Aloha, Let’s Luau: A Hawaiian Birthday

The beauty of having a summer-ish birthday are all the fun, outdoor theme ideas. Because we postponed celebrating Anna-Laura’s May birthday and hosted it in June, after school let out, we were really able to fully embrace summer.

Read: pool time.

Anna-Laura preferred a small crew of girls, so we ruled out the neighborhood pool. We couldn’t reserve it and I wasn’t interested in hosting a birthday party with a billion other people around. The sweetest friends – no really – let us borrow their pool and they were *the* most gracious hosts. Jackie and Robert, thank you for letting us crash your house the day before you headed out of the country!

Anna-Laura and I hit up Pinterest and we got to planning. I had one small activity for the girls to do when they arrived, a simple word search. You can only get away with things like this with girls. My boys would’ve never sat still that long before CANNONBALL!

The rest of the time, the girls had a blast in the pool, breaking once for snacks and the birthday song. We opted for snack foods and no meal since the party was a mid-afternoon shindig. This might be the easiest party I’ve ever done. I did, however, have a blast putting together that awesome table of sweets and treats.

Isn’t that miniature white farm table the best? We borrowed it from our awesome neighbors. It’s like a match made in heaven, y’all.

The pineapple bites were ridiculously easy. I cut bacon into thirds (the recipe said half, but thirds worked just fine), wrapped one cut section around a piece of pineapple and secured with a toothpick. {recipe below} These lasted about .0532 seconds.

We found a new piña colada fruit dip. Holy Cow. Trust me when I tell you: take this to your next party. You’ll be the hit. {recipe below}

This punch made a return appearance after it got rave reviews from Will’s confirmation party. We renamed it beach life punch. It delivered.

The umbrellas kept flying out of the straws. My dad’s suggestion was to add a grape to the bottom and then insert into the straw. He’s so smart and they were an added sweet treat to the drinks!

I just have no words for these. What I love about Olga, is I just give her a general theme and idea, and she makes it even more awesome. If those girls hadn’t been there, pretty sure I could’ve polished off alllll those cakepops. Not pictured, but equally delicious, were the mini-pineapple cupcakes she made. Anna-Laura got the super-sized birthday girl edition!

And then, THESE. If you can believe it, they tasted even better than they looked. Brava Kendra!

For the party favors, we went simple, light and useful. Anna-Laura chose leis and some “aloha” hand gel that we wrapped in green tissue paper and inserted into a yellow cup. I’m pretty proud of our “You’re one Fineapple.” God bless the internet. The full tutorial is here.

Of course, there was birthday singing and giggling. Because that’s what girls do. Happy 12th Anna-Laura. If I couldn’t take you to Hawaii, at least I could bring Hawaii to you! Mwah!

Vendor Credits
Cakeballs/Cupcakes: Polkadots
Cookies: Sweet Spot Cookie Shoppe
Farm table: 10th Collection
Hawaiian Luau Word Search: All Free Printable
Piña Colada Dip: Six Sisters’ Stuff
Pineapple Bites: Tasty Kitchen
“Aloha” Hand Gel: Bath & Body Works