I mentioned Monday that this was a big party weekend around here and I wasn’t kidding!  After Cooper’s Transportation Birthday Party on Saturday, we kicked off Sunday with Tropical Thanksgiving!  My parents and my in-laws were both visiting and overlapping for just this one weekend so I knew I had to fit in Thanksgiving.  This year I knew I would have a hard time finding some of the more traditional Thanksgiving foods like butternut squash, pumpkin and more so I decided to take matters into my own hands and enter: Tropical Thanksgiving!

I have to say that I’m actually obsessed with this now and want to do it every year.  The star flavor was pineapple and it blended old and new tradition so well!

The day started at 4:30am when I popped my 30 lb turkey in the oven!  I don’t think I got a photo of the thing whole but it was HUGE!  Don’t worry, I went back to bed after putting in the oven but with an estimated 9 hours of cooking time, I knew I needed to get it in so we wouldn’t be eating at midnight (especially because my parents’ flight was at 11pm!).  Plus, our entire street was to be without power from 9:30-3:30 (it was actually about 9:45-6!!!) so I had to get things going.  Luckily I have a gas oven.

We started out with a cocktail hour featuring Coconut Shrimp with Spicy Pineapple Dipping Sauce and Pineapple Lime Rickeys.  I carved out the inside of mini pineapples and then froze the pineapples to act as our cocktail glasses.  I then took the pineapple innards and blended them up in the blender to make a juice and added lime juice, agave and vodka.  Aloooooha!

Cocktail hour definitely got everyone in the spirit of things!  I took some time planning the decor and had some amazing flower crowns made for the ladies to enjoy during dinner.  It was both fun and whimsical and perfect for our barefoot soiree!

I also made some great finds at Zara Home for our tablescape to complete the tropical look.  I used my own good china and then added some pink placemats, tropical napkins and large tropical leaves as a table runner set by a gorgeous tropical centerpiece!

Even Cooper had his own tropical themed plates!

We finally sat down to dinner and I think everyone was pleased with the twist on traditional favorites:

We ended our evening with dessert a la Luau and some Paradise Punch made with 1/2 bottle of rum, 1/2 bottle of prosecco, guava, orange and passionfruit juice with frozen pineapple rings for a garnish.

Recipes from this post can be found on Coastal Living.