Weekend Luau

So this is what I was doing this weekend.  Since I have degree in interior design friends always ask me to help decorate for parties.  This weekend we had a special Luau for Pastor Appreciation and I helped with the decorations.  I had so much fun doing this one.  Since we had a budget of zero, I had to get very creative.  That is usually the case, but I love the challenge.  A friend painted the backdrop above and others donated items for us to use.  I wanted to bring in the atmosphere of a luau as much as possible so I hung blue and green streamers above and strung dollar store flowers on twine to get that lush feeling.  The pictures don't quite show how cool it felt to be sitting under it, but you get the idea.

I don't really like to buy party store decorations because sometimes I think they look a little cheap, but I did go ahead and buy this grass table skirt because it looked better and was probably cheaper than I could make it myself.  For the buffet centerpiece I used terra cotta pots and bases.  I spray painted them a rustic gold and turned them upside down.  I loaded the bases with ferns from my backyard, tropical fruits from the grocery store and a few fake flowers from the dollar store.  I spent only $23 dollars on the dollar store flowers and they went quite along way.  Oh, and we can't forget about the tiki torches.  The congregation already had these so we just loaded up some buckets with rocks to keep them stable and added red cellophane and battery powered candles to light them up.

We have some pretty talented youth who provided the entertainment and there was plenty of Hawaiian food and dessert for all.  I even took home some leftovers.