Just came back from mylocal Party City and they are slopping over in tiki and luau supplies this year. Four aisles plus half of the back wall are dedicated to tiki/luau stuff. I snuck a few photos in the store but it's a tiny fraction of what's in my store.

This is a boxed set of ceramic mugs. They were $14.99 for the set.




This is an air-blown tiki arch. Expensive at $80 but impressive and stores in a cube just over a foot square.

A tiki bar that folds flat enough to store under your bed. A little expensive for cardboard but it's pretty impressive visually.

This is a portion of the very colorful plastic tiki serving options. There are more pieces this year that include a martini shaker and salad tongs. Lots of bowls, cups and serving items.

Nearly the whole back wall is solid hula skirts, straw hats and leis. These two photos are the two sections in our local store. It was maybe 20 to 25 feet in length of display.

And these last two are just a small fraction of the plastic or tag-board tiki items that are in the decorator section.

On 2005-04-11 15:16, Dancin' Lizard wrote:
This is a boxed set of ceramic mugs. They were $14.99 for the set.

Those are actually pretty cool. They look kind of "home made" and primitive. I think it's outstanding that they packaged them as the four main male gods of Hawaii: Ku, Kane, Lono and Kanaloa. Maybe Sven was in on this? :-? :wink:

Add a Pele and Hi'iaka for the ladies and we'd have quite the set!

since some of the pictures are not opening for me, I'm not sure if Dancin Lizard posted the tiki head color changing light set? 20 bucks and the heads slowly change from , purple, blue, green, yellow, orange red pink.
Yikes! I just turned the box over and read the warning sticker:
WARNING The product contains chemicals, including lead, known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling. Soooo, maybe you west coasters will not be seeing these? They also have a web site http://www.GEMMY.COM. OK, I have to go wash my hands now....
Oh my gosh I just went to their website. LOL, they're promoting a 10 point buck that can sing and talk. Didn't see the light set.

[ Edited by: exotica59 on 2005-04-15 07:59 ]

I've noticed that not all the images are loading at the start too. I right click and click on 'show image' and they usually come up.

Did not see the color change ones. Dang!

Just picked up a set of the mugs at Party City in Plano, TX. They look pretty cool next to the ones I just got from Spencers:

I consider Party City tiki to be the worst. Those inflatable "tikis"? C'mon! We went in the other day because we were there. Along with the crap, I mean crap, worst tikis ever, they had something quite cool. They call them "Scene Setters." There are a couple of varieties, I got one. It's a vinyl wall or ceiling cover that is 50, count them, fifty! feet long and four feet tall and it looks like lauhala matting framed in bamboo. Now, on a bright poolside it looks bad, but in a dim tiki bar, I think it will fly well. The also had a bamboo table runner that might find a good use in your bar decor. I highly recommend checking them out.

Here's a couple. Not the one I have:

This is 10" x 50' They ruined an awesome item with the flowers...

Here's mine on Ebay

Oriental Trading company has enough to do a whole room in. Including fake hut window with ocean scene.

Here's the OTC page but it does not sell the thatch by itself.

If you guys need thatch, we got ours here...

http://www.anythingbamboo.com/Thatch&Raincapes.htm

great service, and nice people...

The problem with supplies is not cost, but shipping. I could get a 50' roll of lauhala cheap enough to cover everything I want, but then to get it shipped here to TN, that would likely triple the price tag. Bamboo is especially bad. A pole is cheap, but to ship it costs a ton. From Texas may be cheaper then from California or even Florida, but likely not a huge savings.

Best bet is to find other tiki fans in your area and go in together on orders and divide up the shipping. Your roll of lauhala may be too much to ship alone, but on a pallette with 3 other people's stuff, it may be okay.

I was in "my" Party City yesterday, the Tiki crap takes up almost a fourth of the store currently. And yes, I too do mean crap. It was yet again one of those moments when your brain goes "Tiki!" and then your heart goes "Oh. Tiki." It's a little mind blowing that there are so many products yet they've gone so wrong so often. And as Party City is more familiar to most folks than anything genuinely Tiki it may mean that the little definition dance you have to do when you tell folks you collect Tiki will have to get more elaborate so as to make clear that your house is not full of purple and yellow plastic Tiki ware with an inflatable "hut" in the living room. (And then there's also the threat of the relative excitedly telling you about the Tiki stuff they bought you.)

That said, there's some useful stuff at Party City. As Swanky posted above last year the Scene Setters wall decor could be useful in a large dim space. There are also a lot of interesting napkins. A few bits of Hawaiiana type kitsch and some real coconut monkey type carvings that would make good bar clutter.

Cheap, cheap, cheap - I'm sooooo sick of that word - the problem with our industrialized, homogenized, capitalized United States , is that everyone is looking to buy something cheap!!!!!!
As an artist, I am sooo disappointed that you would prefer to load your home with Cheap imitation rather than support an ongoing revitalization and reincarnation of a culture of the past - where plastic and mass-production barely existed. Save your money - I understand the mindset that you can't afford the real thing so might as well shlock it up with mass produced crap - but allow the genre to have a little dignity. Save your money and support artists - who create it the old way.
Bamboo ben, crazy al, flounder, etc. etc. etc. could create a meaningful and rewarding environment for you to share and entertain your friends with, that would last for years. I am a mural artist and would love to enliven, invigorate and transform your 'lounge' into an adventure. This is not about promoting me though, this is about promoting a culture, an era - that is continually replaced by plastic, condos and walmarts.... and party cities. Buying this stuff because it is cheap - ultimately cheapens the genre in the eyes of the next generations. Spend less time in party city and support establishments that support the genre - not those that prostitute it. Did you read that Sam's Seafood of Seal beach is closing this month for more condos. Walk inside before it does and bathe in the WWII creation of an original Tiki Bar. Support it! That's all I have to say and I'm not sorry I said it. Please think about it.

On 2006-05-21 08:36, jpmartdog wrote:
Cheap, cheap, cheap - I'm sooooo sick of that word - the problem with our industrialized, homogenized, capitalized United States , is that everyone is looking to buy something cheap!!!!!!
As an artist, I am sooo disappointed that you would prefer to load your home with Cheap imitation rather than support an ongoing revitalization and reincarnation of a culture of the past - where plastic and mass-production barely existed. Save your money - I understand the mindset that you can't afford the real thing so might as well shlock it up with mass produced crap - but allow the genre to have a little dignity. Save your money and support artists - who create it the old way.
Bamboo ben, crazy al, flounder, etc. etc. etc. could create a meaningful and rewarding environment for you to share and entertain your friends with, that would last for years. I am a mural artist and would love to enliven, invigorate and transform your 'lounge' into an adventure. This is not about promoting me though, this is about promoting a culture, an era - that is continually replaced by plastic, condos and walmarts.... and party cities. Buying this stuff because it is cheap - ultimately cheapens the genre in the eyes of the next generations. Spend less time in party city and support establishments that support the genre - not those that prostitute it. Did you read that Sam's Seafood of Seal beach is closing this month for more condos. Walk inside before it does and bathe in the WWII creation of an original Tiki Bar. Support it! That's all I have to say and I'm not sorry I said it. Please think about it.

..not bad.....i was screaming the same thing in another thread not too long ago......but watch out!! some folks here, for whatever twisted reason, will find some way to justify their wasting of money on this crap....every dollar one spends on this stuff is casting a vote in hopes that more crap of it's kind will be manufactured in the future.....these people are helping to ruin tiki, not help it, by catering to this stuff from big lots and the party store....some will argue that "well, this is the only tiki stuff i can find because, well, i live in the back of beyond and, well, we don't see alot of tiki here"....-folks, we live in the age of internet!! get online and find the real thing!!! for god sake's, tiki central is loaded with artists, as mentioned above, who are keeping the craft aspect of it alive......if you can't afford it...save your money till you can...

Thank you Tipsy, for echoing my sentiment!!!!!

....folks, we live in the age of internet!! get online and find the real thing!!!

waitjustagoldernminnit...
may be THAT cheap stuff from party supply houses IS the real thing.. to them. just as your perception of the real thing to you... is "the real thing".

On 2006-05-21 23:09, lanikai wrote:

....folks, we live in the age of internet!! get online and find the real thing!!!

waitjustagoldernminnit...
may be THAT cheap stuff from party supply houses IS the real thing.. to them. just as your perception of the real thing to you... is "the real thing".

oh cut it out..we all know damn well what it is we are talking about here and what is at stake....real or imagined, the whole point, is that if manufacturers of said "crap" actually cared enough, they would have done alittle research and perhaps take the little time it takes to actually design a product, though cheap, that actually was somewhat aesthetically pleasing....that's half the problem...the other half are those who, in their haste to "get tiki" gobble up this stuff as opposed to again, taking what little time and reasearch it would take, given the options that the internet age has made available to us, to find some well-made items by the types of craftsmen and craftswomen you find in these pages......I see a common thread in these 2 senarios above......"instant gratification".....those in a hurry to make a quick buck at the expense of an decent product, and those in a rush to jump on the tiki wagon, in a hurry to collect tiki stuff while directly supporting the very company's that proliferate this junk.....and the sad cycle continues on like some crazy consumer "sorry-go-round" where the artists eventually starve to death, the scene dies from lack of support and all that is left for future generations are thrift stores full of crap from party city......hmmmm..sounds like what happened the first time tiki came around...only difference is that the mass produced products from back in the day were actually better made and cooler looking......now, is there anything at all that you can add to this topic other than mind reading and finger pointing or can we move on??

support your local tc artist! or not so local!

I can agree with both sides here.

I think it was said in an earlier post that the shipping for good quality stuff is a big issue.

I am in Dallas Texas and have been looking for product to create a great Tiki lounge area in my outdoor patio, but all the good stuff I find on the web is from California or Florida. The cost to ship to me is equal to or more than the product.

I would love to go check out some Tiki bars in the Dallas area if there are any so I can get some ideas.

I don't think the folks a Party City had the hard core tikiphile in mind when they stocked this crap. I believe most of it is an inexpensive way for the lukewarm friend of tiki to have a tiki themed office party and such with paper bamboo hut interior and a cray paper pineapple centerpiece. I bet most of the items are used once and either pitched or stored in a back room until they become junk and discarded before the next fourth of July party.

Naugatiki - I agree that there is a demand for summer Hawaiian themed birthday parties/office parties and this paper and plastic is good for just that. But think back a few years - these Hawaiian/tiki party supplies were put out a few months a year - in the holiday aisle and at best it took up a half of an aisle. Now as this thread previously exlaimed "the tiki stuff now take up 4 aisles or even the whole back of the store" and that is a result of the new tiki success and rebirth. Most of us on TikiCentral understand and Love Tiki for what it was, and now collect, promote, display, create and enjoy the unique quality, history and genre behind it. If those newcomers to the Tiki rebirth mostly find Party Center Tiki crap, then are they really understanding the fading glory of an era of the past. Those of us who love and understand Tiki/Hawaiiana/Polynesia would be remiss if we didn't shout and scream at CHEAP imitation.

"They will get my Tikis only after they pry my cold, dead fingers from around them!"