Our Backyard Hawaiian Luau | Great Eight Friends

Here I am today in 2019 reminiscing about my Gr8 dinner party 14 years ago. In 2005 we had just finished installing a pool and it seemed obvious that we would want to entertain our Gr8 friends in our newly tropical landscaped backyard. A perfect setting for a Backyard Hawaiian Luau!

Eight people posing with grass skirts and leis on at a Luau dinner party.

The backdrop was set and the planning began. After deciding our menu, I created the invitations. I found three ceramic vases at a local craft store and by adding a tropical looking fern and the menu, I was able to deliver simple invitations.

Hawaiian Luau dinner party invite on paper included with a fern in a ceramic vase with a fern leaf on it.

Planning the table decor is always fun. It is generally my goal to use items that I already have or borrow what I need. Joel had surprised me with some plastic dishes (no glass allowed around the pool) that were perfect! With some tropical flowers, we were set.

Place setting using for a Luau dinner party using pineapple plastic plates and orchids as the centerpiece.

Our Hawaiian Luau Feast

Often a Luau occurs in celebration of a special occasion such as a wedding. In our case, we celebrate our friendship and there is nothing better than celebrating with food and drink!

We started our feast with fresh ahi poke.

Large bowl of ahi poke with another bowl of brown rice.

We also enjoyed Debbie's delicious Slow Cooker Hawaiian Style Meatballs.

Platter of Hawaiian style meatballs garnished with parsley.

I was excited for my friends to try one of my favorite new recipes, Papaya and Avocado Salad.

Attempting to make the evening as authentic as possible, Joel decided that he wanted to cook a whole pig. A Hawaiian style Luau would normally cook a pig in a hole in the ground. Well, we did not want to dig a hole in our new backyard (is that even legal here?), so second best was to roast it on a spit on the grill. This was a big surprise for our Gr8 Friends. A real showstopper!

Whole pig roasting on a spit over the barbecue grill.

Honestly I was not interested in this project 🙂 and left it completely up to Joel. Although he had fun with it he underestimated the time it would take to completely cook. The pig was not done in time for dinner. Good thing I had my version of Kalua Pig cooking in the crock pot as a "just in case" back-up!