Who Doesn't Love a Luau in September?

A couple of months ago, I asked Avery what theme she wanted for her 5th birthday party.  She happened to be browsing the illustrious Oriental Trading Catalog around that time, and without any deliberation after seeing the full-color spread of Hawaiian paraphernalia , she decided that she wanted a Hawaiian luau for her party.  With leis. And lots of Hawaiian flowers. And a hula girl on the cake. So we obliged.  And after a super-hot September, we were met today with crazy cool weather- which made for a fun-filled, albeit crowded indoor luau, for the most part.  The unexpected benefit to this was that a spontaneous rave occurred in our basement. That's right, a rave. More on that later.  Here are the highlights of Miss Avery's 5th birthday extravaganza:

So, hula girl on the cake...here she is! :) P.S. After spending way too many hours trying to electronically

paste Avery's face onto the cartoon hula body, I finally gave up and physically cut out a picture of her head, then pasting it on a print-out of the body. Worked like a charm. Technology isn't always better! 

So this is upside down (I can't get it to turn. See, not so tech-saavy. At all.), making the image look quite questionable (eeek). But just envision it right-side up, and you'll be amazed at the beautiful palm trees that Nana constructed out of bananas, kiwis, and mandarin oranges. 

We braved the cool weather to go outside and limbo. The kids were amazing, but I won. No one can beat me at limbo. Just kidding. Anyhoo...after limbo, we played "Pass the Coconut" with a real coconut. The kids were fascinated. Mostly by the glow bracelets they won if the music stopped and they were holding the coconut. 

After the game, I asked Chris to lead the kids inside so we could do the cake. Instead, he led them to the basement so that they could look at their glow bracelets in the dark.  Then he turned on a crazy light show. It looked like an 8th grade dance down there. Or a mini-rave.

Whew! Too much rave for Caroline. 

Ave's friend Arlynn. :) We had the nicest kiddos at the party- such great manners and great listening- I was super impressed! Ave has such sweetie pie friends! 

So, then it was time to make the monkey hula puppet craft. This third grade teacher grossly underestimated the time-intensiveness of this craft. The kids hung in there, but I was worried that mutiny could erupt at any moment. 

This monkey's name was "Sparkle." Indeed!

We always take a picture with the gifts Ave gets- to remind her of how incredibly lucky she is. And to help Avery's mommy with the thank-you notes. 

After everybody went home, Avery and Dad cracked the coconut outside. With a hammer. 

We tried coconut water. (Yuck) We tried the coconut flesh (Yuck).  Not a fan. So my plan to get stranded on a desert island is fading fast, because I am also not a fan of bananas. 

Woo-hoo! It was a great time had by all.  Special MAHALO to Nana and Papa for all of your help today! Aloha!