Ho`olaule`a: Celebration

Raise your hand if vacation doesn’t necessarily equal wild nights. That’s me. All the way. I’m already not much of a partier back home….surprise. I love sleep and I’m all about an amazing dinner with cocktails and then heading back to the room to snuggle in bed. Sorry not sorry.

As much as I love being a homebody and totally maximizing my Netflix & chill time, I’ve been trying to be more intentional about celebrating life with friends & family. I was definitely reminded about the importance of creating these moments during our trip to Maui and feel even more inspired to create causes for celebration whenever and wherever I can.

Ho`olaule`a:a Hawaiian celebration or festival

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Ho’olaule’a  is something that stood out to me. Most Maui visitors make it a priority to attend a luau. While I still sorta wish we got to experience one, Megan & I somehow managed to have celebrations of our own all week long.

While a Ho’olaule’a typically consists of authentic hula dancing and music, foods, vendors and games…not all celebrations have to be spectacles. For me, a good celebration is all about bringing together loved ones or the community to embrace good vibes and a good time.

Megan and I both work pretty hard. We’re full time bloggers, we own a consulting agency together and also have other passions and hustles and personal lives and boyfriends and, well, the list goes on. This trip, at least for me, couldn’t have come at a better time. While I have had the opportunity to travel a lot over the past few months, it’s rare that I take an actual vacation. Now don’t get me wrong, we 100% worked on this trip. But, we made it a priority to find a balance between relaxation, fun, adventure and work.

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When it came down to it, we wanted this trip to be a celebration of our successes, passions, friendship and so much more. We didn’t party or take in much nightlife (that time difference totally threw us off), but we did make time to create our own laid back celebrations throughout the trip.

One of my favorite days included packing up a beach bag with fresh fruit and Bacardi (who doesn’t love a cocktail) and then heading to Little Beach. I’ll share more details about this beach in next week’s travel guide (spoiler alert: it may or may not be a nude beach) but it was seriously the kind of celebration I can get behind. We toasted to all of the awesome things like love and friendship and making that monnneeeyyyy. We kicked back, relaxed and just had a good time. It was very chill but it truly felt like we were celebrating our trip in the most perfect way. We made new friends (sans clothing – eek!) and spent a fortune on the most massive coconut (coconut water and bacardi = my new favorite cocktail). Day made.

Fun Fact: we totally took our tops off…I think the liquid courage definitely helped! 

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And, speaking of celebrations, why not share some of my favorite rum based cocktails inspired by the island vibes of Maui? These are all cocktails we actually made ourselves throughout the trip from our hotel room. Soooo good! Check out a few favorites below and when all else fails, just grab a coconut, crack it open and pour!

• Mimosas with a Twist: Equal parts fresh Orange Juice, Champagne and Bacardi Rum. Top it off with a pineapple wedge and sip over macadamia nut pancakes.
• Hawaiian Punch: Mix fresh guava juice, pineapple juice and orange juice. Top with Bacardi Rum, a splash of sprite or sparkling water (try a citrus flavor) and your favorite fresh fruit. We loved adding strawberries to our poolside cocktails.
• Tropical Take on Rum Collins: Pour Bacardi Rum over ice. Add fresh lime juice, sugar and a splash of citrusy sparkling water or pineapple juice. Shake/stir and enjoy.

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