According to the Scribner-Bantam dictionary, a "luau is a feast of Hawaiian food." Traditionally, Luaus celebrated major events in Hawaii such as a visiting dignitary or a wedding. The feast could go on for days and involved first and foremost lots of food! Today restaurants and hotels offer scaled down Luaus that celebrate Hawaiian culture and cuisine. You'll often find entertainment such as hula dancers and fire dancers offered to guests along with the traditional roasted pig.
There are many little details that will help you to create the feeling of a traditional Luau. Or, if you prefer, you can turn it into a campy party with lots of fun and tacky lights, plastic hula girls and more. When you consider the party music, you have a choice. You can stick with the traditional, or you can choose beach party sounds. Whichever style suits your group, everyone should arrive ready for fun.
Whenever you plan a party, you should read the recipes in advance of the dinner to help plan the timing of the meal. Be especially careful with this meal as several recipes will need advance preparation. For example, if you plan to build the traditional pit for roasting kalua pig, you'll need lots of time to prepare.
Aloha!
