Use a tiki theme as your bar decorations for a "cool" atmosphere.
Whether you live in the coldest climate or somewhere that is often sweltering from the heat, you can inject a little bit of cool breeze and tropical atmosphere with tiki bar decorations. A tiki bar may seem out of place in a city or suburb, but once your guests get a view of your tropical decorations, they'll be ready for a frosty frozen beverage and may feel transported to a much more relaxed atmosphere. Does this Spark an idea?
Grass Skirts
While people may associate grass skirts with hula girls, the wispy "clothing" may also be used to decorate items around your bar. If you've got plain chairs and tables, they'll be instantly updated to a tropical theme when you place a grass skirt around them. Add a grass skirt around the edges of tables so the skirts hang down; use smaller ones around the bottoms of chairs and even around the edge of your bar to dress it up. You'll find grass skirts for sale at party goods stores or through online party vendors. You can also make your own with a variety of materials, including through shredding plastic and paper bags or actually gathering blades of tall grass and gluing them to a cord or long strand of tape. Attach grass skirts to just about anything in your tiki bar for some hula inspiration.
Tiki Masks
Your tiki bar would be missing something if it didn't feature the stone-faced tiki gods themselves sprinkled around the area. Tiki masks, sometimes compared to the large stone structures of Easter Island, feature a simple, broad face with a heavy brow, serious eyes and a set mouth. You can create tiki masks in just about any material you've got on hand, such as leftover poster board or sign material, an extra sheet of bedding or a hefty structure made of paper mache. Consider making a variety of sizes of masks to sprinkle all around the bar, such as mini ones for the tables, large sizes for the walls and a few extras to hang as mobiles from the ceiling. Once guests get a view of the tiki masks, they'll know they're in for a tropical evening.
Surfboard Bar
Instead of just using the ordinary bar top that came with your bar, transform it tiki-style by adding a surfboard. Find surfboards inexpensively at a surf shop or from an online vendor; since you won't actually be using the board in the water, you can look for discounted options that may have been broken or scuffed and unusable for the sport. Once you've got your board, paint it with tiki decorations such as tiki heads, coconuts, tropical drinks and palm trees. Place it on top of your bar (attach permanently with a drill and nails or leave separate for easy hose-down after a long night of drinking) and encourage bar patrons to step up and sample "the big one."
Tags: grass skirts, grass skirt, grass skirt around, guests view, just about, skirt around, tiki decorations