It is always a sad time of year when summer and the pool season end. But before it’s official, we are sharing our luaus at home. Yep, that’s plural!
As we have shown here before, 2020 was full of fun times in our backyard. In keeping with our themes, the first luau was a date night, next was a family night and last was a party with friends.
You can see all of the fun in our YouTube video here.
Date Night
This was an easy theme to pull together. I wore a tropical dress that I had in my closet and my husband wore one of his (many) white linen shirts and shorts. His lei was our only “expense” – $1 from Dollar Tree. He looks good in pink!!
Dinner
Dinner was shrimp cocktail (that I put in margarita glasses to add to the mood), homemade crab cakes, salad, tomatoes and mozzarella and red potatoes. And of course, tropical drinks!
Evening
We enjoyed the beautiful night.
Browse our other date night photos here.
Family Luau
The next night we had a family luau. We dressed the part a little more this night. Nothing too excessive though. My skirt came from Amazon and the leis from Dollar Tree. I spent at most $10 on accessories and decorations.
Dinner
Dinner was pineapple chicken kabobs, corn on the cob and homemade pineapple fried rice. This was my first time cutting out pineapple bowls! It was messy but looked good! To finish it off, we had mai tais.
Decorations & Dessert
To help the vibe, I decorated the firepit table with bright colors and with things we had around the house. But there are a few Dollar Tree items.
And s’mores to end the evening!
Just a few more family photos
Hula Dancing
Okay so not really! But my husband was attempting to make me try!
Friends Luau
Fast forward to July 2021 when we had a luau with friends. This was more involved as we had a full menu and about 20 people.
Menu
Although I still can’t believe it, but I didn’t get a photo of the food table. But I kept all of the food and the serving dishes in theme. Although taken a little late, I do have a partial picture of the dessert I made.
Friends added to the menu with: Sweet & Sour Meatballs, Hawaiian Queso Dip, Kielbasa & Pineapple & Fruit trays.
Decorations
The decorations were fun. As you can see, I tried to keep it festive. We had everything except the table grass skirt and the tiki umbrella. I just couldn’t resist the umbrella! It is too cute. Although a bigger expense, we have used it many times since this party.
Our Photoshoot
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Have you ever planned a luau at home? Let us know in the comments!
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13 thoughts on “Our Backyard Luaus”
Beautiful photographs. Love the celebration moments.
That is such a fun idea! I always love your content because it highlights that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to have a great time!
That looks like such a fun time. I really love the vibe. Great job, you guys!
Homemade crab cakes sound fun and delicious! Looks like you had a great time, this looks like a wonderful party.
Love this post! The pictures are wonderful and so colorful!! My favorite things are the Tiki umbrella and your pink shoes!!! Thanks for sharing your special occasions with us!!
I love your backyard. It is a lovely place for intimate gathers or a great group of friends. Nice decorations.
These are such fun photos. I hope to get on your Luau Guest List!
I love the memories you are making and what a reminder to take time and do these things for ourselves and our families!
This Luau date night looks like a lovely idea. I may have to do this with my boyfriend myself.
This looks like so much fun and the decorations look really exciting. We had such a warm summer but I wish we had a pool to cool down x
It looks like you guys had a great time. I like all the pictures so nice
I super love all these theme celebrations and activities that you do, this is so much fun. I should do it with my wife.
This is super cute! You guys are a lot of fun! I need some more of this in my life!