Hawaiian Luau Party....

I've been on a budget this summer.....but then I am always on a budget when it comes to planning birthday parties for my kids.  We are a 1 income family, so it's just not possible to plan extravagant, expensive parties...yet we always plan FUN parties!

When we were planning my daughter's birthday party, she decided that she wanted a Hawaiian party.  Thankfully, the Dollar Store was STOCKED with perfect, cheap accessories!


First we made our own flip-flop party invitations from scrapbook paper!

I had my hubby trace a flip flop shape for a pattern and then put all the party info on the inside!

I went ahead and made thank you postcards while I was making the invitation....I am bad....VERY bad about getting thank you notes out on time.....

I just used my printer to make them and I borrowed a paper punch from a friend.

We wanted grass skirts for the luau, but could only find adult sizes for the $1.00 price......so we improvised!

The skirts were made with rafia and string, so I took the rafia knot apart, cut them in half and retied them.....

The result.......2 child-sized skirts for the price of 1 adult-sized!

I took a $1.00 bunch of flowers from the Dollar Store and pulled them apart to glue them onto barrettes so that everyone had their own flower for their hair.

For food we kept it simple!  I had hot dogs, red jello, watermelon and fruit kabobs....they're little girls....they hardly eat!  I'm already saving money to feed the group of boys coming at the end of the month for my son's camp-out birthday....now THEY eat!

For games, we kept them simple, too....

We pinned the coconut on the tree and then my hubby pulled out the power drill to open a real coconut to eat.... (don't judge me for my choice of bandanna....I was desperate!)

We invented some of our own games like "Erupting Volcano".....

...basically my older boys sat with the water controls and the girls hand to touch the "volcano" (sprinkler!) before it "erupted".....I'm not sure who enjoyed it more...the boys or the girls!

My hubby also recreated a rain storm for the girls....he tied a sprinkler to a rope that was suspended between 2 trees....instant rain!

We also made our own cake.....I could use a little help in this department! My friend, Natalie from A Turtle's Life for Me, was on call walking me through, but I missed the window to get the cake out of the pan....oh well, maybe next year!

Overall, I may have spent about $35 and that includes the food!  And I think from these happy faces.....

....it was a great night!

It doesn't have to be expensive to be memorable!