What Tiki Accessories and Items Should You Buy for Your Home, Tiki Bar and Tiki Party?

The atmosphere of infinite leisure and pleasure that you would find in a tiki bar can actually be created easily, with the purchase and proper arrangement of the right tiki accessories and bar items.

The delight you and your guests will feel at finding yourselves in a tiki bar is intangible. However, it is brought about through the proper combination of very tangible tiki bar accessories, items and physical props.

Building a tiki bar is all about applying Gestalt principles: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

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Tropical Themed Party Basics: Thatch, Weaves, and Bamboo

The basic components of a convincing tropical themed party will be surrounding your guests in the proper atmosphere are palm-thatched roofs (such as you would see on traditional Polynesian roofs, woven bamboo mats, and bamboo poles).

These are the "brick and mortar" of putting together a tiki bar. Any surface that goes on top of where people are sitting or standing, such as the roof of a the bar area (if you're building a little "tiki shack") or a sun umbrella, should be covered in palm thatch.

Fortunately, that doesn't mean you have to pay contractors to thatch the roof of your bar.

Thatch is available in easy-to-install rolls that you can just unroll and use to cover a basic skeleton structure made of wood.

Woven mats go great on floors, as a kind of tropical rug, or on walls. They are comfortable to touch and let in a little bit of warm, tropical breeze while keeping out the wind.

If you don't live in a tropical climate, don't worry. You can buy woven mats by the foot and use them to line an ordinary wall.

The woven mats that you can buy commercially are made with thick-woven strips of bamboo--much like the traditional ones you would see on a Polynesian island, except treated with various substances to make them stronger and more durable.

Bamboo is an excellent construction material because it can come in another form.

What could be an aesthetically superior complement to a woven bamboo mat than a tiki sign held up by a bamboo pole? These tiki bar accessories could be simple-looking, perhaps wooden, and hand-painted to fit in with the tiki aesthetic. "[insert your name]'s Tiki Bar," it could say.

But don't stop there! Bamboo poles, in combination with woven bamboo, could also be used to make delightful tiki furniture for your bar. This, too, can be purchased commercially. Is there anything more playful than the combination of rustic and modern found in a bamboo CD holder, containing, perhaps, your collection of marimba music?

Get Fancier: Tiki Masks And More!

Once you have established your tiki bar's underlying structure of bamboo and thatch, you can really start the best part of tropical themed party decorating: choosing individual tiki accessories.

You must, of course, start with the classics that have existed in tiki bars since the 1930's: tiki masks.

According to Maori legend, Tiki is actually the first human being on earth--similar to the Judeo-Christian Adam. Tiki masks are originally inspired by traditional Polynesian woodcarvings. To "western" eyes, they tend to look imposing and exotic, and they are an indispensable part of tiki bar decor.

Many "tiki masks" today aren't really masks--just giant woodcarvings. You can use tiki masks creatively: buy a couple, put a board over them (preferably made from the same type of wood), and you've got a tiki bench.

Other tiki accessories and tiki bar accessories you can buy include tiki mugs (in which to serve colorful, rum-based drinks), artificial palm trees, and fiberglass fish mounts to mount on your walls.