24 Luau Party Games for Adults

Luaus are not for sitting around. These luau party games for adults ensure everyone is having a great time.

Play fun ice breaker games such as find the guest and who is most likely to.

Traveling around the islands, racing to create a tropical drink, stump coconuts, and many other entertaining games are waiting for you right here!

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1. Tropical Drink Race – HipaHipa

In this luau game for adults, the players get to prepare a tropical drink.

What You Need

• plastic cups such as tiki cups, hurricane glasses, or coconut cups
• straws
• cocktail picks (This inexpensive set has fun tropical picks from pineapples and umbrellas to flamingos.)
• cocktail or mocktail ideas and whatever you need for making those
• cherries
• lemon wedges
• pineapple slices
• liquor
• liqueur
• juice… orange, pineapple, mango
• soda
• etc.

Prep

• Write cocktail ideas on cards.
• Prepare the stations.
• First station: a cup
• Second station: drink ingredients
• Third station: garnishes
• Fourth station: straws

How to Play

1. Form teams.
2. The players take turns running through the Mix Your Tropical Drink stations. They can prepare one of the drinks on the cards or make their own… as long as they are willing to drink it.
3. They will run back to the home base with their finished drink.
4. Cheers! HipaHipa! You could also say, Kāmau (Ka-Mau)!
5. The team that finishes first wins.

2. Printable Luau Games

3. Flip flop Kick

Everyone wears flip flops in Hawaii, but shoes are removed at the door. So, in this game, you’ll be kicking off those flip flops hoping they will land on the welcome mat.

What You Need

• flip flops
• welcome mat

How to Play

1. The players take turns kicking off their flip flops attempting to get them on a welcome mat placed a few feet away.

Variation

You could play this elimination style.

1. Start by placing the welcome mat close to the players.
2. The ones who get their flip flops on the mat continue to play.
3. Keep moving the mat farther until you have only one player left.

4. ‘Ulu Maika

‘Ulu Maika is a traditional Hawaiian game. The players roll disc-shaped stones down the path to a target.

The stone shape reminds me of a hockey puck.

What You Need

• ‘ulu maika stones or hockey pucks
• two stakes or cones

Prep

• Mark the hockey pucks with luau-themed stickers, so it’s easier for the players to keep track of their “stones.”
• Set up the game area: place two stakes about 10″ apart. Mark the rolling line with a rope, chalk, limbo stick, or tape.

How to Play

1. The goal is to roll the ‘ulu maika between the stakes.
2. Play a few rounds. Move the stakes closer to each other or farther away from the rolling line each round.

5. Don’t Say…

What You Need

• Leis

How to Play

• Everyone gets a lei.
• Choose a forbidden word such as drink, yes, good.
• You get to take their lei if you catch someone saying the forbidden word. Whoever has the most leis when the game ends is the winner.

6. Tacky Tourist Relay

This luau game is a ton of fun for adults too.

What You Need

• A carry-on suitcase for each team.
• In each suitcase: a pair of sunglasses, beach towel, sunhat, lei, Hawaiian shirt, binoculars, grass skirt, etc.

How to Play

1. One member of each team pulls a suitcase to the “beach.”
2. Lays down the towel and puts on the sunglasses, sunhat, lei, etc., and lies down on the towel.
3. Then he quickly gets up and packs everything back in the suitcase.
4. He runs back home and gives the suitcase to the next person.

The team that finishes first wins!

7. Selfie Scavenger Hunt

How fast can you snap selfies? Play as individuals or teams. This game gets everyone moving and taking fun photos at the party.

This game is included in the luau party games collection I mentioned under heading 2.

8. Hawaiian Outfit Race

Another fun luau game for adults!

What You Need

• Luau-themed clothing and accessories (sunglasses, grass skirts, coconut bra, sunhat, lei, sarong, Hawaiian shirt, tiki cup, etc.)

Prep

• Create a few stations with random luau-themed items.
• You could fill the tiki cups with water or any yummy beverage.

How to Play 

1. Form teams.
2. The players run through the stations, grabbing an item from each. They put it on if it is something to wear, like an oversized Hawaiian shirt.
3. Once they are done with all the stations, they run back to the home base, and the next player from that team begins collecting his Hawaiian outfit pieces.
4. The first team to finish wins.

9. Lei Toss

What You Need

• flower leis
• target (pineapples, coconut, plastic tiki cup)

Prep

• Arrange the pineapples, coconut, or tiki cups any way you’d like.
• You could assign points for each target.

How to Play

1. Players take turns throwing a few leis and collecting points. The one with the most points wins.

10. Coconut Bowling

A fun, simple luau game you can play while chatting.

What You Need

• coconuts
• bowling pins: pineapples, water bottles (put a glow stick in if it’s dark)

How to Play

Just like bowling.

Take turns rolling the coconut and knocking down targets.

11. Who Is Most Likely To

This is a fun game for a luau party.

Write down who you think is most likely to do these things.

You could give points based on how many people answered the same way. If

• 2 people have the same answer – 2 points
• 3 people have the same answer – 3 points
• and so on.

Check out this and many other fun luau party games.

12. Mango Battle

What You Need

• mangos
• big spoons

Prep

• draw a 5 or 6ft circle on the ground

How to Play

1. Two players at a time enter the circle. They hold a mango on their spoon.
2. The goal is to knock down the opponent’s mango. If you drop yours, you lose. The players can’t touch the opponent, only the spoon.

You could play this in various ways, e.g., pair all the players, the winner of each pair stays in the game and faces another opponent.

13. Head, Shoulders, Knees, Spam

This fast-paced luau party game is fun with a large group. And in the end, perhaps you could use the canned Spam to prepare a luau dish.

What You Need

• Spam cans (You could also use small beach balls, the flower pattern on these is perfect for a luau.)

How to Play

The object of the game is to grab the Spam can when told to do so.

• Choose a “caller.”
• Ask the players to pair up and face each other.
• Each pair gets a can of Spam that is placed between them.
• The “caller” shouts commands like head, shoulders, knees, toes, waist, back, and neck. At the end of the command list, the “caller” shouts the word “Spam.”
• The players try to grab the can.
• Whoever gets the can is the winner of that round. He goes and finds a new partner to play with. The others are out and sit down.
• The game goes on until you have only one player left.

14. Coconut Stump

Let’s crack some coconuts!

What You Need

• brown balloons
• string

Prep

• Inflate the balloons. If you play outside, don’t inflate them too full; otherwise, they will pop too quickly when they touch the ground.
• Tie a string around the balloon. Use a long enough string to tie it around the ankle and have the balloon dragging on the ground.

How to Play

1. The players tie a balloon around an ankle. Maybe a couple of balloons (same leg.)
2. The players try to pop the other player’s balloons (coconuts) while protecting their own.
3. The one who has his coconut at the end is the winner.

15. Hawaiian-Themed Words

Use these Hawaiian word cards for various games:

• Play like Pictionary™
• or charades.
• Instead of drawing or acting out the word, you could ask a player to explain the word to the team/partner.

This game, too, is included in the luau party games for adults kit.

16. Limbo

Limbo is a popular luau party game.

What You Need

• Limbo stick and stand. This limbo kit is great for adults. For extra stability, anchor it to the ground.

How to Play

1. Take turns going under the limbo stick, bending backward.
2. If a player can go under it, he advances to the next round.
3. Keep lowering the bar until you have only one player left.

17. Hula Hoop Contest

Hula hooping is not as easy as it looks. I seemed to be able to do it when I was a kid, but it is not that simple for me anymore… perhaps it’s the quality of the hoops and not the person spinning the hoop. Haha.

So, get some good hula hoops for a successful and fun game.

What You Need

• hula hoops

How to Play

Find out who can

• spin the hoop the longest
• spin the most hoops
• walk around the longest while spinning a hoop

18. Learn to Dance Hula

What would a luau be without hula dance!

There are many online hula tutorials.

19. Beach Chair Volleyball

This luau party activity for adults puts your agility to the test.

What You Need

• beach chairs or towels
• beach ball(s)

How to Play

1. Form teams.
2. Don’t let the beach ball touch the ground on your side. You can use your feet or hands to keep the ball in the air, but you can’t leave your chair or towel.
3. The team that scores more points in a set time or reaches a certain point amount wins.

20. Around the Islands

How many Hawaiian islands have you been to? I’ve been to three, but perhaps this game lets me visit them all.

What You Need

• a target (could be a hula hoop, basket, bucket, bowling pins, water bottles)
• a ball or bean bags depending on your target

Prep

• You’ll need 8 islands. Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui, Kahoolawe, Hawaii. You can cut out the shapes from card stock or cardboard or draw them with chalk. You could line them up or create an arched shape.
• Place your target near the islands. You could decorate the target first with luau cutouts like pineapples, drums, flamingos, coconuts, hibiscus, or plumeria flowers.

How to Play

1. Let’s say you choose to use a basket and a bean bag.
2. Each player starts at Niihau. He tries to throw the bean bag into a basket. If he succeeds, he proceeds to the next island. He continues until he misses the target.
3. You could give a prize to those who managed to get to the Big Island (Hawaii). Or present little gifts on each island such as

• gift cards
• drink
• candy
• pineapple lip balm
• turtle decoration, spray paint these inexpensive turtles for a cool look
• coasters
• cocktail picks
• sunglasses
• towels
• beach toys
• plumeria soap

21. The Chosen Island

Watch out! If you pick the wrong island, you are out!

What You Need

• Island Cutouts and Names: Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui, Kahoolawe, Hawaii.
• island names on index cards
• music
• tiki cup (optional)

Prep

• Scatter around the party area the island cutouts you used with the game number 17. Or use chalk to draw them.
• Put the index cards in a tiki cup.

How to Play

1. Play Hawaiian music, dance hula…
2. Stop the music.
3. Players run to an island. Any island. You can have several people on the same island.
4. Pick an index card and read it out loud. Those on that island are out of the game.
5. Continue until you have one player left.

Alternative Version

• Give prizes to the people on the chosen island.

22. Decorate a Tote Bag

Get some canvas bags and stencils for a fun DIY project.

Your guests will enjoy working on fun Hawaii-themed canvas bags they can use for shopping or going to the beach.

• inexpensive canvas totes
• fabric paint
• sponges
• hibiscus stencil
• turtle stencil
• palm leaf stencils

23. Surf Board Decor DIY

Good Day Sunshine!

Even those who don’t know how to surf would enjoy decorating a wooden surfboard. These surfboard cutouts come in various sizes and thicknesses.

Paint them, write on them, use stencils… your surfboards will look amazing on your desks or bookcases.

24. Do You Know Hawaiian

How well do you know Hawaiian? Let’s find out with this simple Hawaiian to English Word Match Game.

Entertain the guests with fantastic luau party games.

You all will have a blast going on a selfie scavenger hunt, figuring out who is most likely to go snorkeling with manta rays, climb a palm tree, and so on.

Mingle and get to know each other better (find the guest) and test your knowledge of the beautiful Hawaiian language.

Play a round of Draw and Guess (a.k.a. Pictionary ™), or find out who can unscramble the words the fastest.

Would you prefer pink and purple theme?

Summer Entertaining

• Simple Summer Hostess Gift Ideas
• Inexpensive Luau Party Signs and Banner (available in the USA)
• Road Trip Hospitality Tips
• What to Put in the Guest Room to Make It Welcoming

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