If you are having a party with a tropical theme you will want food that matches your theme. Fortunately, there are a number of tropical foods and you can use them for everything from drinks to dessert.
Drinks
Coconuts are the quintessential tropical food item. You can purchase coconut water and coconut milk for drinks. If you have an adult crowd, you can make piña colada drinks to stay in the tropical theme. If you prefer non-alcoholic then you can make the piña coladas without alcohol. And if you want to cool off the crowd, you can make a coconut and banana smoothie by mixing 1 cup of coconut milk with 1 banana, 1 cup of milk and a ½ cup of ice in a blender until smooth. If you prefer pineapple to banana, you could omit the banana and instead use ½ cup of fresh pineapple.
Snacks and Appetizers
Tropical fruit is a must-have for a tropical party and it makes a great snack or appetizer. Common tropical fruits that you will want to use are pineapple, kiwi, starfruit, papaya and mangoes. Macadamia nuts are also a idea for tropical parties. Be sure that none of your guests has a nut allergy before using macadamias in any of the food. Put a twist on traditional chips and salsa by making a tropical mango salsa for the chips.
Main course
A buffet is a great option for a tropical party as you can make the buffet table look like a luau buffet. While you might not want a large roasted pig at the head of the table, there are a few other main course items you could have available. Coconut shrimp is a good choice for a tropical food. You could also serve pineapple teriyaki chicken, fish crusted with macadamia nuts or a fish or chicken with a mango salsa. If you are looking for tropical food ideas for picky eaters or children you could opt for something like fish sticks or make sandwiches using tropical cookie cutters to have them in the shape of palm trees, pineapples or fish.
Desserts
While fresh fruit makes a great tropical dessert, you could also use the fruit in other dessert items. For instance, instead of just having pineapple you could have a pineapple upside down cake or a pineapple cream cheese pie. Fruit tarts that contain tropical fruits would a be a hit. You could also make some cookies with macadamia nuts in them, and don't forget the coconut cream pie.
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