Hawaiian Luau Birthday Party

Aloha! When your baby sister turns 30, you celebrate big! She has a big year ahead of her with an upcoming wedding, but we couldn’t let her turn 30 without putting together a Hawaiian Luau Birthday Party in her honor. It was a busy week with school starting, so it was a little challenging to have a party scheduled for Friday night. Thanks to my mom, her fiance, and several friends, it all came together so nicely. We turned a very dirty, very outdated pool house into a festive tropical soirée! My favorite elements of her party:

-The precious invitations designed by my talented cousin Kari Anderson.
-The colorful paper flowers crafted by my friend and party planner extraordinaire Amanda Owens.
-The pineapple trees and watermelon punch bowl that my mom helped make.
-The tropical parasol that I’ve had for 10 years (I knew I would need that some day!)
-The grass table skirts purchased at Hobby Lobby.
-The colorful paper lanterns provided by my Aunt Kathy.
-The centerpieces of glass vases filled with raffia ribbon.
-Our Hawaiian leis that our parents brought us back from Hawaii some 20 years ago.

Menu:
Fresh fruit
Fresh veggies
Assorted cheese bites
Hawaiian meatballs
Beef Sliders
Cupcakes
Aloha punch (recipe found here)
Lemonade

My sister and I couldn’t be more different…she has brown eyes and I have blue, she has curly hair and mine is not, she has tan skin and I freckle, she played softball and I played the piano, she’s a little ADD and I’m a little OCD…I could go on but you get the picture. Even through our differences, we come together bound by blood, faith, and a love for family. Five years older, I can remember the day she came home from the hospital and the immense joy I felt when holding her for the first time. We shared a room and a full-size bed until we were 10 years old and I fondly remember singing her to sleep most nights and picking out her clothes for school most days. We were close growing up, but since I left for college when she was age 13, there were many years that we were not as close. I’m thankful that we now live in the same town so we can be there for each other. She’s helped in one way or another with each of my kids birthday parties (that’s 11 parties so far!), so I was excited to be able to put together a special celebration just for her. She’s beautiful inside and out, and she’s got a heart of gold. I pray for her life to be filled with many years of happiness, and that she would be blessed richly.