My baby girl turned four so we took a trip to Hawaii… without leaving home. I rarely buy toys for the kids and prefer to make something meaningful. My son came up with the idea and helped me create a Hawaiian birthday celebration for his little sister. This was a much better gift than some toy that will start collecting dust after a few plays.
We made a tiki hut!
Every Hawaiian birthday party needs a tiki hut. To make it feel more like a beach hut I built it on top of their work table so it’s off the ground. I try to let the kids help as much as possible, even cutting cardboard with a box cutter (with my supervision). My son was so proud that I made the tiki mask based on his sketch.
Through these projects the kids are learning patience, how to work together, and practicing fine motor skills. They are learning basic life skills like painting, measuring, and gluing to bring their ideas to life. Most importantly, we are spending quality time together and building memories.
Painting the walls of the tiki hut 
Gluing on shredding packing paper to make thatch roof 
Painting the tiki torch flames 
His sketch and the finished mask
Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse!
The tiki hut is 100% recycled! We live in an apartment building and I was able to find a could large boxes discarded by neighbors. The big boxes are the best for crafting. To make the thatch roof, I shredded packing paper. Packing paper is so handy can can be reused for kids artwork or to protect your table from paint. Our new guilty pleasure snack has been Pringles, a lot of Pringles. I have been saving the tubes for a while and thought they made the perfect walls that look like bamboo or wood.
The flower leis, artificial leaves, and fabric for my daughter’s costume were gifted from neighbors in our local Buy Nothing Facebook group. There’s nothing more satisfying to me than creating something from nothing, not spending any money and saving a few items from the landfill. A few items can be passed on to the next family and cardboard can be recycled.
I’m four! 
Another year, another homemade cake
Hawaiian Birthday Video
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