Make your own luau party decorations.
Whether you're celebrating a graduation in June or a birthday in January, a luau theme is a colorful way to pull together your party decorations. Unless you are having your party at the height of summer, luau decorations may be difficult to find, but you can make your own with very little effort. Concentrate on bright colors such as turquoise, lime green and hot pink to emphasize the Polynesian floral feel to your party and fill the room with grasses, umbrellas and fruity hues.
Instructions
Flower Leis
1. Purchase brightly colored artificial flowers. Remove the plastic stems, leaving only the fabric petals.
2. Thread a needle with quilting thread. This is a thread that is thicker than normal sewing thread, so it will be stronger and less likely to break while creating your decorations. Tie a knot at one end of the thread.
3. String the fabric flowers on the thread, alternating colors for a brighter look. Tie a knot at the end of the thread to keep the fabric petals on the string. Hang your flower leis on walls.
Chairs
4. Cut open grass skirts to create panels of hanging grass. Hang these panels around the base of your chairs, taping the grass to the chair bottom.
5. Wrap wide ribbon in bright tropical colors around the top of each chair. Create a large fluffy bow in the middle of the chair back.
6. Stitch a large artificial tropical flower to the center of each bow. Trim the ends of the bow so that they hang down evenly.
Lanterns
7. Lay a piece of construction paper on the table with the longer edges at the top and bottom. Fold the paper in half by folding the top edge to meet the bottom edge. Crease the fold.
8. Make a cut in the paper 1-inch from the left edge, beginning at the fold and ending 1-inch before the top edge. Make a series of cuts in this same manner, each one 1-inch farther than the last. Make the last cut 1-inch from the right edge.
9. Unfold the paper. Curl the paper into a cylinder with the cuts running vertically. Tape the edges together to keep the cylinder in place. Poke three equally-placed holes along the top edge of the cylinder. Tie a 6-inch piece of thread to each hole and tie the three threads together at the top.
10. Hang a string of white twinkle lights over your buffet table or bar. Slip a paper lantern over each twinkle light, using the threads to secure the lantern shapes in place.
Tags: your party, 1-inch from, fabric petals, knot thread, party decorations