Moana Birthday Party

We just celebrated my daughter's 5th birthday. We let her choose between a hotel visit (like Disney resort or Gaylord Palms) or a party with friends. My party-loving daughter chose a Moana birthday party. 

I picked and chose ideas from around the interwebs, so I thought I'd compile them here for anyone out there who might be planning their own Moana party. 

Invitation

The only contact information that I had for all the guests were phone numbers, so I knew I was just going to text the moms an invitation. To avoid sending a group text and to avoid re-typing all the details, I found a printable invitation online, added our information to it and sent it as a photo to each of the moms. Here's the link where I found the invitation we used. 

Costume

We're big into costumes in this family, and somewhere along the way, a costume became necessary for a birthday party. I didn't want to shell out $45 on Disney for a screen printed costume that my kids would probably destroy after a few months. Unfortunately Amazon and Walmart didn't have anything either!! (Walmart sells them in store only, and the stores I visited were always sold out). 

I told this to my daughter, and she said, "You can just make one!" I appreciate her confidence in my abilities. I didn't want to make a Moana costume, because it seemed to complicated, but once I got into it, it was actually very fun. 

I used this YouTube tutorial by Sam Skyler as a guide and made adjustments like sewing the skirt and shirt together to make a one-piece outfit. I went with a tank top that we had from last year's Charmander costume, because a tube top like Moana's would just fall off my daughter. 

I have learned that if I want my kids to wear the things I make them, then those things must be comfortable and pretty. 

We did a beach photo shoot the week before her birthday.

Little sister was begging all week to wear the Moana dress. I finally let her after the party. The next morning I walked into the play room, and she already had it on.

I made two of Moana's necklace (one for each of my older daughters). I viewed two tutorials and chose the steps from each one that I felt comfortable with. The tutorials were The Sorry Girls and Simple Practical Beautiful. 

I couldn't find a suitable pendant at our craft store, so I used this modeling clay recipe from Family Education and sculpted my own. Then I painted them with acrylic paint and sprayed them with glossy acrylic sealer. 

Letting the blue paint dry before painting the top half gray.

I used the tutorial from Simple Practical Beautiful for the spacing and tying instructions. I didn't bother with the fringe part, but just did a single knot around the whole necklact. I used The Sorry Girls' tutorial's idea of using fishing line for the pearl beads (actually got the clear string in the jewelry section of Walmart). I broke an old play bracelet with pearl beads and used them on the necklaces. 

Using my childhood clipboard just like when I used to make friendship bracelets!

The final necklace turned out pretty great, but the hemp is a little scratchy, so my older daughter (whose birthday it was) only wore it at her party, because she's more sensitive to how things feel. My younger daughter wears it everyday. 

I also didn't bother with the etching on the top half of the pendant, but in retrospect, it would have been nice to at least add a little wave or something. Oh well! 

Cake

I did this cake more for me than for my daughter. Her top priority was that the cake have Moana toys on it. I bought this toy set with Maui and Moana, so that she could play with them later too. I had to order online and pick up at the store because every big box store was sold out in the stores. 

I used a couple different ideas from the internet, but mostly I used this tutorial from EzeBreezy to make the Moana cake. It was very simple, but after watching way too much Great British Baking Show, I wasn't 100% happy with my creation (the sponge was dense and dry...oh well!) I needed it to feed 30-40 people, so I plopped the round cakes on a 13x9, and we only had a little leftover. 

All the kids wanted "water cake," or slices with blue icing. If your party guests are the same, I suggest doing the entire 13x9 part in blue too! I only used two canisters of Pirouline cookies, but the tutorial called for three. 

Favors

The party favors were Hearts of Te Fiti, which the kids loved. Super simple project! I collected oval-shaped rocks from my garden, spray-painted them emerald green, then hand painted spirals on them in lime green. Then I sprayed them with glossy acrylic sealer.

I also had two craft stations set up. One with coloring pages of Moana and one with pre-cut hemp strings and assorted island-looking beads for kids to make necklaces. They loved that too! 

Pin The Tail Game

I considered painting a Hei Hei, but went with something more simple. I painted a basic palm tree and cut out green circles from construction paper. We played Pin the Coconut on the Palm Tree. No prize for the winner, just fun. 

Decorations

There were minimal decorations because our clubhouse doesn't allow you to hang anything from the walls. I make little palm trees from construction paper and toilet paper rolls and set them on the window sill above the food table. 

I looked at some Moana fonts online and created a welcome sign on our chalkboard. This was actually a bit difficult for being such a small detail in the party. 

I used this FontMeme to create the sentence in the Moana font, then I just free-handed it onto the board. 

Hope that helps inspire you to new heights as you plan your own Moana birthday party!