Maui Time Birthday Party

I think it is so fun that just 2 quick years after throwing Iliana her Moana 3rd birthday party, we turn around and do the same theme for Jaxon - except Maui of course - for his 2nd birthday! My whole family is obsessed with that movie! I mean it has really catchy songs, beautiful colors and characters you can't help but fall in love with!

With Jaxon's party we did less floral and more greenery with some natural elements like jute rope and coconuts thrown in!

Here's a little play-by-play of all of my DIY decor, how I did it and a FULL lunch menu!

Dessert Table

These balloons were probably my favorite part of the party! They came from a company out of Canada on Etsy called Cheers Balloons. They can make you any phrase you want and the quality is great! Every single letter stayed inflated for a week! This never happens with the ones I buy everywhere else, just sayin'.

I found the big Maui doll (that sings and talks, btw) on Facebook Marketplace from an awesome guy who's son had grown out of his Moana-stage. I got super lucky on this one because they go on Amazon for like $150 (because you can't buy them elsewhere) AND he threw in his cool drum because Maui was missing his hook ;)

The netting came from Dollar Tree in their "Hawaii/luau section" along with a few other things I'll mention later. These were a really great buy because they are HUGE! I found the coconuts at my local Food Lion but I have seen them at many other grocery stores. You can print off the Kakamora faces here from another fellow Pinterest/mom-blogger AnyTots!

These donut pineapples were just adorable! A friend of mine used her Cricut to cut the toppers and then I just hot glued them to tooth picks and stuck into the top of Entenmann's Soft'ees Classic Donuts!

This tray of was of little chocolate seashells made with Candy Melts and a seashell mold from Michaels! If you've never worked with Candy Melts before, they are SO easy and they have every color and mold you could think of! I also used the seashells on the cake! Michaels has an awesome deal actually until 8/1/20 : use code 20MADEBYYOU to receive 20% your entire order online then just pick up at the store!

The faux Philodendron stems I just got from Target and I've also linked a similar vase here to get this same look. Now to the cake!

I thought this cake turned out adorable and I did it in about 30 min before the party started!! (Except the icing, that was already done)

Steps for the cake:

1. I started with regular white cake mix, 2 boxes worth for 4 layers. I made per direction for 2 9-inch round cakes. After the cakes were baked, I used a leveler to make each layer even.

2. In between each layer, I did a circle of icing around the edge then added in the blueberry filling. You can find that recipe here from Veena Azmanov.

3. The original plan was to wave like icing on the outside but I unfortunately did not make enough icing to do this so I went with the plain old all over spread. My icing recipe you can find here! I use it on almost every cake or cupcake I make and guests LOVE it!

4. For the sand in the center, I crushed up a Nature Valley "Oats N' Honey" granola bar, but I have also used graham crackers before too! Both give a very realistic sand look.

5. For Maui and Moana, I just printed off a free pic I found online onto some thick cardstock and hot glued toothpicks to hold them in.

6. The last finishing touches were the Piroulene Dark Chocolate wafer sticks because they look so much like tiki torches! Then topped with a few of the Candy Melt seashells

How it looked after a few slices... (not pretty but DELISH!) Also, this was way more than enough for about 15 people so no cupcakes were needed this time :)

Maui Boat and Background

• This beautiful backdrop was from Dollar Tree! Yep, they are $1, plastic and labeled as "wall decor" The top I used a bunch of tropical leaves from Amazon to make a border for the balloon strip to go in. You can find the leaves here - $12 for 72 pieces! The balloons I got from Walmart for 0.97 per pack in teal and green. While blowing them up, I tied them around fishing line to make a big strand then put them on the wall inside the leaf border with command hooks.

• For Maui, I found a free photo online, input it into Photoshop to enlarge it and printed out onto multiple sheets to glue together. You can find out how to do that here! So easy! After printing on multiple sheets, I cut around the pieces, glued the pieces togther on poster board, and cut around the whole Maui. This just make it thicker and easier to hang.

• The "boat" was an old pallet cut in half with some plywood on top to keep those little feet from slipping through. The sail I made for Iliana's Moana party a couple years ago with large wood rod cut to size, some thick fabric from Walmart and a acrylic-painted on Moana symbol! The plants and stuffed animals we already had!

The Food

I went full-on Polynesian/Hawaiian with our lunch and it was SO delicious!

I have all the recipes I followed over on my Pinterest board for the party. I tweeked a few things which I'll note below.

The menu included:

• Huli Huli Chicken - the recipe is found on the Pinterst board and used boneless, skinless chicken thighs. We used bone-in and skin on for flavor and moisture. This recipe also did not call for honey in the marinade but I did add that in. and I would recommend making this the night before and letting the chicken thighs marinade over night.

• Shrimp kebobs with multi color sweet and green peppers

• Coconut Rice - you can make this with Jasmine rice and by splitting the water you cook the rice in in half, and the using coconut milk as the other half of liquid

• Chips and Guacamole and salsa - I used my very popular guacamole recipe that I will be adding the blog soon!

• Southwest Pasta Salad (you can also find this on the PInterst board)

• Fruit Salad - grapes, watermelon, strawberries, pineapple and blueberries, This gotten eaten up by the kids before lunch so I didn't get any in the picture lol.

I served all the food off these PERFECT plates with matching napkins I found at Target!

So what do you guys think?? You could absolutely use any of these ideas for just a basic luau! I'm always down for a tropical party! Here's some other photos of Jaxon's day!

We kept this in the living room for a little over a week and Jax loved playing on it :)

The Piroulene sticks were his fave!

Overall, I think Jaxon, and EVERYONE, had a Maui-grand time and can't wait for our next party!