Famous Hawaiians – Barack Obama; Bette Midler; Nicole Kidman

Beach/Hawaiian TV & Film – Hawaii Five-0; Baywatch; Jaws; Blue Hawaii, Lilo & Stitch; Pearl Harbor; Gidget Goes Hawaiian; Beaches

Hollywood Stars who live/lived in Hawaii – Roseanne Barr; Oprah Winfrey; Randy Travis; Lance Armstrong; Drew Barrymore; Jack Johnson

The tranquil paradise setting of Hawaii lures the stars in their droves. Who can blame them from owning second homes in an idyllic setting where they can kick back on beaches, hang-10 on their surfboards and enjoy a pina colada or two in peace?

As well as providing a beautiful getaway destination, Hawaii is also the perfect inspirational backdrop to many a movie including The Hulk; Avatar; George of the Jungle; Raiders of the Lost Ark; South Pacific; Starsky & Hutch and The Beachcombers.

So enjoy Hawaiian life in star-style – don some stylish shades, dip your toes in the paddling pool and sip cocktails from coconut cups with plenty of cocktail umbrellas, fruit filled picks, and colourful stirrers. Surround yourselves with Hibiscus Foil Balloons to create an authentic setting and Limbo away to your heart’s content.

Decorate your party room with a Beach Scene Setter, add a Surfer Couple Cut-out prop and some Surfboard cut-outs around the room for a Surfer’s Paradise feel. Impose a beachwear dress code (boardies, Hawaiian Shirts, bikinis and grass skirts) to get the guests in a surfing mood, whack on some Beach Boys classics on the stereo and get surfing, Dude! For a perfect way to keep those tinnies chilled, grab an Inflatable Surfboard Drinks cooler. Your fellow party goers are sure to be stoked as they carve up the dance floor and ride the sound waves of your beach party.

• Aloha! – Hello / Goodbye
• Ho’okomo – Enter / come in
• O wai kou inoa? – What’s your name?
• O … ko’u inoa. – My name is…
• Lama pa’i pa’i – Cocktail
• Huli pau! – Cheers!
• Mai e ‘ai – Come and eat.
• Hoapili – Close friend
• Hau’oli la hanau – Happy Birthday
• Hula – Hawaiian way of communicating through dance
• Lei – a flower garland
• Luau – party
• Inu – a drink
• Ku’u aku, ho’onanea, luana – Relax
• Mahalo – Thank you

The Hawaiian language consists of just 12 letters. 5 vowels – a, e, i, o, u and 7 consonants – h, k, l, m, n, p and w. A Consonant is always followed by a vowel, therefore, all Hawaiian words end in a vowel. The letter ‘W’ is often pronounced as ‘V’ – as it was traditionally pronounced. Hawaiian words are often long and look quite daunting to someone trying to learn the language. It is easier to break a word down into the syllables to get the hang of it.
For example:
“lama pa’ipa’i” (cocktail) : la-ma-pa-i-pa-i

Aloha!

The Hawaiian for surfing is “he’enalu”. It is a core aspect of the Polynesian culture – not merely a pastime or adrenalin sport. The best surfer is the Chief (Kahuna), and he would have the most superior surfboard made from the best tree. Socially, it was divisive. The upper classes would have access to the best beaches and the best materials, whilst the lower classes would have to use other beaches and heavier wood. The only way to break the divide would be for someone from the lower classes to prove themselves with excellent surfing skills on their more cumbersome surfboards.

Surfing for the Ancient Hawaiians was a spiritual event. They prayed to the Gods to help them master the great oceans. If the tide was tame, the Hawaiian people would enlist the help of the local priest (kahuna) to help them pray to the Gods for great surf. The priest would help the surfers by leading them in a spiritual building of their surfboards. After selecting the tree for their boards, the surfers would dig out the tree and place fish in the holes as an offering to the Gods. Once this offering was in place, local craftsmen would them shape and prepare the boards. This service was usually only offered to the upper classes.

Waikiki Beach and Kahalu’u Bay are still popular with today’s surfers. Although we associate surfing with tropical settings of Hawaii, it is also a sport which springs to mind when we think of Australia. It was the Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku who introduced the art of surfing to the people of Sydney in 1915. Surfing is now second nature to most Australians living near the coast.

Modern day surfing has it’s own culture and is stereotypically enjoyed by Bermuda short wearing dudes with sun-bleached hair and shark-tooth necklaces. Other images conjured up by the term ‘surfboarding’ are bikinis, wetsuits, beach campfires, BBQs and shell jewellery. It is, however, enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities as a fitness activity, social pastime or competitively as a career. You don’t even need to travel to far flung beaches to experience the high-adrenalin thrill of surfing though, as Scotland and Cornwall have a history of very good surf conditions. Newquay has a host of fine beaches with fantastic surfing conditions – perhaps the best known being Fistral Beach.

Add an extra touch of authenticity to your Hawaiian themed fancy dress party by entertaining your guests with some little known facts about Hawaii.

•    Hawaii is the only US state not located on the mainland. It is also the only state to consist entirely of islands, and is the sole grower of coffee in the US.

•    The Hawaiian islands are in fact the exposed peaks of a volcanic mountain range.

•    The islands produce a significant proportion of all the pineapples, orchids and macadamia nuts in the world

•    Hawaii did not become a state of the USA until August  1959

•    Hawaii is one of the most ethnically diverse locations in the world and is home to substantial populations of Japanese, Filipino, Chinese and Caucasian Americans

•    At a distance of just over 2000 miles from California on the one side and almost 4000 miles from Japan on the other, Hawaii is the remotest inhabited location on earth.

•    There are only twelve letters in the Hawaiian alphabet.

•    Life expectancy in Hawaii is higher than anywhere in the continental US, with females expected to live for 80 years and males 75. It is also the least overweight US state.

Hawaiian shirts

Elvis Presley – Elvis loved Hawaii and as well as performing a number of legendary shows there, he acted in a number of movies set in and around the islands. He is reputed to have had a large collection of Hawaiian shirts, which he often donned during shows.

Weird Al Yankovic – A performer of a completely different nature, parody creator/singer Weird Al Yankovic has built a successful career out of a kooky and colourful persona, and is regularly featured in videos and on album covers wearing outlandish aloha shirts which match his zany personality.

Hunter S. Thompson - Legendary author of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson certainly had a uniquely exuberant dress sense, and would often compliment his aviator style glasses, hats and trademark cigarette holder with a wildly exotic Hawaiian shirt.

Tom Selleck – During the 80s, Tom Selleck popularised the Hawaiian shirt further with his depiction of a private investigator working in Hawaii, in the hit series, Magnum PI. His moustache was an unfortunate addition to the look.

Hawaiian music is diverse, and has had a larger influence on popular culture around the world than one might expect. Steel guitar, in which the instrument is played on the lap using a metal slide, was invented in Hawaii and is now common in many genres of music such as folk, country and blues. The ukulele is also very popular in Hawaiian culture. If you’re musically minded you might consider picking up one of these to impress guests at your Hawaiian fancy dress party.

Alternatively you could check out some of the following genres and artists for ideas for your party soundtrack.

Folk – Hawaiian folk music usually involves a particular style of chanting, and is designed to accompany traditional hula dancing. Grab yourself a compilation CD and convince your guests to don grass skirts for a hula dance off.

Jawaiian – A hybrid blend of traditional Hawaiian music and Jamaican reggae which became popular on the islands in the nineties. Reggae music and the Rastafarian movement are influential in modern Hawaiian culture.

Rock & Roll – Elvis loved Hawaii, and its influence is clear in many of his songs, such as Hawaiian Wedding Song and blue beyond the reef. Elvis also made several movies set in Hawaii- Girls Girls Girls, Blue Hawaii and Paradise Hawaiian Style- and the soundtrack CD’s to these could be a great addition to your Hawaiian fancy dress party.

Elvis fell in love with the islands after visiting for the first time in the fifties, and he would go on to star in three movies set in Hawaii. These were ‘Blue Hawaii’, ‘Girls Girls Girls’ and ‘Paradise Hawaiian Style’, which you might consider watching beforehand to warm up for your Hawaiian Elvis fancy dress party.

Central to the Elvis look is of course the hair, and this is perhaps best achieved with an Elvis wig, though if you are follicley gifted you could try adding copious amounts of product to your hair and combing it backwards before giving it a blast with hairspray. Sideburns are of course optional.

In ‘Blue Hawaii’, Elvis plays Chad Gates, a soldier returning to Hawaii after the war to become a guide for a tourist agency. Here Elvis is to be seen wearing iconic Hawaiian shirts, donning an acoustic guitar for impromptu sing-along’s.

If you have any degree of musical talent this will certainly aid this part of your Hawaiian party. Get in the mood by putting some of the king’s classics on the stereo, such as of course the title track of the movie of the same name, ‘Blue Hawaii’.

Of course if you really want to turn on the charm, you should really consider obtaining a sequinned jumpsuit similar to the one Elvis wore during his show-stopping ‘Aloha in Hawaii’ performance on the islands in the seventies. Just grab yourself some cool aviator glasses and a few flower garlands and you’re ready to rock n’ roll the night away!