ALOHA! Thanksgiving in Hawaii

This year we are spending Thanksgiving

in 

Maui, Hawaii

at the Grand Wailea.

We make quite a sight with

16 of us, 

5 children, 3 spouses

and 6 grandchildren, plus my husband and I.

This is our favorite place to stay in Hawaii

and it is so child friendly (but they do have

an exquisite pool and poolside area for

adults only if just the two of you want a getaway.)

This was the perfect year as no one was

pregnant or had just had a new baby 

(we have to plan around these things now

in order to get everyone here.)

Or so we thought, we got an announcement

here that my oldest son's wife is expecting

baby number three once we got here.  What

a joy that news was!

But the week before we went, we

had a birthday girl who was so excited about

going to Hawaii that she wanted a luau for her

7th birthday party.

So a Hawaiian Luau is our tablecape

for this week.

Years ago I had ordered a few grass table skirts

from Oriental Trading.  They have all kinds of wonderful

party supplies and lots of things for a luau.

I just hot glued them to the island to create our

luau tablescape.  (The hot glue just peeled off of the

granite afterwards.)  We created a banner with

her name on it with Hawaiian flowers and hung

it between the crystal chandeliers.

Here is the birthday girl all dressed for

the party.  She was so excited to help

decorate and make the banner.

(Her skirt and shell leis were also purchased

years ago from Oriental Trading.)

Her mom made a seascape cake with cupcakes

to go along with. 

I loved the ocean blue icing with "sand" sprinkled

on everything.  Notice the chocolate shells and crabs

and she even made ones with a life preserver and

a shark fin circling the life preserver.

The beach theme was carried out in fun cake

pops that she also made in ocean blue and

topped with white chocolate shells and sand.

The counter was filled with Hawaiian

items, wooden bowls in the shape of

pineapples, shells,

Tiki gods,

Coconut shell cups,

And a whole counter full of

other beachy items.

All of it was underscored with an aqua

shell-themed runner.

I made kalua pork rubbed with Hawaiian

sea salt and slow roasted for 18 hours.

My son made Spam sushi - a local Hawaiian

favorite (it really was very tasty!)

Mini lava flow shooters (non alcoholic)

were served.  They were the perfect size for

everyone to have a little taste.

And my daughter (the birthday girl's mom)

also made these cute flip flops out of 

Nutter Butters.

Of course we had fresh pineapple served in

a pineapple bowl and others brought sticky rice,

salads and home made rolls.

We had over 50 people at the luau.

It was a great birthday party and a perfect

prelude to a week in Hawaii to

celebrate Thanksgiving.

The thing that I feel most grateful for

this Thanksgiving

 is a wonderful

righteous posterity.  Every time we went out the

door and all 16 of us walked down the hall or

sat together at a huge table, I just felt overwhelming

feelings of gratitude

for these wonderful people

that I have been blessed to have in my life.

There is so much to be grateful for....

Because two people fell in love....

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Newsflash!  After posting this, while

we were taking family photos at the beach

tonight we saw this on the beach -

So even more to be grateful for - we

will have 2 new grandbabies this summer!

(So isn't it funny that I said we were going this

year because no one was pregnant and no one

had a brand new baby and while here, two 

announced their pregnancies?!!)

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Seasonal Sunday