Ocean View Luau Party with Party City {Spring Event Giveaway #34} CLOSED

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Nothing brings people together or celebrates an occasion like throwing a party. And what would a party be without a fun theme and decorations to tie it all together? Party City has an absolutely amazing selection of party supplies for virtually every theme imaginable. And to really get ready for warmer weather we decided to throw a luau in celebration of my father’s 65th birthday. Picking a luau theme was harder just due to all the choices at Party City but we felt the ocean view was perfect for a mature man’s luau party. The ocean view with sailboats, palm trees and flowers, all under a bright sun seemed perfect. And bonus this set was available in a larger party pack!

We received a package of 30 Sea Life Cutouts ($7.99) which worked great for pulling the theme together in several rooms. We decided it would also be fun to have some of these cutouts hang from the light fixture and ceiling fan so we punched holes in them and hung them with ribbon which created some more dimension.

We used the Ocean View Plastic Table Covers (set of 3 for $5.57) to cover our the dining room table and our outdoor table. Since the outdoor table had to be cut to size we used the leftover as a table runner for the coffee table. Besides using the cutouts for the walls we also scattered them along the table as well.  The Metallic Palm Tree Centerpiece ($6.99) real completed the look, although it got a bit smashed during shipping because of its size so some parts of the leaves bent a bit oddly.

We rounded out the decorations with the Hawaiian Luau Decorating Kit ($7.99)  which included a very colorful paper garland and two honeycomb parrots which we used to decorate the window, a hula girl (shown on the table above) and some other cutouts which we scattered throughout the walls. My  only complaint with this grouping is that the picture online suggests more is included with the kit which can be misleading. (For example two honeycomb centerpieces are shown but you only get one). And do note that the Aloha sign does double as the part of the packaging so the reverse side includes product information. Which typically I would say is a fabulous way to reduce waste, however a hole is included in the decoration to hang product and it interferes with displaying the sign.

We brought the theme outdoors with this inexpensive Cool Summer Hibiscus String Decorations ($2.99) which definitely work better to hang straight down but we used them as garland instead.

The Cool Blue Starfish Chip and Dip Tray ($5.99), also available in green and pink, worked perfectly to hold fruit showed off the theme. Yum!
We used Caribbean Divided Dinner Plates (20 ct $5.99) and Transparent Blue 10 oz Blue Plastic Tumblers ($9.99) both of which were a bit more expensive than we would normally purchase but both were extremely high quality and we were very pleased with the look and feel of this tableware.
And what luau would be complete without some fun tropical mixed drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic? We made pina colodas and strawberry margaritas and served them with the Transparent Blue Margarita Glasses (20 ct for $8.99) which tied well into our color scheme and were very nice quality.

And certainly we can’t have a birthday celebration without a birthday cake so I made this one special for my dad using homemade marshmallow fondant and new Wilton Sugar Sheets! I used the ocean view theme for inspiration so I created an ocean scene around the sides of the cake with sugar sheets depicting sailboats on the water.

For the top I used sugar sheets to display his age and polka dot sugar sheets in blue and white, again to tie into the water theme. I used brightly colored marshmallow fondant to add a palm tree, bright sun and flowers. I decided less was more and didn’t overdo the decorations. The cake itself was Duncan Hines devil’s food with hot fudge topping used as a filling and homemade chocolate buttercream between the fondant and cake. It was extremely moist and flavorful and looked great against the Ocean View Dessert Plates ($6.67 for 50 ct) and Ocean View Luncheon Napkins ($7.80 for 100 ct.)

We had a great time at our luau birthday party in which my mother even surprised my dad with a very much needed cruise trip for his present which again worked perfect for this theme. My favorite part of choosing a luau celebration is that the theme works well for all ages and can be used again and again for birthday and summer parties.

Wouldn’t you love the opportunity to throw your own party with some supplies from Party City?

BUY IT:

A majority of the ocean view luau products featured here can be purchased at your local Party City location or online. Get free shipping right now on orders over $75 with code PCAL8TN.

One of my lucky readers will win a $50 shopping spree to Party City to pick out their choice of party supplies!

MAIN ENTRY: Browse Party City and tell me a party theme that you’d love to get if you won!

Want more entries? (How can you deny it?!) After answering my question do any of the following and leave a comment telling me what you did. Each is worth one entry unless otherwise noted. Your comment is your entry so please leave the appropriate number of comments for each extra entry.

-Enter the Emily Press Labels Giveaway at The Shopping Mama
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-Enter any of my current giveaways and leave a comment for each
-Like Baby Loving Mama on Facebook
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-Subscribe to my feed in a reader (1 entry) or by email (2 entries)
-Follow BLM on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (You can do this daily!)

#Win a $50 Party City shopping spree & check out my fun luau birthday party! @babylovingmama @PartyCity http://bit.ly/j49aHM #giveaway

-Add my button to your blog
-Blog about this contest (at least 30 words) with a link back here and Party City (3 entries/ 5 entries if you include a picture)

This contest will end on 6/13/11 at 11:59 pm CST. U.S.  residents 18+ only. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will have 72 hours to respond to winning notification email before I draw another winner.

Disclosure: Thank you to Party City for providing party samples for the purpose of my review and a giveaway. My thoughts and opinions remain 100% my own and yours may differ.