Summer > Tiki

Here's a great decorating tip: If the beach isn't right in your backyard, bring it there! Decorate with a tropical theme! Kiddie pools, beach umbrellas and sandboxes will help turn your home into beachfront property! Add some pineapples, coconuts, some strings of hula dancer lights and a ukulele and lu-WOW!

Tiki Time! After spending the day in the warm summer sun, it's time to hit the bar! Well, sort of. Set up a Tiki Bar in a shady spot in the back yard! It can be as simple as a folding table trimmed with grass skirt table fringe! Stock your bar with lots of great fruit juices, yogurts and fresh fruit and let guests create their own smoothies! Use fun luau cups, silly straws and drink umbrellas to add the perfect Hawaiian flavor! You'll have your guests lining up for their favorite summer sippers in no time!

Hula, Anyone? Give dance lessons! Either hire an instructor or find a video, DVD, or CD and teach guests how to hula! Provide grass skirts, leis and other fun accessories to the class and let them hula the day away! Since some guests might not be ready to hula the night away, let them act as judges for the hula contest, awarding fun prizes for Best Hula Dancer, Most Creative Dancer and Best Effort! Be creative and come up with crazy categories - try to make sure everyone wins!

The Hottest Island Fashion! Go tropical! Get inexpensive white t-shirts, sponges cut into tropical shapes and the brightest fabric paint you can find: lime green, electric blue, bubble gum pink, lemon yellow and let guests make their own Hawaiian shirts! Have contests for most creative design, most colorful, most use of pink, messiest work station ...have fun with it!

Play in the Sand! Have a sand castle contest! Fill several kiddie pools with beach sand (or if you're already at the beach - even better!) and divide guests into teams. Give teams 15-30 minutes to create the best, biggest and most spectacular sand castle! When time's up, see who's managed to create the most magnificent mansion - or the silliest shack! Award prizes to the winners based on lots of different categories and be creative with them! Be sure to take pictures of each team beside their masterpiece!