Claire's Hawaiian Luau Party

Last Friday we celebrated Claire's 9th birthday with a Hawaiian Luau Swim Party!
She picked this theme earlier this year before we surprised them with our trip to Maui (which I still need to blog!!!)
I was super excited she chose this theme knowing we would be taking a trip to Hawaii in the summer!
This was such a fun party to throw....I think I say that after every party ;)
 I loved all the bold & bright colors.

When the girls arrived, we had lei's for each of them:

For decorations I had hanging tiki decorations outside:
They added a nice pop of color to the yard.
Inside I had paper lanterns, tissue balls & tissue pineapples.

I just kind of bunched them all together & hung it up:

 View of the kitchen: 

On the kitchen island I had appetizers/snacks set up:

Kettle corn:

Veggies & Hummus:

Seaweed (Spinach) Dip:

Fishies:

Chips & Mango Pineapple Salsa (it was SO good!)

In the window I had a pineapple banner:

For drinks we had 3 types of juice:

 I found some fun pineapple straws & mixed them in with some striped ones:

 For dinner, Claire wanted Pizza & Fruit Kabobs. Easy!

I had the dinner food set up on the outside bar:

I made the fruit kabobs in rainbow fruit order since there are tons of rainbows in Hawaii
 
 The dessert table was inside...one of my favorite parts about throwing parties :)
I put a grass skirt around the table & hung up a tiki decoration:

 Behind the table I had an Aloha banner & some fun balloons:

A palm tree & pineapple:

 And a Hawaiian flower & 9 on the other side:

 Close up of the dessert table:
There were so many yummy things on it....

Sand Castles (mini coffee cake bites)

 I stuck drink umbrellas in them to make them more festive:

 Pina Colada Cupcakes:

 I added some cocunut to the frosting & sprinkled some brown sugar for it to look like a beach scene.

Salt Water Taffy:

 Flip Flop Lolipops:

  Fruit Puffs.....a Larson party staple!

 And of course....the cake:

 My mother in law is an amazing cake maker!

 Claire designed the cake and told her what she wanted:

 Kate & Claire made the fondant decorations on the cake:

 For the favors, I had my usual....Cookies to go with the theme!

I got the cookies HERE.

The girl who made them lives in Hawaii, so they are authentic :)

While we were waiting for the girls to get picked up, we put Moana on the outside TV

  So, there you have it....another birthday party in the books!
This was one of the easiest parties I have thrown.
There were 12 girls and they swam almost the entire time.
When they weren't swimming, they were jumping on the trampoline.
Claire has such a sweet group of friends, really thankful for them.

Happy 9th Birthday Claire!

Can't believe Claire is 9...she is so compassionate & has one of the biggest hearts I know.
She didn't want gifts for her birthday, instead she wanted people to donate to Hurricane Harvey victims in lieu of presents for her.
Claire and I looked over the organizations that are helping out Harvey victims and she picked favorite ones and then I sent an email to her friends asking them not to bring presents for Claire, but instead to make a donation (if they wanted to) & I listed the organizations that Claire picked.
Keep shining your light Claire, I know you will do big things in this world.

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Claire's Parties throughout the years:

8th Birthday - Claire's Flamingo Pool Party
7th Birthday - Claire's Shabby Chic Tea Party
6th Birthday - Claire's Mermaid Swim Party
5th Birthday - Claire's Tangled Party 
4th Birthday - Claire's Candy Shoppe Party
3rd Birthday - Claire's Cowgirl Party
2nd Birthday - Claire's Ladybug Party
1st Birthday - Claire's Ice Cream Party

To see all the other kid's parties I have thrown, click HERE for my Party Tab!