1st Birthday Luau Party

In Hawaii, it’s customary to celebrate a baby’s first birthday with a luau. Since Juliana was born here, it only made sense to throw a luau party to celebrate this milestone.

Originally, I had planned to do the party at our house, but as the guest list grew, we decided it would be better to host the party somewhere else. We ended up renting two cabanas at Hickam for $20 each, which provided plenty of shade and space for our beach party.

Because of John’s Change of Command, I didn’t get to make the invitations as I had hoped, so I ended up just sending Facebook invites.

Food and decor were kept pretty simple since we were at the beach. I ordered most of the supplies from Oriental Trading, although I probably could have just picked everything up from Party City. Just to be a tiny bit fancy (and to prevent napkins from blowing away in the wind) I made paper napkin rings on the Cricut and wrapped the utensils in the napkins.

The food was either pre-made or I used the crock pot. On the menu there was kalua pork (crock pot), white rice (rice cooker), potato salad, macaroni salad, and Hawaiian rolls. As far as drinks, I made a huge container of mai tai punch. Off to the side, we had a cooler filled with water, Hawaiian beers, and rum to add to the punch.

Although Juli was kinda sick, we still had a great time. The girls went out paddle boarding with my brother and his girl friend. Everyone spent lots of time in the water. Plus, you really can’t go wrong with the view of the ocean at Hickam.