Surprise Luau -29yr- Pineapple Chicken Kabobs

For my husband's 29th birthday, I threw him a Surprise Luau Party. I started planning the party 3 months prior, so I had plenty of time to get everything ready.

I made the invitations by hand, I ordered some Luau stamps from Stampin Up. They had a Hawaiian girl dancing on the cover and I had stamped and cut out Hibiscus flowers and placed them around the girl. On the inside I wrote the details of the party. I also let everyone know that in lieu of gifts we would be doing a money tree.

On the morning of the party I set up round tables and chairs that I had rented. Each table had a different color tablecloth on it(Hot Pink, Lime green, Bright orange,and a blue).For centerpieces we placed fruit trays on each table with and assortment of tropical fruits(mango,pineapple,kiwi,grapes,watermelon and star fruit). In the center of the fruit tray I placed the top of a pineapple. We had the produce manager from a local grocery store save us the tops.

I also placed 2 citronella votive candles on the tables. Around the candles and fruit tray we placed flower petals. All the silverware, napkins, plates and tablecoths were different colors and we made sure to place different colors on each table.I had purchased the majority of the decorations from Oriental Trading.

We set up 3 long tables next to each other and I used double sided tape to tape up the raffia table skirts which had hibiscus flowers glued to the trim. On top of the center table my friend had built a tiki hut from pvc, We used additional raffia skirts on the roof of it. And decorated it with Hibiscus flowers and three paper parrots hanging from the roof top. Underneath it we placed 2 punch bowls, one with an alcoholic punch and one without.On the table to the left we placed drink umbrella's with a piece of pineapple and cherry on it. And on the table to the right of the tiki hut we placed brightly colored plastic martini glasses for everyone to use.On one side of the tables I purchased a large palm tree blow-up cooler that I had sodas, juice and water bottles in. And on the other side I had large red tubs filled with beer and ice.

We had another long table set up closest to the house which we decorated with raffia skirts as well. As the centerpiece I purchased a large Palm tree pinata that everyone stuffed their money (gift) into. On our triple slider I had purchased these stick on scenes of the beach. Around the perimeter of the party I had tiki torches set up, and on the ground we placed rope lighting. Prior to my husband arriving I set out jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce, Meatballs in a sweet and sour sauce, and of course the fruit trays.

For the actual meal My in-laws helped me make chicken kabobs, the chicken was marinated in a pineapple sauce. We placed 3-4 large pieces of chicken on a stick along with green & red peppers, onion and pineapple. My friend was nice enough to cook the kabobs, we placed our grill near the tables so that people were able to take the kabobs right off the grill as they were done being cooked. We had a rice with chicken, And seasoned potatoes.

For dessert we had Pineapple upside down cakes, one with nuts and one without. Also as guests arrived they each got a lei and a name tag with their name translated into Hawaiian. My husband was quite surprised and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It was a lot of work and had it not been for my family and close friends it would not have come out as great as it did. Make sure to have a camera around to capture the event, we were so busy I forgot all about taking pictures.