Do It Yourself Luau Do’s and Don’ts

Do It Yourself Luau Do’s and Don’ts

Well it finally happened. The other day a middle age couple came into our store to purchase some luau party supplies stating they were going to a family orientated traditional Luau. To our dismay they headed right over to the coconut bras and rainbow hula skirts and started filling their shopping basket with items that are usually worn at a Luau hosted by a wild college fraternity such as Alpha Luau Muumuu.
And as it always happens… I looked over at my wife and received one of those “be nice and go over and help them” looks.

So I moseyed over to the couple and offered them some helpful suggestions on how to dress for a Luau, as well as steered them in the party supply section that they needed to be in. If I could read minds I would say that the gentleman that was with the lady was thanking me a thousand times over.

But my day gets even more bizarre with the very next customer. A very nice lady came in and said that she is taking over decorating for her friend, whom had planned an upcoming Luau. So I asked that fateful question, “why are you taking over?” Her response? She said that the lady passed away and that no one had cancelled the party.

I spied a pink pig centerpiece in her basket and said to myself, here we go again, I am going to have to teach her how to decorate for a Luau and be convincing at that.

So that’s how it is for those retailers that live the life of aloha, but I must admit that was happy that I could offer some Luau salvation to a few brave soles.

Mahalo

Elvis Has Left the Shoppe

As part of yet another free concert held at our North County showroom we were proud to host San Diego’s finest Elvis Presley Tribute band, called Graceland.

In case you didn’t make it the show… all we can say is that Elvis totaly rocked Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirts.

Songs played were as follows:

(Set 1) All Shook Up, American Trilogy, Blue Christmas, Blueberry Hill, Burning Love, Can't help Falling in Love, Don't Be Cruel, Fever, Get Back, Guitar Man, Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, I Can’t Stop Loving You, I Don’t Have A Wooden Heart, I Got a Woman,In The Ghetto, Jailhouse Rock.

(Set 2) Johnny B. Goode, Little Less Conversation, Little Sister, Love Me, Love Me Tender, My Way, Mystery Train, Patch it Up, Polk Salad Annie, Promised Land, Proud Mary, See See Rider, Suspicious Minds, Teddy Bear, That's All Right Mama, Trying to Get To You, Viva Las Vegas, Walk A Mile In My Shoes, You Gave Me A Mountain

The Elvis show ran a full 2 1/2 hours and went well into the evening. As you can see from the picture below, darkness was not a deterrent for the crowd.


I still recall watching the real Elvis Presley when I was a child and I still love listening to his wonderful musical arrangements. Without a doubt my favorite Elvis tune is Suspicious Minds.

But this wasn’t just another beautiful day in Aloha Land, it was also 9/11 and there was no way that we were not going to pay tribute to all of the people that lost their lives that tragic day.

The band felt it was fitting to do something special so they sang Elvis’s rendition of America the Beautiful, written by Katherine Lee Bates. Elvis recorded this version on December 13, 1975 at the Las Vegas Hilton. Elvis has left the shoppe, mahalo!