Friends Hawaiian Birthday Dinner

Aloha

Happy Birthday

Kevin, Kris, Jae and Marc

On Saturday night we celebrated "4"
count'em, "4" birthdays. 

The hubster and I celebrated with 3 dear couples,
and one person in each of our couples

celebrate their birthday within

2 weeks of each other.

We all enjoy the ambience of Hawaii

so I made my theme Hawaiian. 

I had planned on eating outside, with the help of a
couple of heaters however,
Mother Nature had different plans.... and when Mother
Nature speaks .......
I woke up on Saturday to gale force winds (not
really but windy enough to destroy my yard and my plans)

So Plan II
Bring the Tiki man inside

 I set my diningroom for the
Hawaiian birthday festivities ...

I don't really have any Hawaiian decor, so I improvised

with some shells, fabric that reminded me of the ocean, and some

cool silver coral and shell items that I picked up that morning at Ross.

I set the table

These look like silver but are actually ceramic

(which I discovered on the way home

when I broke my coral candlestick)

I threw in a few Tiki guys

Seagulls eye view

Wooden chargers for that luau look?

The blue glasses have designs of shells and sea life.

I need to work on my Hawaiian collection

I do love the coral candleholder though,

and flower choices were slim pickin's

This was a tropical as I could find

(helpful hint from the florist....if you

want this style of flower to last remove the stamen, the

pollen causes the petals to die)

It was more or less an explosion of color...maybe a bit too much

It looks a little better with less light...

and even better with guests

see how happy everyone is, that's because I had already fed them....

we were getting ready for gifts and cake.

Our menu:

Salmon Salad

Marinated Flank Steak

Grilled Asparagus

Baked shells with chicken and alfredo sauce

Assorted Berries

Hawaiian rolls

Birthday Boy - Marc

Birthday Boy - Kevin

Birthday Girl - Jae

Birthday Girl - Kris

The Cake

Kristi did the cake in a Hawaiian theme. 

Tim did the surboard in fondant.

The words on the side of the surfboard are

"Happy Birthday" in Hawaiian.

The cake was iced in buttercream with

buttercream flowers which was just gorgeous.

The inside was just as gorgeous...

It was chocolate espresso cake with chocolate gaunache filling.

Buttercream Detail

And a candle each to blow out for the birthday kiddos...

Get ready....get set .......

Blow out those candles.

The rest of the guests:

Tom - eternally young

Greg - bigger than life

Cheryl - reflecting

Happy Birthday Friends ....

Boys

and Girls

Mahalo for joining us

and

"Hau oli La Hanau"

(Happy Birthday)

I linked late to Tablescape Thursday hosted by

Between Naps on the Porch