloons tied with yellow string and weighted by mini palm tree weights to get that sunny feeling. I had blow-up palm trees in each corner of the room and strung hibiscus flower garland between them.

The walls of the pool room featured scenes of the beach on every wall.  Party Room: I jazzed up white tables and chairs with grass skirts, had colorful hibiscus flower table runners on every table, and sprinkled every table with tiki-head confetti. I also had stand-up pineapples and hula girls made of paper maché in the centers. The same palm tree and hibiscus flower garland combo mentioned in the pool room also happened in here.

I used oversized palm fronds as placemats. Then I set a plastic blue dinner plate on them, followed by a hibiscus flower accent plate. I had napkins and plastic cups that matched the Caribbean blue of the plates, PLUS margarita glasses for a fun touch.  The napkins all had my initials printed on them. The silverware had tiki heads on the tops, there were small plastic fish on the ends of the straws, and the toothpicks had fish on the ends as well.

All snacks were served in beach buckets or clam shaped serving dishes, plus the blue punch was running through a chocolate fountain. In all rooms, steel drums and ukuleles were playing.

ACTIVITIES: We swam, of course! 

GAMES:  We played water volleyball, limbo with a piece of sailing rope, hula & hula hoop contests, and held swim like a (fill in the blank) contests. Also, we hid a tiny palm tree at the bottom of a huge bucket filled with Cool Whip. To get to the palm tree first, you had to eat all the whipped cream in the buckets.

COSTUMES:  I provided flower leis and grass skirt for everyone. I came out in a swimmable mermaid tail, coconut bra, and seashell tiara! For beautiful swimmable mermaid tails, visit the2tails.com.

SNACKS:  Barbecue chips, a fresh fruit and veggie plate, a chocolate waterfall, and chicken and beef kebabs. I also included fish tacos, sushi, and sunshine pie- sliced bananas, pineapple, and mandarin oranges mixed with the juices from the can, covered in cool whip and poured into a pan. All the water bottles had wrappers on them that had my name and birth date.

CAKE:  I had vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet cupcakes, each frosted with their respected flavors (vanilla, chocolate, and cream cheese, my faves!). Each was wrapped in a dark blue/light blue ink swirl wrapper, topped with rainbow hibiscus sprinkles, and had mermaid silhouette toppers stuck in them.

FAVORS:  Each guest went home with the grass skirts and leis they wore during the party. In canvas beach bags (with Bennett’s 14th embroidered on the inside of the handles), guests took home a CD of Hawaiian music, a recipe for their favorite snack at the party or the cupcakes, water guns, huge plastic sunglasses, pens with Bennett’s 14th on them, a penguin beach ball, and a mermaid picture frame with a group photo inside it that had Bennett’s Luau inscribed on the bottom.

Hope you guys thought my 14th Luau was something special! Bennett :)