Plan a Hawaiian Theme Party: 25 Can’t-Miss Tropical Ideas
There’s nothing more fun than a tropical island-inspired celebration full of color, music, vibrant decorations, and delicious food. To help you plan your best Hawaiian theme party ever, we’ve brought together 25 fantastic ideas for decor, games, food, party favors, and invitations.
5 Hawaiian Theme Party Decor Ideas
Design: Noonday Design
Every Hawaiian theme party has one element in common — the colorful theme. Here’s how to create your own tropical paradise with some fun party decorations that you can rent, buy, or DIY.
Giant Pineapple Paper Lanterns
Wow your guests with giant paper lanterns that suit your Hawaiian theme party. Look for fun, tropical motifs like pineapples, coconuts, palm trees, and hibiscus flowers. If your party is indoors, hang your paper lanterns from the ceiling — they look especially festive over a table display or at the entrance to your party venue.
Tropical Flower Garlands
It wouldn’t be a Hawaiian theme party without the appearance of some gorgeous tropical flowers. Buy, rent, or DIY your own flower garlands to display across your venue. Flower garlands are a simple way to add pops of color to your Hawaiian party as they’re easy to source or make. Plus, these party supplies are perfect for reusing with future party themes too.
Tiki Torches
Light the way for your guests to your island paradise with some tiki torches. These tall, rustic torches really amp up the atmosphere of your tropical party. Tiki torches create a lovely, warm glow and are perfect for outdoor luaus. (Just make sure you keep the area around the torches clear of potential hazards.) Bonus: Once the party is over, you have some great lighting you can keep in your yard.
Luau Party Backdrop
To highlight your dessert table, drink station, or a special centerpiece, create your own DIY luau party backdrop. This fun do-it-yourself tutorial features balloons, fringe place mats, faux palm leaves, floral leis, and tropical cutouts. With so many wonderful colors and shapes, it’s the perfect way to frame a space at your party.
Inflatable Palm Trees
We love the idea of using inflatable palm trees to add a touch of fun to your Hawaiian luau party. It’s a whimsical way to bring home the tropical theme, especially if you don’t live in an area where palm trees are part of the natural landscape.
Inflatables aren’t just great at pool parties or beach parties — you can deck out your indoor celebration or backyard party with giant inflatable palm trees. Add in other inflatables like flamingos, surfboards, or beach balls for instant party playfulness.
5 Fun Hawaiian Theme Party Games and Activities
Design: Signature Greenvelope
Give your guests plenty to do with these exciting Hawaiian theme party games and activities. There’s a mix of laid-back and energizing activity ideas here for everyone to enjoy.
Lei Toss
Put a tropical twist on the traditional game of ring toss by swapping out the rings for faux flower leis. It’s simple to set up this game. All you have to do is put stakes in the ground, or use a ready-made ring toss kit, and ask guests to throw their floral leis at the stake. Any leis that hoop around the stake scores you points. This is a fun yet relaxing game for guests to play solo or in teams.
Pass the Coconut
Ready to pass the coconut? This fun Hawaiian theme party game gives “hot potato” an island-inspired upgrade. Sit or stand in a circle and pass around a coconut (either real or pretend) with tropical music playing in the background. When the music stops, the person holding the coconut is out. This works great as an interactive party game for kids and adults alike.
Hula Hoop
Relive your youth (and continue the tradition with the young ones) by challenging your guests to a hip-swaying hula hoop contest. Set out plenty of hula hoops outdoors and encourage guests to don grass skirts and battle it out to see who can hula hoop the longest.
Too easy? Introduce multiple hoops each and ask participants to keep them all spinning at once. Whatever you decide, there’s no denying hula hooping is a fun physical activity for all.
Limbo
Limbo is a classic summer luau theme party game, and it’s easy to see why — this hilarious body-bending activity is fun for both the guests taking part and everyone watching.
Set up your limbo pole with plenty of space around it, and challenge your guests to see who can limbo the lowest. Take turns passing under the pole, lowering a little more each round. The winner is crowned the limbo king or queen!
Island Bingo
Looking for a more laid-back party game for your tropical get-together? We love the idea of hosting a themed bingo session.
Make your own bingo cards using imagery you’d associate with the beautiful islands of Hawaii. Call out the images and ask guests to mark them down on their cards. When they win, ask your guests to shout out “aloha” instead of “bingo.”
5 Delicious Hawaiian Themed Party Food and Drink
Design: Signature Greenvelope
Spending time with people you care about is the best thing about any party, but the tasty food and drinks are a close second. Here are some of our favorite food and drink ideas for your Hawaiian celebration.
Piña Colada Cake Pops
Want a fun yet simple way to add some delicious themed treats to your party? Look no further than these piña colada cake pops. All you need is a cake pop pan and a simple cake recipe. (You can even use a boxed cake mix.) You can transform your cake into these yummy and adorable piña colada treats with candy melts and decorations.
Mango Vanilla Cupcakes
Cupcakes are always a crowd favorite, and these mango vanilla cupcakes are the perfect addition to your tropical luau. Using a simple recipe with a touch of coconut and a delicious hint of fresh mango, these cupcakes are ready in under an hour and are easy to make ahead and serve.
Grilled Huli Huli Chicken
If you want to serve up some tasty mains at your Hawaiian theme party, this grilled huli huli chicken recipe is a winner. The sweet and savory glaze features easy-to-find ingredients and the dish only needs 15 minutes on the grill to be cooked to perfection. It works great with other meats too, like pork chops.
Fresh Fruit Kebabs
When you think of the scenic islands of Hawaii, beautiful bright colors and fresh fruit spring to mind. To translate this vibrancy to your menu, serve up fresh fruit kebabs.
Build your fresh fruit kebabs out of melons, kiwi, strawberries, and mango for a real mix of colors and flavors. You could also leave the cut pieces for guests to create their own DIY fruit kebabs instead.
Tasty Fruit Smoothies
Don’t just feature fresh fruit in your kebabs — serve up some flavorful fruit smoothies for your guests to enjoy. Mix flavors like mango, papaya, strawberry, and orange juice for a tasty drink that’s cool and refreshing. Hosting an adults-only party? Let your guests add their favorite spirit to the mix to create a tropical cocktail.
5 Fun Hawaiian Luau Party Favors
Design: Kaydi Bishop
When the party’s over, let your guests take away a tiny slice of your party heaven. Here are some great Hawaiian theme party favors that your guests will love.
Novelty Drinkware
Send your guests home with a fun reminder of your Hawaiian theme party that they can reuse over and over again. Look for reusable tumblers or shot glasses with fun, tropical designs in bright colors. These are great favors for an adult get-together or a milestone birthday party.
Flower Leis
Faux flower leis aren’t just wonderful decorations for your themed party, they also make great party favors. Let your guests take home a faux flower lei to wear or to add as a fun decor item in their own home. You could stick with the traditional bright color mix, or create your own using silk flowers in a color combination of your choice.
Brightly Colored Sunglasses
A pair of fun, bold sunglasses makes a fabulous party favor. Put out a basket or bucket featuring a stack of quirky sunglasses and ask guests to take a pair home with them. This works perfectly for both adult gatherings and kids’ birthday parties.
Mini Inflatables
Want a super fun idea for Hawaiian theme party favors? How about sending your party guests on their way with a choice of mini inflatables. Create a themed party favor bag or box and include a mini inflatable alongside other favorites like candy or cake pops. Look for tropical-themed inflatables like beach balls, fish, palm trees, and parrots.
Themed Bubbles
For another fun way to weave some tropical spirit into your party favor boxes, add some themed bubbles. This is an ideal idea for kids as bubbles are always popular with younger party guests. Include a note with a homemade bubble recipe so they can refill and reuse when it runs out.
5 Best Hawaiian Theme Party Invites
Excite your guests about the upcoming celebration with these fun, tropical-inspired Hawaii theme party invitations. These online invitations are ultra-easy to customize so you can use them for birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers, summer parties, and more.
Leafy Luau Invitation
Design: Elizabeth Silver
The richly pigmented, festive colors on this Leafy Luau invitation are simply gorgeous. The gently textured background features tropical palm leaves, while your party details and island drink take center stage.
Aloha Waikiki Invitation
Design: Signature Greenvelope
Hosting a beach party? This Aloha Waikiki invitation features a retro-inspired design for your beachside bash. The muted palette and sunset imagery will instantly transport your guests to a tropical paradise before your party even starts.
Luau Stamp Invitation
Design: Lisa Travis
If you’re looking for a bright, eye-catching design, this Luau Stamp invitation is ideal. The vintage, distressed look pairs perfectly with the bold color options for a simple yet sassy party invite.
Luau Crown Invitation
Design: frau brandt
This award-winning Luau Crown invitation has a fun design feature — you can adjust the moveable floral crown so that it sits perfectly on top of your photograph. Use this invite for birthday parties or milestone celebrations like a graduation party.
Luau Flowers Invitation
Design: Owl and Toad
You can’t go wrong with the bold and modern tropical flowers on this Luau Flowers invitation. While the sample is for a 2nd birthday party, this design can be personalized for any age celebration.
Host a Memorable Event With These Hawaiian Luau Party Ideas
With the ideas in this guide, you can create the ultimate island getaway for your party guests to enjoy. Arrange beautiful Hawaii-inspired decor, set up fun yard games, and serve a delicious spread of tropical dishes and desserts. To kick things off, browse these themed party invitations and get ready to excite your guests about what’s to come.
