Free Printable Luau Birthday Party Invitation – Editable!
This free luau birthday invitation template can be easily customized in Canva—perfect for a fun, tropical party without spending a dime!
A luau-themed birthday party is so fun for summer! Of course, this party theme works for other seasons, too, so don’t limit yourself. It’s perfect for kids, teens, and adults alike!
There are lots of luau invitation templates you can purchase online or you could pay a graphic designer to make you one, but who wants to do that?
To make your party planning even easier, I’ve designed a FREE luau birthday party invitation template that you can easily edit in Canva yourself. The invitation only uses free elements, so it won’t cost you anything to download it. Just edit the party details with your own text, download, and print as many copies as you need for your luau party!
Be sure to read to the end of the post for some crucial party-planning tips to make your luau a success!
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
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Free luau birthday invitation template
This Hawaiian luau party invitation template includes vibrant colors and a tropical design featuring a palm tree, hibiscus flowers, a pineapple, flip flops, and a flamingo. I think the design leans slightly more feminine, but you can easily edit the colors of the text and images for a more gender-neutral invite.
The invitation template can be downloaded in PDF format for printing, or you can download as a PNG for sharing digitally through text or email.
Editable text fields
You can personalize the following information on this invitation:
- Name of the birthday guest
- Age (5th birthday, 10th birthday, etc.) or you can also change this field to just say “birthday” for an adult (or change this text entirely for a different kind of luau party–the template doesn’t just have to be for birthdays!)
- Date and time
- Location
- RSVP contact information
Download the free template
Note: This template is for personal use only and may not be shared, sold, or distributed, in whole or in part. Please do not share this template link–it is for personal use only. Please share a link to this blog post instead!
Click the image or button below to get free printable luau birthday party invitation:
You have unlimited downloads of this free template, so if you mess up and need to start over, just return to this post and make a new copy to edit fresh!
How to edit this free printable invitation
This luau birthday invitation was designed in Canva. There are lots of Canva tutorials online if you’re unfamiliar with the program, but these are some basic instructions for editing free templates like this one. I think it’s easiest to work from a desktop (which is what I recommend you use if possible), so these instructions are for the desktop version of Canva. If you’re using the mobile app, the same instructions apply but the icons/toolbars may be in a different spot on the app.
Open the template
After clicking the template link above, click the “use template” button. This will open a copy of the template in Canva that you can then edit (don’t worry, only you will have access to this copy). If you’re new to Canva, you’ll probably be prompted to create a free account, which you will want to do so you can save your design.
Edit the text fields
Double click on text boxes to type new text (you can highlight the entire text or click for a cursor to appear).
When you have a text box selected, the top toolbar will show the Font, Font Size, and Text Color (as well as some other options like Uppercase, Alignment, and Spacing). Font color is the “A” symbol with a colored line underneath it: click on this to open the Text Color toolbar where you can see all the colors currently being used in the template, or you can click on the “+” to add a new color.
To change colors of individual letters within a single word, you’ll have to highlight only one letter at a time to edit the color.
Edit the graphics
Unfortunately, I don’t believe free Canva accounts can filter elements by paid or free (which is totally silly), so I don’t recommend changing the graphics too drastically. (If you’re using a free Canva account, you won’t want to add any elements with the crown icon, which are only free for Canva Pro subscribers. If you do, you’ll be charged for each Pro element a la carte when you go to download your invitation. This is why I stuck to only free graphics on this template for you!)
You can change the size of elements by clicking on them and dragging the corners of the bounding box to make it bigger or smaller. To edit colors, click on an element to edit, then click the colored circle in the top toolbar to open the Color toolbar. Similar to the Text Color toolbar, you can see colors you’ve already used in the template or click on the “+” to add a new color. Elements with more than one color will have multiple colored circles in the toolbar–click on each one individually to change the color of that part of the design.
Note: The palm tree and the wood sign are the only images you can’t edit colors on because they’re a different image type (probably uploaded to Canva as a PNG, which is one solid image, instead of an SVG, which is made up of layers of different colors). If you really feel it necessary to edit either of these images, you can click on them, click Edit in the top toolbar, and choose Filters and See All to see color variations of the image. (Usually filters make the colors wonky, so this isn’t my first recommendation.)
View all layers
If you’re having a hard time editing any layers (sometimes it’s hard to get to the layers at the back of the design when elements are overlapping them), you can select any text box or graphic, click Position at the right of the top toolbar, and the Position toolbar will pop up.
The first tab is the Arrange tab, which is useful for positioning elements in front of or behind others (unless you’re changing graphics, you can probably leave this alone). Click on the second tab, which is the Layers tab, and you’ll be able to see all the elements and text boxes that are being used in the invitation in a neat list. They are in order starting with the element at the very front of the design and go all the way down to the element at the very back of the design (which is the faint tropical leaves that serve as this invitation’s background). You can click on any layer in this list to have its bounding box show up in the template. Clicking on the element should now be easier so you can edit it.
How to download your finished invitation
Once you’ve finished customizing the invitation with your party details, click the Share button at the top right of Canva. Click on download (the icon at the bottom right of the menu that pops up) and change the file type to PDF Print* for printing or probably PNG if you’re using the invitation digitally. Then click Download.
The file will most likely show up in your downloads folder on your computer and you can print or use your invitation from there. The invitation will print on a single sheet of paper and you’ll have to crop it down to the printed area afterwards (the printed area should measure 5×7 inches).
*Note: I’ve played with different PDF formats and settings, but I usually just select PDF Print and leave everything else as is. I even find I have better printed colors when I leave the Color Profile set to RGB (which is good since it’s the only free option). When downloading as a PNG, sometimes I’ll increase the file size for a high quality. Also, even if I use the invitation digitally, sometimes I’ll still print a single invitation to keep as a memento of the memorable celebration.
How to throw an awesome luau party
If you’ve never thrown a luau before, here are some fun ideas to include at your themed party:
Easy luau decorations
Turn your house or backyard into a tropical paradise by decorating with faux palm trees (these inflatable palm trees or these leaves would be awesome), tiki torches, and colorful hibiscus flowers. Tiki masks and string lights are other fun additions.
Hawaiian dress code
Invite guests to dress in Hawaiian shirts, flip flops, and grass skirts. (To add this info to the invitation, you can make the RSVP section smaller or remove it entirely.) Even if your guests don’t dress up, flower leis are an easy party favor you can hand out when guests arrive to make them feel included. (Side note: I recently bought my son this t-rex on surf boards Hawaiian shirt and it’s majestic! I highly recommend finding a similarly-fun Hawaiian shirt for your birthday guest!)
Food & drinks
Serve delicious food like BBQ skewers, hot dogs, tropical fruit, and sweet treats. Create a drink station with fruity punches, smoothies, or mocktails to keep things refreshing. These cute umbrella straws are a must-have!
Music
Don’t forget music to elevate the festive atmosphere of your luau! Set the mood with traditional Hawaiian music, ukulele melodies, or surf rock playlists.
Free luau invitation templates
Ready to party? Grab your free party invitations, plan your decorations, and start building your own island escape—no travel required!
I actually really enjoy making free printables, so let me know what free printable invitations I should make next!
