| Aloha. | | | | Once the craft was completed we turned on the |
| My daughter Maggie (age 6) wanted to get in on | | | | tropical tunes and had a game of Freeze Hula |
| the current luau craze by having a hula girl | | | | Dance. That was followed by several rounds of |
| birthday party. The fact that her birthday is in late | | | | Limbo. The kids enjoyed this so much we almost |
| November made me hesitate but I love a good | | | | ran out of prizes. Then we put the music back on |
| birthday party challenge so we went for it | | | | and had hula hoop contests. My goal: keep them |
| anyway. Follow the steps below and you can | | | | moving! |
| have a hip-Hawaiian-bash any time of the year. | | | | Step 3: Food, Glorious Food |
| Step 1: Activities | | | | Is there anything more satisfying than turning off |
| We started by planning a craft; hula skirts. Armed | | | | the lights and watching all those little eyes sparkle |
| with a about $20 and an idea we went to the | | | | as they stare at the birthday cake? I know the |
| craft store to find streamers, flowers, and ribbon. | | | | cake was a deal-breaker when I was a kid so the |
| The ribbon was cut into strips long enough to fit | | | | pressure was on to come with something great. |
| around a child's waist (with room to tie). Next, we | | | | My idea was to adapt the classic doll cake and |
| took 1 roll of green and 1 roll of yellow crepe | | | | make her into a Hawaiian beauty. I didn't want to |
| streamers and cut them into 2 ft strips. | | | | purchase a special doll-cake mold so I used a 2 |
| When the kids arrived they simply grabbed some | | | | quart Pyrex bowl instead. A bundt pan would be |
| streamer strips and taped them to a piece of | | | | another possibility. I used a doll pick (upper body |
| ribbon. Next they took a few small faux flowers | | | | only) from a craft store for my hula girl; much |
| and used double sided tape to stick them to the | | | | easier than trying to shove Barbie's legs into a |
| ribbon as well. Viola, a grass skirt is born. | | | | cake or even worse…amputate them. |
| Step 2: Games | | | | The next step was to decorate the cake with |
| Rummaging through our CDs we were able to put | | | | green frosting and drag a fork down the frosting |
| together a mix of upbeat tropical tunes. If you | | | | to make it look like a wavy grass skirt. Flower |
| want to save time there are plenty of Luau CDs | | | | shaped candies were placed around the waistline |
| for sale at party stores and on the internet. I was | | | | and a small silk flower was pinned to the doll's hair. |
| trying to stick to a tight budget so we used our | | | | I made a delicious bikini top out of fruit leather |
| own music and the CD burner on my computer. | | | | and then sprinkled crushed graham crackers onto |
| This music mix became the base for most of our | | | | the platter to look like sand. |
| party games. | | | | Mission accomplished. My daughter's party was a |
| My daughter was in charge of the limbo stick. She | | | | huge success and we didn't break the bank to do |
| decorated a piece of PVC pipe from the | | | | it. Everyone had a blast and the cake was |
| hardware store using stickers and more | | | | definitely the highlight of the whole event. In the |
| streamers. My 4 year old got involved as well and | | | | end I think you have as much fun getting ready |
| it really turned out great! | | | | for the party as you have during the party! |