The end of summer is slowly coming upon us. Have you thrown a tiki party yet? What better way to celebrate the end of the summer with a lush tropical tiki party. It will be fun for your friends, family and neighbors, and all it takes is a little work.

First, a little background. The first tiki bar can be traced back to the 1930s. The bar was called Don Beach aka Don the Beachcomber. The bar was modeled after restaurants and bars that had been seen in the South Seas during this time. When Don Beach first opened, it’s menu was mainly tropical-themed food and rum-based umbrella drinks. Hopefully now you have an idea of what you’ll need to create your outdoor tiki bar.

Step 1: Create a Polynesian-inspired outdoor area

To achieve this look, use a combination of these items to decorate your outdoor area with: real or fake flowers, paper lanterns, sand, totems, masks, tropical-themed outdoor lights and/or metal tiki torches.

Step 2: Create a tropical tiki music playlist

For a successful party, the party music is just as important as the decor. Create a tiki party music list prior to starting your party. One suggestion is ukulele classics and standards. If that isn’t enough, there are plenty of tiki albums on the market currently. All it takes is quick search on a shopping website like Become.com and you’ll see.

Step 3: Create or purchase fun tropical finger foods or luau-style dishes

Look up recipes and ideas at popular food websites like Food Network and Chow.com. If you are still stumped an easy idea is to create meat, vegetable and fruit skewers. And don’t forget to make some tropical punch!

Step 4: Create the ultimate tiki bar

Building a tiki bar is a modest project for someone with handyman know-how. If that isn’t you, try instead to decorate a small table or stand with some bamboo window shades and tiki torches. Just be in inventive! Try placing a blow up palm tree on the counter of the bar. Remember that what truly makes this a tiki bar is the rum-based drinks and tiny umbrellas, so don’t forget to stock up on both.