Need caribbean ideas for graduation

[gilby]

My daughter wants a caribbean theme for graduation for 2010. I would live to hear ideas on decorations, food, ect.

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

i would highly recommend checking out Oriental trading!!
they have a ton of stuff in that theme area

what specifically does she like about this theme?
the treasure chest
the fish
the beach
the palm trees

depending on what shes going for there are lots of things to do & even on the cheap

 

[gilby]

She likes the caribbean in general. A treasure box for cards is a neat idea.
I am looking for something to decorate fruit (example swimsuit on a watermelon). We thought about palm trees for the tables.

 

[poohfriend77]

My brother got married in the Bahamas a few years ago, and I hosted a Caribbean-theme reception for them afterward because not many family members and friends were able to go.

I used bright blue/lime green/pink serving pieces. I just noticed Wal-Mart has a ton of these colors in stock right now (bowls, plates, etc.), so you could watch for them to go on clearance. I put candy/nuts/goldfish crackers in margarita-style glasses. Serve fresh fruit fruit with the little umbrella toothpicks. String up party lights/lanterns.

I agree with PP that Oriental Trading would have everything you need, but since you're planning so far ahead, you have plenty of time to shop dollar store and party store deals first. Have fun planning!

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

ok this is what we did for our DDs party(bday)

we got shells for tables & placing all around!
we got bamboo placemats to set platters on
we found some mini tikis for the tables too
we potted in some large pots some mini palm like plants
we made a palm tree out of xmas lights
Tiki lights were good for nighttime
I had caribbean drums playing as background music
I had gotten some pirate maps & treasure stuff at a site called deadmentellnotales.com
have guests dress in bahama shorts or shirts
theme the food off caribbean food too
print up signs or pictures to set the mood..we printed a shark with an open mouth & cut a hole & people stuck their heads in for pictures~it was so fun!
for the adults: only drinks with rum
i could go on but i think this is a good start for ya

 

[gilby]

These are awesome ideas. Keep them coming.

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

ok!!!!

1 dessert we made was blue jello in a round fish bowl & we used nerds on the bottom & swedish fish in the jello..it was neat & yummy!

inside the house we got that blue see thru wrapping paper & crinkled it & taped it to the insides of the windows & when the sun shone in it was like bluey water effect!

i lit candles that had a tropical scent or you could do wall flowers

if you can manage it, having sand somewhere would be fun!

parrots, iguanas, crabs, all great decor to place around

bright colors(like pooh friend said) are perfect!

we did hawaiian names but i found a priate name site& reggae & you could print out a punch for guests to wear somehow
http://gangstaname.com/pirate_name.php
http://www.irielion.com/israel/reggaename.html

on the tv you can see if you can find a DVD that loops either salt water fish or the ocean waves or a sunset?

i even filled the bath tub & threw in some shell shaped floating candles!

theres so much out there & time is on your side!
Id narrow down what she wants & start shopping around!
have fun & enjoy the planning!

 

[LKHomemail]

use tableclothes solids in bright colors, pink, orange, blue , yellow, green. buy tropical floral print sort of napkins. tropical flowers for table. look for shells to add to tables. wood boats would be cute. fishnets hung in various places would add something. a smaller wood boat , repainted in white would make a great thing to serve buffet food from.
the card factory outlets have great palm tree decorations, pirate stuff. monkey prints, themes. you can also use christmas lights over trees / house plants here and there.

have a good soundtrack of carribean music , bob marley, lucky dube , etc etc. your choices.

for the fruit, i wish i had pictures of some of the fancy creative stuff i have seen done on cruises. they do amazing things with fruits. we have pictures someplace of tahiti cruise , wish i could find and knew how to upload pictures to share. maybe have the caterer do the fruits ? would be good to search online for fruit pictures . i have seen the watermelon done in a palm tree. other fruits monkeys,

 

[cheshireqt]

I love this idea! Here are a few ideas:
A steel drum CD playing in the background and a pretty tropical drink would be a great start. Try experimenting with cran-apple juice, ice, strawberries and a banana in a blender for a pretty red drink. Any smoothie recipe would make a great teen Caribbean drink. Maybe to get a blue drink substitute blue gator-aide for the cran-apple? Fill glass hurricanes with sand and place white candles and seashells in them for centerpieces and use colored napkins and dishes, turquoise or sea green would be pretty. Sprinkle sea glass around the base of the sand filled hurricane for some extra color, mixing in a few "gold doubloons."
Having the guests dress the part in bermuda shorts etc helps set the mood. Even if some of the guys arrive in eyepatches! If the party is at night some twinkle lights in the back yard and some tiki torches will really set the mood.
If the steel drums get old play a CD of just the sound of the ocean!
For extra decoration and a fun icebreaker game/conversation starter print out the flags of the Caribbean islands, string them on a cord or rope (and use as you would streamers). You could then have them guess which flag goes with which island. If you have a glass covered buffet or coffee table or even serving tray, slide some pictures under the glass (you could print to look postcard size).
If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

 

[PinkRhombus]

Walmart had a bunch of beach/tiki decorations in stock

 

[figment52]

My niece had a beach party theme for her grad party - Here are some food pictures

Watermelon Cake - use the flat side of chocolate chips for the seeds. I did a double layer cake.

Jello or cake decorated like a beach. The beach chairs are sticks of gum. The towels next to the beach chairs are fruit roll ups; bubble gum for beach balls, graham cracker crumbs for sand, blue sugar for water.

Cake- Palm trees are cinnamon sticks with fruit rolls ups cut to look like seaweed and palm leaves (the only part I didn't think came out as I wanted but I didn't have time to redo.). 2 Nestle treasures for the tresure chest (yellow icing for gold); teddy grahams and goldfish for garnish; bubble gum for beach balls. graham cracker crumbs for sand and blue jello for water (you have to make it extra thick and carve out some of the cake to make room for it.

 

[ILoveKohls]

My niece had a beach party theme for her grad party - Here are some food pictures

OMG, how precious!

 

[OceanAnnie]

The dollar tree has a ton of tiki tiki, tropical stuff now. It would be a good time to go by and stock up for next year! Really cute stuff. Table ware, grass skirts, decorations. Lots of neat stuff.

 

[gilby]

Oh my gosh those pictures are awesome. I love hearing the ideas.

 

[KIMZKIDZ]

My daughter had a luau themed party but this one idea would work with your theme as well...
We gave out leis to each guest ..but I made my daughter personally put one one each guest. So many times I have gone to grad parties where the grad doesn't acknowledge the guests. This way I could look around and see that my daughter said hello and said at least a few words to anyone wearing a lei. If I saw someone without a lei I sent her right on over. Some guests new what this was for, others just thought it was a cute decoration they could keep You could do this with other items (sunglasses, glow necklaces, etc) Leis were just cheap

 

[figment52]

OMG, how precious!

thank you. I had a blast doing it.