Make a special SIGN to post on your bulletin board. Simply type in the name of your event and the specifics. Include party details in both English and Hawaiian. You might say something like:

Aloha kâkou! (Greetings all!)
'Olu'olu hele mai pa'ina! (Please come to the party!)

Attire

Ask guests to dress in bright colors, Hawaiian print shirts, and muumuus. Pass out beachcomber hats, leis, and grass skirts for people to wear. (Tip: Make inexpensive hula skirts from drawstring trash bags - preferably green ones. Cut the bottom off, then make thin slits to create the hula grass skirt. The drawstring allows for one-size-fits-all.)

• Use a tropical color scheme - lemon yellow, green, hot pink, melon, orange, and bright blue. Add gold since this is the 50th anniversary of Hawaii becoming a state.
• Dangle large gold 50th anniversary cutouts and Hawaiian flags from the ceiling of the room. Click HERE for some to print.
• Make the party room look like a tropical paradise by decorating it with exotic paper or silk flowers, colored holiday lights, paper lanterns, etc.
• Suspend a ukulele from the ceiling, use beach chairs, tiki torches, and other Hawaiian accents.
• Stand a surfboard in the corner. (Tip: Borrow one from a surfer friend, or create one from inexpensive styrofoam board.)
• Mount a few travel posters on the walls and hang garlands of homemade tissue flowers (tied along green ribbon).
• See if your local florist carries inexpensively-priced orchids (now available in most big flower markets), or ask about tropical flowers such as Bird of Paradise, Hibiscus, Red Anthurium, or Red Ginger flowers.
• Add lots of palm fronds. (Tip: You can make your own palm trees by cutting out palm fronds from green construction paper and gluing or taping them to cardboard tubes.)
• Scatter additional Hawaiian decor around the party room, which can include tiki carvings, paper mache parrots on perches, and colorful fish.

Table Settings

• Use a raffia table skirt around the buffet table.
• Cover tables with tropical fabric or colorful beach towels. Add fish netting and scatter "beachy" items, such as seashells, starfish, and sand dollars on the net.
• Arrange silk vine foliage around food serving pieces.
• Use beachcomber hats (multi-color or plain) upside down to hold different snacks and munchies.
• Shop the dollar stores and discount marts for tropical-inspired serving pieces, plates, and napkins. Save money by mixing bright colors and designs found on sale.
• Use baskets to hold cutlery and cups.

Centerpieces