in the beginning...

Umm...I have about 3oo pictures to post from the birthday bash, so I have broken down the pictures into smaller categories and will post them as I write about them. I will try to go in chronological order. These are pictures of the calm before the storm: the fun decorations and the food.

When people walked in they were greeted by this little table containing some leis...to be worn around the neck, of course. There were totem pole men cut-outs, palm tree cut-outs, pineapple and palm tree garlands and other random beach items found all around the house.

We had some game stations set up in random areas as well. Here is the fishing pond I made for the guest room. Also in the guest room was the photo op...in the beginning stages. More on that to come in a later post.

The fishing game didn't quite work out the way I had planned/hoped. The photo op eventually contained a tarp with sand on it and a blow up palm tree. It was a hit! People especially loved the props: a beach ball, sand buckets, a grass skirt, and a coconut bra (ok, so it was really made out of foam flowers).


I also set up another station in the kitchen for a flip flop decorating contest. Yep, just a lame piece of paper with a picture of flip flops on it, some glue, some pom poms, crayons, markers and glittery stuff.

We had about 10 entries...all of which were amazing.


And, of course, here is the scrumptious food we served, complete with flip flop cake to round out the beach theme.

We had this brilliant idea to serve shish-kabobs (not sure how to spell that one)...teriyaki chicken, pineapple chunks, bell peppers and onions on a skewer. But as fate would have it, the barbeque started acting up, and the skewers all started on fire. To plan B: cooking the chicken on the stove and sauteing the veggies. It ended up being more of a stir fry...but I really think it turned out better that way. We also served rice and fruit, complete with a yummy lemon fruit dip. Oh, and the drink was delicious too! Thanks Nat for sending me such scrumptious recipes!!

{more to come}