Hawaiian Christmas cards

You can easily add warm touches of Aloha to your holiday party to create a festive fun Hawaii theme Christmas party wherever you are! It is also lots of fun to hold a Hawaiian Theme Christmas Party anytime, especially in the warmer summer months, when your guests can dress comfortably in aloha and beach attire and the party can even be held outdoors! In fact many people celebrate Christmas in July for that very reason. In addition to our luau tips provided on this web site, below are tips specific to adding a Hawaii theme to your luau including decorating tips, games, and recipes.

HAWAIIAN THEME CHRISTMAS DECORATING TIPS
* Decorate your Christmas Tree and/or Buffet Table in garlands you make from silk flower leis
* Decorate your Christmas Tree and/or Buffet Table in Hawaii theme Christmas ornaments
* Decorate your party location in garlands you make from silk flower leis
* Adorn your guests in silk flower leis.
* Have a Hawaiian Santa and/or Hula Menehune
* Have a Makepono Gift Exchange
* Play fun Hawaii theme Christmas Games
* Use Hawaii them Christmas cards as your party invitations
* Play Hawaiian theme Christmas music
* Have Hawaiian theme place cards at the dinner table
* If you have your guests dress in Aloha attire and live in a cold climate area and host a Hawaiian theme Christmas party be sure to turn up the heat so your guests don't catch a cold.

HAWAIIAN SANTA & HULA MENEHUNE
Have a man, preferably tanned or a darker skinned man, to play the Hawaiian Santa. Have him wear a white Santa beard, a red Santa hat, Aloha shirt, shorts, and beach shoes.
In addition to a Hawaiian Santa or instead of a Hawaiian Santa you can have a lovely lady dress as Santa’s helper Hula Menehune (elf) dressed in a green real grass skirt, a red, green or white top (bikini or t-shirt), a red Santa’s hat, and a red silk flower lei.

CHRISTMAS LUAU ACTIVITIES

MAKEPONO GIFT EXCHANGE
Have a Makepono (bargain) gift exchange. Everyone has at least one gift that they’ve received in their closet that's a perfectly good gift, but does not suit their taste or they already have one. Tell each guest to bring a gift wrapped item they had previously received as a gift and have never used. Have your guests place their Makepono gift under the Christmas Tree or on a gift table when they come in. We recommend the host provide a few extra Makepono gifts for those who may forget. Then have your Hawaiian Santa and/or lovely Santa’s helper Hula Menehune (elf) distribute the gifts randomly to the guests. Encourage everyone to mingle to see what other people got and trade among each other. As they saying goes; one persons' trash is another persons' treasure. This fun activity won’t cost anyone anything and is a great mixer!

HAWAIIAN CHRISTMAS WORD FINDER MIXER
Game Preparation
This is a really fun mixer that gets your guests to mingle! Create name badges for each guest with their name in Hawaiian (see our name translation resource at ) Then below their Hawaiian name put a Christmas related word in English and its translation in Hawaiian. Words can be used on more than one name badge.
How Game Works
When your guests arrive have them put on their name badge and give them a paper listing all of the English Christmas words and advise them to mix with the other guests to find the translation for all of the words. Advise each guest once they have located all the translations to put their name on their answer sheet and have a drop box or basket for your guests to put the completed answer sheets in. Later during the party randomly pull a winner from everyone who returned a completed Christmas words translations answer sheet and award a prize.

Christmas Phrases:

Angel – Anela Candy – Kanake Christmas Eve – Ahiahi Kalikimaka Christmas Tree – La’au Kalikimaka Elf – Menehune Garland - Lei Gift – Makana God - Akua Holly – Kawa’u Jesus Christ- Iesu Kristo Joy, Happy – Hau’oli Love – Aloha

Merry Christmas - Mele Kalikimaka Mistletoe – Kaumahana Ornament - Wehi Peace – Malu Reindeer - Leinekia Santa Claus – Kanakaloka Snow – Hau Kea Snowball – Popohau Snowflake – Hau puehuehu Star - Hoku Wreath – Lei

THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT GAME
You will needA prize wrapped in several layers of gift wrap and boxes (The more the merrier)
1 Pair of Gloves that will fit up to the largest hands of your guests (The bigger the funnier)
1 Hat (Santa hat, knit hat, or woven palm frond luau hat)
1 Die
How to play
Have those who will be playing stand in a circle with the gloves, hat, and wrapped box placed in the center of the circle. The game begins by someone rolling the die. Each player in turn rolls the die once. If the player rolls a 3 (three) they will then pass the die to the player next to them, then hurry into the middle to put on the gloves and hat and start to unwrap the package. Players must move fast because the next player who rolls a 3 must pass the die and rush to the center where they will take the hat off of the person already unwrapping. The player already in the center must stop unwrapping immediately, take off the gloves, gives them to the next person who begins trying to open the present with the gloves on. The person bumped from the center returns to their spot in the circle. The game continues like this until the package is completely unwrapped. The last player unwrapping receives the prize. Keep in mind the trickier you wrap the gift the more fun it is to open!

GRAB THE LUCKY CHRISTMAS GECKO BY THE TAILYou will need
bandanas or T-shirts or paper tails
Santa Hats (optional)
How to play
Break your guests into teams of 3-5 people. Have the members on each team of 3-5 people hold on to each others waists or link elbows to create the lucky gecko. Put a Santa hat on the head of the first person and tuck a bandana or t-shirt or paper tail in the back pocket of the end person so it hangs out and acts as the gecko tail. The object of the game is to steal the tail of the other geckos while avoiding other geckos who are trying to steal your tail. Teams must stay linked to participate, no letting go to grab the tail. Only the first person can reach for the opponents tail. Once a team’s tail has been stolen the team must go to the sideline. The last team to have a tail wins the title of the ultimate Lucky Gecko Tail Catcher and a prize.