Never be afraid to create your own theme.
Our family has a strong connection to the incredible island of Maui – countless memories, strangers that have turned into friends, literally lives being saved (will talk about that later) and experiences that continue to help Kamden develop and learn about a world outside of our bubble at home. It’s a space that Kam thrives and where he’s done a lot of his “firsts” – from his first tooth, his first crawl, his first real word, it’s a deeply meaningful place for our family.
When we were planning his 3rd birthday all he would talk about was Maui and his favorite things and since one of our favorite beaches on the island is Kamaole III (Kam three for short) it seemed fitting that our Kam turning 3 should be celebrated with a Maui themed party! Do places like party city have a Maui themed party section? No. Do they have a cheesy Hawaiian themed section? Sure. It was important to us that we celebrated the places on the island that made an impact on our lives in a way that respectfully celebrated the island and the people that make it so magical.
Feeding the fam
I always try and match the food I serve to the theme of the party – it doesn’t always work out but when it does it is so dang satisfying. This time around we chose to make the tried-and-true Hawaiian style favorites; mac salad, cucumber kimchee (nothing compares to Foodland), Kalua Pork, SPAM MUSUBI (IYKYK) – we served Maui Wine, Maui Brewing Co. and Aloha cans.
Sweets and treats
Cake pops with a touch of Hawaiian flare. I’ve mentioned her before but a friend from my days in pageantry is a talented home baker and she created the cutest pineapple and shave ice cake pops – Kamden loves a good malasada but I couldn’t find anyone in our area that could make them in large quantities. If you find malasadas, get them. Always.
We had the cutest sugar cookies meant to look like floral aloha button ups, slippers (flip flops), and the ocean – the waves and numbers always remind me of those cool resin pour art pieces I see all over the socials. I found a couple sand buckets and dinner plates at the dollar tree, used some E6000 and made cutie custom pedestal style cake plates to display some of the treats. Things like this are so affordable but uplevel the aesthetic so easily!
My dear friend Rachel makes the yummiest treats that we’re all obsessed with (seriously she makes this cookie with like all kinds of chocolate chips and sprinkles that I dream about) and she made the best cupcakes and sprinkle cake that were both DEVOURED to crumbs. Using my Cricut I made some surfboard style toppers and I know I’m biased but I think they were adorable.
Touches of décor
Balloons: a simple balloon bouquet from a local party store, classic. The thing I’m proudest of? This extra tall palm tree and you’ll never believe how simple it was to create. I used one of my Walmart lamp bases and combined the pole pieces from a second lamp base to create an extra tall trunk of my tree. Creating a pillar is super easy, I got brown balloons from dollar tree and blew them up four at a time before tying them in groups of two and twisting 2 groups together to create a quad. You simply slide each quad onto the pole and then stack each quad on top of last until you’re at the top of your pole. I found the palm leaves on amazon, used a straw to blow them up and then some fishing line to tie them together and weaved the fishing line through the brown balloons to secure. This was such a good conversation piece and took about 20 minutes with my electric balloon pump!
Signage was so fun this time around – I recreated one of the County of Maui’s classic green park signs and customized it with deets about Kam’s bday. I made the sign in MS Paint and then sent to Walgreens to print same day!
I created these fun “favorites bouquets” using a palm tree balloon weight that I found at the Dollar Tree, some skewers and logos from our fave spots printed and mounted on cardstock. This was such an easy way to highlight some of the businesses we love to support on the island. We paired the bouquets with instant download prints of Maui and Kihei that we found on Etsy, framed collage prints of Kam’s fave pics from that year’s Maui trip and large shaka confetti.
This party was such a great time, it allowed us to share part of a place that has become so special to us with people that are special to us while celebrating our most special little guy on his birthday - you could say the day was quite special. The party wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for our lifesaving friends (eyyo Andersons) for donating their home to use for the party when a pipe burst at our home and forced a massive gut and remodel – they’re truly the real MVPs here.
Lastly, this party was back in 2022 and since then the island of Maui was devastated by the Lahaina wildfires. Not only has the fire crippled the community of Lahaina and West Maui, it has caused economic crisis and struggle for so many small business owners and employees across the island. If you feel so inclined to help Maui in their continued efforts to recover from this fire, there are a few resources below:
· Maui Strong - Hawaiian Community Foundation
XOXO,
Stef