Baby’s First Birthday Party – Baby’s First Luau

In Hawaii a baby’s first birthday is a monumental event.  It’s not unheard of for people to spend thousands of dollars on the celebration.  In ancient Hawaiian times, Babies didn’t usually make it to their first birthday so this is an event worth celebrating!

Waikiki Beach

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We just had our son’s Baby’s First Luau.  For us it was also signifigant because we had a miscarriage just before I got pregnant with him, and we know how fortunate we are to be celebrating this first birthday.  We are not living in Hawaii at the moment, so we planned his birth to be at the end of Spring so that his Luau could be during great weather.  We also wanted to have a newborn that we didn’t have to schlep to doctor appointments in the cold.  It was a win win situation.  We had also just returned from taking our boy on his first trip home to Hawaii three days prior.  Our celebration was almost two weeks long.  Or should I say two weeks short?

Every Prince Needs a Crown!

The preparations began with custom invitations with a photo of the Birthday Boy  to let everyone know this wasn’t an ordinary birthday party but a Luau with lots of Aloha.   I’m a die hard vegetarian, but my husband loves the Hawaiian Barbeque so we compromised on the menu.

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Luau Menu

• Vegetarian Enchilada’s with all the fixings, green onions, cilantro, sour cream, avocado’s, my DH home made Salsa and radishes for garnish.
• Barbequed Spare Ribs
• White Rice
• Hot Dogs
• Macaroni Salad
• Tossed Salad with Red Leaf Lettuce
• Tortilla Chips and more of that home made Salsa

Vegetarian Enchiladas

Decorations

• Tiki Torches
• Lei’s given to guests upon arrival with a big Aloha
• Raffia Table Skirts
• Hawaii Decorations
• Ukulele’s
• Tiki Totem’s
• Hula Girls

At one point, the party got really out of hand.

The Big Kids on the Trampoline

Fun for all ages!

Games/Prizes

• Basketball Hoop
• Giant Legos
• Tiki Pinata
• Ballons
• Bubbles
• Sliding Board
• Ball Pit
• Grab Bags with prizes completely filling a baby pool
• Trampoline

I think the biggest hit was between the Pinata, the Trampoline and the Ball Pit.  The kids loved it.

The small but mighty ball pit.

Tiki Pinata

Cake

We went with an Ice Cream Cake.  Those are always my favorite.  The baby had his own little cake with the number 1 on it.  The large sheet cake, (Which I can’t believe it but I didn’t get a picture of it!) said Hau`Oli La Hanau in rainbow colors which means Happy Birthday in Hawaiian.

Note to Mommy, "I don't like ice cream cake".

If you are looking for a theme for your Baby’s first Birthday, a Luau is a fun theme.  It has significant meaning and is steeped in tradition.  Be sure and take lots of pictures.  I think it would have been a better idea to have had a photographer to take pictures.  My husband and I were just grabbing the camera randomly, and that didn’t work out as well as I would have liked.   We didn’t get photo’s of all of the decorations or the games, or even of all of the guests.  I think disposable cameras on each table would have been a nice way to document the day.