ALOHA!!!!! That is Hawaiin for picture heavy post

It has been a whirlwind week...to say the least.  Last week-end I decided to host a surprise 45th anniversary party for very dear friends of ours.  Uhmmm..this week-end.  Yep - in the house with only a partial stairway.  Oh well - I am a roll with the bunches kinda' gal.  So the week was spent conspiring with their daughter - and mine - to pull this off in just a few days. 

The J's had a small ceremony all those years ago, but honeymooned in Hawaii.  So the theme I came up with was vintage luau.  As my daughter said - a geriatric tiki party.  (She is still for sale - price dropping continually).  Once we had a theme away we went ----

At the front door everyone was greeted with a  tacky  cute little tropical scene - it is a luau, so you can get away with a little of this.  Tee Hee. 

On the entry table were their original wedding book and a framed copy their one and only wedding picture (photographer lost all their photos).  We scattered some flowers that fell off were gently removed from floral stems  and added a tropical scented candle in a crystal bowl

In the living room we hung a banner made of vintage Hawaiin post cards that I found on Google images and printed on card stock.  Intermixed were pictures of the J's and their family through the years all printed in sepia.  It was a great focal point and conversation starter.  They had not seen some of the pictures in years and, of course, many of us had not seen some of them at all.  I got the inspiration for this banner from Roechel at the DIY Showoff  and her graduation party.





Aren't they just too cute!!??!!



While we are on the subject of banners... we made a banner from scrabooking paper in muted tropical patterns and card stock that hung from the landing as you enter the living room



Notice the almost completed stairs - woo hoo! And the green frog tape still in place - LOL



To add to the festive feel there were baskets of leis for the guests to enjoy - which everyone did seem to enjoy

my son-in-law and grandson



my 2 girlies



Well - I guess not everyone



This is NOT her happy face



We found "tropical" flower stems at the Dollar Tree and used vases,vase fillers, and rafia that we had on hand to make arrangements on any vertical surface we could



And borrowed daughter's scarves from the beach





With the one and only wedding photo

We even were able to sneak items from the J's house to use as decorations



We "borrowed" shells from their bathroom and their vases - they never noticed - blahahaha

 And of course there was FOOD!!!!  At our house - would you expect anything less!!



appetizer/dessert table




Everything had cute little tropical labels




main course




Ka-bob buffet. Ahhh - I love my white serving pieces




You knew they were somewhere - tissue paper poofs

Menu:
Appetizers

Chilled garlic/lime shrimp
Tropical fruit salad
Pita chips with homemade jezebel sauce

Main Course
Make your own ka-bob
Teriyaki chicken
Hawaiin chicken
Mesquite steak
Baja shrimp
red/green/yellow bell peppers
onions
cherry tomatoes
pineapple

Desert
Pineapple upside down cake
Pina colada pie

YUM!!!

The ka-bobs on the grill were a huge hit!!  With just the few ingredients there were endless combinations so everyone seemed to get exactly what they wanted.

And of course there was a "tiki" bar in the kitchen



I put out a huge fruit platter and swizzle sticks for everyone to add to their drinks - FUN!!

I kept the blender going with orange and strawberry julius knock-offs from here. 


They were good enough to be the meal.  So yummy!!!

A few random decorations:




Copy of wedding announcement




Basket of leis




vintage hawaiin records - "borrowed" from the J's

My youngest daughter and her boyfriend set up the easy up in the backyard, hung tissue paper poofs from the center, tiki lanterns around the outside, and set up tables with my white vintage table cloths and candles.  But it was so chaotic I did not get pictures.  bad,bad blogger.  But I did get this pic



Youngest daughter doing a "hula" dance with a flash light - too cool!

The party was a huge success - the J's were totally surprised and had a blast!! So that is all that counts

Happy 45th!!!

Grandson spent the night afterwards.  So we spent the day playing. And I spent the evening cleaning and cleaning!!

So - for now - Aloha - that's Hawaiin for Happy DIY'ing
Susan
A few more random pics

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