🌺 Throw a Tropical Backyard Luau: The Ultimate Guide to Decorations, Food, and Ambiance

If you're dreaming of the tropics, they may be as close as your own backyard. A luau is, in essence, a Hawaiian party, traditionally used to celebrate events of great importance—especially the birth of a first child or graduations.

While many tourists see luaus as large, commercial events with hula and gigantic buffets, traditional Hawaiian luaus are generally held in someone's backyard, often along the beach where a pig or lomi-lomi salmon can be easily roasted in a pit.

Originally, luaus were called *pa'ina* (small dinner party) or *aha'aina* (large feast: literally, a gathering-meal). It was believed that the ancestors of those gathered were also at the feast, partaking, and the dinner was conducted with some ceremony. Today, things are less formal and more social. Your luau can be on any part of this spectrum.

🌴 Theme & Decorations: Tacky or Traditional?

You can go tacky or traditional with this, but Hawaii tends to favor the relaxed side of things. Using items you already have around the house—a cooler for drinks, plain white platters to serve with, etc.—is just fine. If you want to level up, great party supply places online offer items like fake palm trees and other tropical decorations.

• Serving Ware: Paper plates should be in bright tropical colors. Choose paper over foam, as Hawaii is deeply protective of the environment.
• Florals & Fruit: Use lots of fresh or faux flowers and fruit in your décor. Paper and silk flower garlands are excellent decorations for your table, home, or to camouflage unsightly things like electrical cords.
• Table Skirts: Look for grass skirts to wrap your tables in, or simply use white tablecloths and ensure you have plenty of bright tropical colors in your serving ware.

🌃 Lighting & Ambiance

Luaus are traditionally held in the late evening, just before sunset. While tiki torches add atmosphere, they won't provide enough light for a true gathering. This is where accent lights are essential:

• Primary Lighting: Mini lights and C7 and C9 light sets are ideal for soft, romantic light.
• Color Palette: Good choices for Hawaiian theme parties are pink, purple, yellow, and teal for that magical, tropical feel.
• Placement: Run the lights all around your porch or lanai, along the fence, and around your trees and bushes. If you're also decorating with fake palms and indoor tropical plants, running mini lights through these will look beautiful, as well.

🌿 Leis: Dressing Your Guests

Don't forget to decorate your guests with lei! These traditional flower garlands should be about 30–36” long, tied at the ends with a ribbon, and placed on the shoulders—not against the neck—of the recipient, traditionally with a kiss on the cheek.

You can easily make your own leis by stringing together silk flower blossoms (running your needle through the thick center). Your own garlands will look much nicer and more authentic than the cheap plastic versions most party stores sell.

🍹 Food & Drink: A Taste of the Islands

For a luau held outside of Hawaii, you don't have to have all the traditional foods—in fact, you almost certainly can't get hold of some (poi, for instance, loses its sweetness within about a day). You can, however, replicate the spirit of the feast:

Traditional Dishes You Can Replicate:

• Kalua Pork: Essentially ground-roasted pig with scant seasoning.
• LauLau Salmon: Can be replicated by roasting your salmon on a top shelf of your backyard grill.
• Haupia: A delicious solid coconut pudding that can be made with commercially-available mixes or from simple online recipes (sugar, corn starch, and coconut milk are the primary ingredients).
• Poi Mai'a: Mashed ripe bananas mixed with a little water.
• Other Favorites: Look for recipes for *lomi-lomi salmon*, *poke* (a raw fish, like sushi without the rice), and *chicken long rice*.

Fruit & Presentation:

• You must, of course, have fruit: pineapple, mango, coconut, guava, banana, tangerine, pomegranate, and papaya are all popular on the islands.
• Garnishes: Decorate your food platters with fresh flowers: bird of paradise, orchids, plumeria, and ginger are all traditional native flowers. If you can't find fresh ones, just use silk flower blossoms.
• Night Serving: For night serving, string white mini lights around all the dishes to provide enough light for guests to see by.

Cocktails:

You can't have a great luau without mai-tais! Decorate your frozen drinks with flowers and fruit, and try to get hold of some real coconut shells to serve them in (available online in many locations).

🎵 Music and Ambience: Talking Story

Hawaii is all about music and scent. The air in spring is perfumed with flowers, mostly plumeria and ginger.

• Scent: Look at Bath and Body Works for body sprays you can use on the tablecloths and other fabric decorations to get that authentic smell. On hot days, spray scent on cork or other porous materials that have been lightly soaked in olive oil; the heat of the sun will release your scent slowly.
• Music: You'll need something with a ukulele. The most popular artist on the islands is IZ, or Brudda Iz (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole), who created a haunting island rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." This is a perfect choice for most parties. You should also be able to find many Hawaiian music collections in the world music section of your local music store.

Food, drinks, music, décor – and your guests. Invite people you love and can relax with, and prepare for a wonderful evening of fun and talking story (conversation).