Post #213613 by LavaLounger on Thu, Feb 9, 2006 7:49 AM

Wow....I can't stop saying "wow".....but that's how overwhelmed I am that my tiki party bummed experience wasn't unique and yet you all took it in stride. At least I no longer view my dud party as a personal slap. C'est la vie....ya know, so I'm blowing off this experience.

I guess the midwest is a tough nut to crack when it comes to certain things like the warm melting feeling of relaxing in a tiki bar sipping fruities. I asked my kids about tiki bars in the area and all I got was blank stares, but they all WISH there was a place they could go with that kind of atmostphere becuase even they get tired of the hammering loud music of the bars they hang in. My nephew is a student at KU (20 min west) and said he'd KILL to have a bar like that around the campus. So there must be some of us here that appreciate the fun.

re: LastMango - An Island Christmas party is a great idea! I had a hint of one with my first tiki bar at the old house. I made a bunch of fake palm trees and decorated them with twinkle lights and hung ornaments where the coconuts should be. My family thought I was off my rocker, but they loved it and got into it. Especially my mom who enjoys "theme" anything (she's nearing 80 but still loves a tropical drink). I even found a Christmas music CD of holiday/island music. My folks love my tiki bar so much that when their Canadian friends came through on their way to Florida, they dragged them to my house for a tiki evening! The Canadians tipped me a gooney, or something like that and loved it too.

re: CongaMike - I grew up in the 50's and 60's. I hung out with engineers, computer programmers (worked on IBM 360's), and accounting people when I got my first job and we loved going to the Mainlander for lunch in St. Louis and dinner at Trader Vic's at the Belaire East Hotel. I recall having a maitai too many at the Mainlander and fell out of the place on the sidewalk. I had to go back and "work" the rest of the day. Ahh, the good old days. I never dreamed the tiki bars would all disappear. I think, once you allow yourself to "feel" the tiki spirit, you never let it go.

re: Wenikitiki - great idea having a "special for the night"....I think I'll make that part of my future event plans. I've never been to Hawaii.....maybe someday when we retire.

re: formikahini and hodadhank - oh man, why did I NOT think of a shirt rack!!! We have a LOT of hawaiian shirts so why not, and yes, yes, in fact, when we went to Trader Vic's a jillion years ago, jackets were mandatory in the dining room and they'd give you a loaner if you didn't have one! So why not a loaner hawaiian shirt! TOO FUNNY!!! I can build it just like the lei rack which took a whole 10 minutes.

re: dieseltiki - LMAO ie: Brokeback.

re: scottmcgerik - I don't know where Atwood is, but I'm in the western burbs of Kansas City....I usually don't say I'm from Kansas City as most people around here think I live in Missouri. I'm on the Kansas side of Kansas City. You can live in Missouri in Kansas City and you can live in Kansas in Kansas City. I used to live in Missouri, but that was in St. Louis, so now I live in Kansas. got that??

re: Silverline - LMAO, good call....yes, I live SMACK in the middle of "beigeville" and it really makes me nuts. We started painting our house a deep black cherry color, but the Homeowners Assn called an injunction and stopped us. Long story, but we ended up with battleship gray.....even had to fight for gray with white trim as they said it was too high contrast. But they finally said okay. Must look nice becuase the past dozen houses they've built have "highly contrasting" white trim.

re: 8fttiki - yes, it strikes me that the local tikiphiles need to band together and start something. If it wasn't for this forum, I'd probably be boxing up my tiki stuff which would have been a terrible kine to waste. (ha ha)

LavaLounger....appreciates EVERYONE here!!