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Luau Party 5yr - Limbo & Homemade Cake

October 2005

maria in Lakeville,MA,USA

Special Mention

Luau Party, 5 yrs old While planning for my daughter's birthday party, I was shopping at the local grocery store when I noticed that they were using Luau type decorations in the produce section.  Since most displays get thrown away when the store is done with them, I thought it was worth a shot if I asked the store manager if I could have them when they were done with the materials.  The manager had to double check with her supervisor and a week later she called me saying I could have it.  I couldn't believe the stuff I received for free!!! It just goes to show you never know unless you ask… I was also impressed that they boxed everything in a nice way that it all looked brand new.

I had lots of raffia skirting that we used to decorate my long counter and my  buffet table.  Also included were 3 large totem plastic masks that we hung on the wall, paper lanterns that I used to decorate my deck. I saved lots of money by just asking a simple question!  I had tissue paper at home-I made tissue paper flowers to decorate the edges of the counter and buffet tables. 

I also made flower napkin holders using felt pieces I had at home.  I did not have enough so I bought the rest I needed at a local fabric store.  It comes in square pieces that only cost about 20 cents each. The night before the party I assembled for each guest, a knife, fork and a spoon together and rolled a napkin around them and put it through the napkin holder.  I made them different colors and put all of them stacked neatly on a tray.  It looked really pretty and colorful.  Everyone remarked about them.

Appetizers consisted of fresh fruit with a yummy dip, fresh veggies with a veggie dip, crackers and cheese.  I made frozen strawberry margaritas, lemonade and had soda and juices for guests to drink. I also had fruit pieces on umbrella picks and colorful straws to add to the drink cups. Dinner was chicken that was presented in a bed of lettuce leaves, a colorful salad, beans, and rolls.Guests were asked to wear tropical attire to the party. 

My daughter was dressed in Luau attire and as guests arrived, she greeted them and gave each a leis necklace to wear. Tropical music played in the background.  We did a Limbo contest.  I didn't have a limbo set so I had a long pole and had 2 people holding on to the ends as people went under the limbo stick. 

I made the cake.  My daughter wanted a hula girl cake.  I had to get creative.  We had 24 guests coming(family and friends).  I made a large sheet cake.  I frosted it green by adding green food coloring to vanilla icing.  To make the frosting look like grass, I used a fork and made light upward marks on the frosting with the prongs of the fork. For the hula girl, I baked a cake using a large bowl. I took the cake out of the bowl and cut the top of the cake enough to make it level so that when it was inverted, it would look straight.  I spread a THIN layer of green frosting on the cake.  I then placed the bowl cake on the center of the frosted sheet cake.  I inserted a doll pick in the top center of the bowl cake. I filled a piping bag with green frosting and put a large round tip on the end of the piping bag.  I began frosting at the top of the bowl cake where the doll pick and cake met. 

I made a long and continuous thick line from the top of the bowl cake to the bottom of the bowl cake.  I then started at the top again right next to the line I just made and made another line.  I kept doing that all around the bowl cake.  That made the hula skirt. The reason I put a thin layer of frosting on the bowl cake before piping the skirt design to it was because if there are any gaps between the piping lines, the baked cake color won't show and sometimes it's hard to continue the piping lines all the way to the bottom of the bowl cake and that way, it won't show the cake as not being completely frosted.   I then piped little flowers on the doll to resemble a flower bikini top.  I did that by coloring small batches of frosting different colors and using small piping bags with the small rosette piping tip on them.  I also piped small little flowers on the top of the doll pick's hair.  Everyone commented on how the cake looked great.  M

y daughter loved it and that was the remark I cared most about. The party was so much fun and I didn't spend alot of money.

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