Looking for a slightly different theme for a kids party? Bring summer on early and stage your very own backyard luau, complete with easy-to-make Hawaiian leis and colourful, tropical party food, punch, happy snaps, a fishing game and buckets full of goodies. Life’s a beach party: oh we do like to be beside the seaside!

Instead of giving the kids run-of-the-mill lolly bags, put all your take-home treats in brightly coloured metal buckets. Label each bucket with the name of one of your young guests, using stick-on foam letters. As well as the usual sweets, fill the buckets with thongs, fun photos of the day and other treats, true to your Hawaiian party theme.

Be creative

Go fishin' game

Gather Your Supplies

Makes 12 fish:
- Four 900 x 9mm timber dowels
- Acrylic craft paint in lime green
- Paintbrush
- Four 80cm lengths of 20mm-wide ribbon
- Eight 20mm round magnets
- Craft glue
- 4 tennis balls
- Phillips head screwdriver
- Felt squares in hot pink, purple, yellow and lime green
- Cardboard
- 24 flat steel washers (2 for each fish)
- Cellophane in green and blue
- Pencil
- Scissors

- Splash pool

Notes: The game is for 4 players.

STEP 1 Paint each piece of dowel in lime green and allow to dry.

STEP 2 Sandwiching 1 end of each ribbon between 2 magnets, glue magnets together. Allow glue to dry.

STEP 3 Use a screwdriver to make a small hole in each tennis ball, then insert the dowel. It should be a snug fit. Remove dowel.

STEP 4 Tie a large knot at the free end of each of your ribbons, then, using a dowel, poke it into the hole in the tennis ball. The ribbon should be held securely inside the ball by its knot and the wooden dowel.

STEP 5 Enlarge the ‘Go fish’ game template on a photocopier. Paste the template copy onto cardboard. When glue is dry, cut along outline to make a cardboard template of the fish.

STEP 6 Using the template, trace 12 fish onto the felt squares, three fish in each colour. Cut out fish. Glue a washer on each side of each fish to represent eyes. Using leftover felt, create scales by tracing around top of your index finger and cutting out the shapes. Glue 10 fish scales of a contrasting colour to each side of each fish, as shown on the ‘Go fish’ game template.

STEP 7 Cut the cellophane into 6cm-wide strips and fill the splash pool with them to represent the sea. Put your fish in the water and it’s time to go fishing – whoever manages to catch the most fish wins!

Hawaiian lei

Gather your supplies

- Cardboard sheets in purple, yellow, orange, turquoise, red, hot pink and lime green
- Drinking straws in red, lime green and yellow or in colours to match the cardboard
- Glue stick
- String
- Single-hole punch
- Pencil

- Scissors

Note: Each cardboard sheet should yield about 70 flowers, and each straw yields 4 or 5 straw spacers.

STEP 1 Enlarge the Hawaiian lei template on a photocopier, then paste the photocopy onto cardboard. When dry, cut along the outline to make a cardboard template of the flowers.

STEP 2 Using the template, trace a total of 32 flowers for each lei onto the various cardboard colours. Cut out the cardboard flowers. Punch a hole in the centre of each flower.

STEP 3 Cut the straws to measure 3cm in length. You will need 31 straw spacers for each lei.

STEP 4 Cut the string to measure slightly longer than 1m for children and 1.2m for adults. Tie a double knot at 1 end of the string, then begin to thread on your flowers and straw spacers, alternating between the
2 and mixing up the colours, until you have threaded all the flowers and spacers. Tie the string ends together securely and your Hawaiian lei is ready to give to a party guest.