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THEY'LL LOVE A LUAU

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QUICK TIPS AND EASY IDEAS

Invitation to Our Island:

�������� Send your invitation information printed on a tag that is attached to a plastic lei

�������� Place in a plastic, self-sealed storage bag; add a colorful address label and mail, as is, from your post office. Or, use a plain, large white or colored envelope and embellish with tropical stickers.

�������� Save time and money while setting the scene for your luau lounge by using a pre-printed Tiki, Tropical Sun, or Totally Tiki invitations.

�������� Encourage guests to come dressed in tropical designs. That will put them more in the mood and they will actually become moving decorations.

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Luau Decorations � Island Atmosphere:

�������� Choose bright tropical prints �or hot, solid colors, to spruce up your space.

�������� Straw beachcomber or novelty hats will add to the atmosphere, work well as a "bowl" for dry snacks,� and serve as a great party favor.

�������� Float candles in bowls half-filled with colored water.

�������� Drape tropical floral print sheets, or tropical tablecloths on your furniture or trim your tables with straw skirts to set up your Tiki lounge.

�������� What's a luau without leis? Give them to guests, hang on your walls, use as chair ties, wrap around napkins, substitute for tiebacks � your choices are endless so buy them in quantity for added impact.

�������� No time? No problem. Just pick up a total luau decoration party pack and spruce up your space in minutes.� Add colorful straw hats and leis and they'll love your luau.

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Fun & Games � Island Activities:

�������� Host a hula contest, complete with hula skirts and island rhythms.

�������� Get your guests to try making sounds with a conch shell. (It's more difficult than it looks!)

�������� Invite everybody up to do the limbo complete with limbo music.

�������� Play "hot potato" with a beachball.

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Refreshments:

�������� Make a Planters or pineapple-based punch and serve in tiki-themed cups.

�������� Serve pineapple chunks topped with a maraschino cherry on tropical theme picks stuck into a pineapple skin.� (You can sprinkle with brown sugar if the pineapple isn't sweet enough.)�

�������� Baste chicken wings with a pineapple, mango, kiwi or other tropical fruit glaze, jam or jelly and bake, broil or grill as usual.

�������� Serve your meal in shell-shaped bowls, bamboo or rattan trays, bowls inserted into straw baskets, on trays lined with large, clean and bug-free leaves, pineapple skins or coconut shells.� Or select shell-shaped snack plates.

�������� Buy Chinese restaurant take-out foods such as barbecued spare ribs, fried rice (add pineapple chunks and macadamia nuts for a more tropical flavor), sweet and sour pork or chicken, crab Rangoon and other delicacies which seem appropriate. Garnish them with small paper fans or tropical food picks for a luau look.

�������� Use brightly-colored plates or colorful tropical print paper goods to make any menu item seem befitting of your luau.

�������� For a sweet ending to your meal, serve vanilla ice cream topped with shredded coconut, pineapple chunks, and/or tropical fruit jam in coconut shell bowls, palm tree-style glasses or flashing margarita glasses for dessert.� Garnish with small paper fans small fans or tropical food picks.

Party Prizes/Favors

�������� Award copies of the book �Hawaii� by James Michener.

�������� Plastic, shell, leaf and silk flower necklaces and leis are luau loot they'll love.

�������� Sunglasses are a must for your daytime luau.

������ Take sunny snapshots of your guest and place in colorful party favor frames to take home.

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INVITATION TO PARADISE

�������� Sending a "message-in-a-bottle" invitation is perfect for this island theme.� Write the party particulars on a 5" x 7" sheet of tropical-patterned paper, roll up and tie with a ribbon. Insert into a recycled, plastic soda bottle with a few seashells, sand, tropical beads, and a tropical drink paper umbrella.� Decorate the bottle with themed stickers, attach a mailing label and take to your post office to mail.

�������� Write the invitation on a long strip of paper and insert into a conch shell.� Mail in a recycled, decorated mini milk carton.

�������� Print your invitation copy with a paint pen on the inside of a large clam or scallop shell.� Mail in a small box or cushioned envelope.

�������� Guests will flip over their flip-flop invitations. Just glue your invitation wording to the back of these party coasters.

�������� Pen the wording on green construction paper cut into the shape of leaves, and attach to a silk gardenia or other exotic flower.� Add a drop of gardenia oil to the flower to add to the experience.� Send in a long, thin box designed to mail flowers.� (These can be found at florists, floral suppliers and box manufacturers locally or via an online supplier.)

�������� Find travel brochures or magazine photos to an island getaway, and use labels to insert your invitation copy.

�������� Type up your invitation and glue to a set of sunglasses or write directly on the sunglass lens.� Mail in a small box or cushioned envelope decorated with tropical stickers.

�������� NOTE: When sending an unusual invitation, mail from your post office. Send yourself one first to determine its condition and length of time for delivery.

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DECORATIONS � ISLAND ATMOSPHERE

�������� Prop up life-size hula dancer cutouts along your entrance to invite your guests to sway on in.

�������� Line your walkway with luau novelty lights or torch candles to light the way to evening luau. For daytime events, let a life-size hula dancer Mylar balloon sway in the breeze to welcome you guests.

�������� Trim the door to your luau lounge with a floral and fringe door cover or hang a printed "Tiki Lounge" banner.

�������� Turn an ordinary beach or table umbrella into a Tiki hut with a raffia umbrella cover.

�������� Tropical togs is the dress code for this island getaway.

�������� Tie on a pile of fruit attached to a scarf for a Chiquita Banana look as part of your party host costume.

�������� Adorn each guest with a plastic, shell, leaf or silk flower necklace or lei when they enter your hut and make them part of your decor.

�������� The ladies will have "happy hands and feet" when they're covered with colorful floral bands.

�������� Give every window an island view with tropical window scenery.

�������� Make a BIG impression with a 4-foot tall inflatable Tiki god.

�������� Turn an ordinary umbrella table into a faux grass-hut with a raffia umbrella cover and a raffia table shirt.

�������� Even if it's 10-below, your party space will be a tropical oasis with a variety of inflatable palm trees spread around your space.

�������� Use easy-to-remove sticky-tack to give any wall into an island paradise with a sunset, tropical island, mountain/beach, tiki hut, tiki god, palm tree or bamboo backdrop with a collection of easy-to-use scene setters. Or, give the illusion of a life-size aquarium with an underwater tropical fish scene setter.

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FUN AND GAMES � ISLAND ACTIVITIES

�������� Rent or borrow from your library movies or travelogues with a South Seas locale. Try �South Pacific,� �Blue Hawaii,� �Gidget Goes Hawaiian,� �Hawaii,� or any other videos that appeal to you.� You don�t need to leave the sound on, just play the video for added atmosphere.

�������� Check with local dance studios or cultural groups to see if you can find a hula dancer to perform, and then have him or her give lessons to your guests. For added action, supply guests with hula costume pieces.

�������� Find the musician in your group who can plink out island tunes on a ukulele.

�������� Let guests try their luck by tacking a whack at a treat-filled Tiki pi�ata.

�������� Tropical music will add another layer to your luau.

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FOOD, DRINK AND TABLE D�COR FOR A LUSCIOUS AND LOVELY LUAU

�������� Fill a clear glass goldfish bowl with goldfish crackers.

�������� Prop up a surfboard on chairs or sawhorses to use as your buffet table.

�������� Serve dry snacks in an upturned neon or plain straw beachcomber hat or in the rim.

�������� Set drinks on ice in a child's wading pool, preferably one with a tropical design. Or, place your beverages on ice in a pineapple-shaped cooler.

�������� Roll tropical design flatware into a brightly printed napkin and tie with a flower slap bracelet for a grab-and-go packet.

�������� A luau-design set of salt and pepper shakers will spice up your table.

�������� �Tiki, toucan or hula girl candles will add glow to your show.

�������� Trim your table and chairs with glowing leis for a look they'll love.

�������� A 24" Tiki idol or 20' Palm Tree would give a Polynesian presence to your buffet display.

�������� Any drink will be more tropical when you add an ornamental drink umbrella and whimsical tropical straws.

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PARTY PRIZES & LUAU FAVORS

�������� Tropical beads with fun fruits will be a favorite.

�������� Your party will be hot, so help guests keep their cool with colorful hand fans.

�������� Let them make beautiful music with a wooden ukulele or an play an air version of their island music souvenir with an inflatable one.

�������� Send guests home with an instant or digital photo set into a beach-themed frame.

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�2006 � Phyllis Cambria - All Rights Reserved