I started searching the Internet for Hawaiian recipes and put together a menu the adults would like along with some of the kid's favorites so everyone would be happy. Here is the menu I decided on :
Appetizers:
Potato Chips and Maui Onion Dip
Tortilla Chips and Mango Tomato Salsa
Tropical Fruit Kabobs and Fruit Dip
Asian Pot Stickers with Ginger Soy Dipping Sauce
Cheese and Crackers
Banana Bread
Goldfish Crackers
Swedish Fish Candies
Dinner:
Huli Huli Chicken
Polynesian Pork
Asian Cole Slaw
Veggie Fried Rice
Palm Tree Pasta and Cheese (Mac and cheese)
Hawaiian Hot dogs (Hot dogs)
This is the menu I posted over the food table:
Now that I decided on a menu, I needed to figure out decorations. I went to Party City and decided on a tropical themed print table cloth and napkins. I then tried to put together some other things to go with it. My first idea was to make a Tiki Hut for the food table. I had a huge cardboard box that I cut on a diagonal to make a roof like structure. My husband build some "legs" for it to hold it up over the table out of some 1x2's. I simply covered he 1x2's with some strips I cut from one of the plastic table clothes. To make the tiki hut look, I used a hot glue gun to glue two straw beach mats on top. I got those at Big Lots for about a dollar each. They were trimmed in aqua so they went well with my colors. I cut a surfboard shaped object out of extra cardboard and covered it with more of the plastic table cloth. I then made a sign to say "Jayden's Tiki Hut" on it and hot glue gunned it to the top of the tiki hut. I hung some colored paper lantern's from the tiki hut (I got those from Michael's for about a dollar each). The total cost for my tiki hut was about $12!
Here is the Tiki Hut:
Here are scenes of the Tiki Hut with some of the food:
Here is the Birthday Banner I made to hang near the table:
Now it was time for the party hat, favors and birthday cake. I got crafty for the party hat and the goody bags, but the cake and cupcakes were done by Party Cakes in Berkley, MI. For the party hat, I used a few foam sheets from Michael's. They were cheap and durable for a 1 year old. I cut out a piece and made the cone for the hat and used a stapler to keep it in place. I used a hot glue gun to decorate it with shapes I cut out of foam. I also used the hot glue gun to add the letters for Jayden's name on the hat. It was really cheap and easy to make. It cost me a few dollars for the foam sheets.
The goodie bags were simple white bags with embellishments I bought from Michael's. The fish on the front were a craft kit that contained several crafts in the pack. I simply made them and stuck them on the bags and wrote the kids names on the bags. I used some neon colored string and a hole punch to close the bags...I simply folded the bag over, punched the holes and threaded the string through the holes and tied it with a bow. It was an easy way to make some goody bags. I filled the bags with bubbles, candies, goldfish crackers and fruit snacks.
Here are some close ups of the cake and cupcakes:
Here are a few scenes of my little one having fun!
