I searched the web, having an idea of what I wanted and gathered pictures on Pinterest. I wanted to stay away from plastic lobsters and like. I was looking to make it look more like being on the islands.
Here is what I came up with.
What do you think? I got lots of compliments that night. Even from the servers, who stopped me to say that they looked better than many floral arrangements they had seen there. I was even asked if I did this for a living. I guess that is a pretty good compliment!
Details? The Birds of Paradise were silk bought on-line for about $3-4/each. The tropical leaves were found via ebay. The tabletop Tiki torches were from Oriental Trading ($6.50/2) as were the leis (about $65). I also bought all fresh fruit - pineapple, coconuts, bananas, mango, papaya, kiwi, lemon and limes. The fruit ended up being just under $100 (about $7 per table) if you are looking to replicate this in your backyard. The big flowers were found at JoAnn on sale for about $4 for a huge bunch of 7 hibiscus. Also, at JoAnn's were extra Birds of Paradise at about $6/each, on sale buy 1, get 1 50% off. I borrowed the shells from my Aunt Becky since she had done a luau herself. The total for 15-20 tables was about $350. Some of the cost was due to buying for the higher original number. I later saw the torches at a local party store for $2-2.50 each. It was such a striking table and mostly edible - saw many guests nibbling away!
