Spice up your next party with a backyard or poolside tiki hut you build yourself. Building a tiki hut is easy and even more fun to decorate. Bamboo poles and inexpensive lumber make a simple frame for the hut and roof. Decorate the roof with thatching and palm leaves you find in the neighborhood, or create your own thatching from shredding brown paper bags. A folding table with a tablecloth makes the perfect bar or buffet. Finish your tiki hut with party lights and South Seas-style decorations. Don't forget the little paper umbrellas in the drinks. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Decorate four 5-gallon buckets with craft paints and allow them to dry. Drill a hole 1 inch from the top of each bamboo pole large enough for the bolts to fit easily through. Place each bamboo pole in a 5-gallon bucket and fill the bucket with sand for support. Position the buckets and poles 6 feet apart with the 7-foot poles in the back of the tiki hut. Position the 5-foot bamboo poles in buckets 3 feet in front and 6 feet apart. This will create a sloped roof.
2. Drill holes 1 inch from both ends in two 6-foot-long, 1-by-3-inch boards and six 3-foot-long, 1-by-3-inch boards. Attach the boards to the bamboo poles by inserting bolts into the holes and tightening the nuts with a wrench to create a continuous horizontal frame around the outside of the bamboo poles.
3. Secure four 3-foot-by-1-by-3-inch roof planks spaced evenly across the top of the roof starting at each edge, using a hammer and nails. Use a staple gun to attach a 3-by-6-foot piece of foam core to the top of the roof. Staple thatching to the foam core to complete the roof.
4. Set up a 6-foot folding table that should fit perfectly between the bamboo poles and cover it with a tablecloth.
5. String party lights around the roof and decorate using balloons, starfish, fishing net, grass skirting or tropical fruit.
Tags: bamboo poles, 1-by-3-inch boards, bamboo pole, each bamboo, each bamboo pole