One day I had a brilliant idea to throw a luau for my family and friends. I used to actually sell party supplies and decorations on my website, so I am thinking to myself “how easy is this”? After all I already have most of the stuff I need to decorate and throw this party. After I decided to throw the party I realized this was also a great way to evaluate the products that we currently stock and what products we should add so that we can make waveshoppe.com a one stop – hassle free – economical – time saving shopping experience for the harried party planner in San Diego.

Now in the planning stages of a luau you may not be harried or frazzled, but one of the things you can take to the bank is that time will be a precious commodity. Remember you will have to clean your house, shop for food, cook the food, get ice, get beverages, find tables and chairs etc. Now while I cannot help you clean your house (and boy do I ever recommend getting the meal catered) I can help you out by eliminating the need for you to run out to several stores, wait in long lines (you know the customer in front of you with 20 balloons that need to be filled with air), spend hard earned cash on gas money, and save you time by providing you with party supplies and decoration ordered with ease online. Any zealous party planner knows time starts ticking very fast when you have guests arriving and last minute things to do.

So imagine yourself in a place where you have all of your party supplies in that wonderful box of decorations that you received from waveshoppe.com within 2-3 business days after you placed your order. Our motto is get there fast and then take it slow! But I digress so lets go back to my party. The first thing I did was sit down and decide who to invite to my party. Once I had my list I sent out some of our colorful Luau Party invitations. If I have to say so myself I think I picked one of the best party invitations that we stock because it is perfect for a luau.

On the front of the invitation is says “It’s a Luau Party” Luau Invitations so I filled them out for each couple or family that I invited and let them know the date – time – place and put down a RSVP. I personally love getting party invitations by mail. I think it adds to the excitement of having a party to go to and if someone actually sends me an invite I think in my mind that means they really want me there. In fact one of my friends called me after receiving the invite to let me know she had put it up on her fridge and their whole family was looking forward to coming.

The result of my invitations netted me 27 guests who confirmed they were coming to the luau so I decided it was time to plan how I was going to decorate. I have several tables throughout the house and 2 large tables outside so decided instead of us all eating at the same table we would get our food from the buffet and then find a place to sit. For these tables I used some of our colorful Hawaiian sarongs then I added a pineapple centerpiece to each table and voila my guests had a unique fun place to sit and eat their meal.

Now came the time to decorate the buffet table. I decided to go with our Luau Party Collection that matched the original invitations I had mailed out. I used 2 of the plastic tablecloths and our paper plates, cups, napkins that go with this collection of Luau Party Supplies. Once the work got out many people even asked if they could help add to the decor by bringing their own tiki mugs to drink from. Of course they could, after all its a soon to be famous luau party!

Totem Pole Decorations I also set at random several of our totem pole decorations they come in a (4) pack and look great on a buffet table. Imagine how well this looked with the backdrop being rare hand carved 30" tiki statues and some randomly placed hula dolls for good measure. I also used these on my appetizer tray of cheese, crackers and grapes and then on a fruit tray I used our Tropical Flower picks I found that our hanging foil Palm Trees looked cool just about anywhere you put them and so I put them wherever I could.

So the day of the party dawned bright and clear. I had 27 guests RSVP and 29 guests show up and it only took me only 1 hour to decorate all the tables and set up the buffet. I even had enough time to hang up my Luau Party banner across my front porch and when my guests arrived in their Hawaiian shirts, I greeted them with their choice of a natural finish shell necklace or a colorful Hawaiian lei all the while playing my favorite Hawaiian CD from (Israel Kamakawiwo’ole nickname IZ).

The food was delicious, we catered from a place that makes a great Hawaiian BBQ. It was a really fun party and enjoyed by all and yes even the party planner (that would be me) was stress free by avoiding the last minute rush for those party supplies and decorations that absolutely set the theme for your luau.

Mahalo and party on fellow luau-ers!