This Suggested Servings toasts the Everyman of cocktails, the late but great Trader Vic. Put on a pair of shorts and drag out the water hose to spray away the last of winter's brown snow - you're planning a luau on the mainland that would make Vic proud.

Invite everyone on your suburban block over for a barbecue featuring a whole pig roasting in a pit. Hand grass skirts to guests as they arrive.

Don't be nervous about mixing the drinks for this party. Fortunately for you, the Mai Tai is the perfect drink for tropical revelry and won't tax the skills of a novice drinkmaker.

Authenticity isn't a necessity for a luau in the tradition of Trader Vic. Combine your favorite elements from all the exotic Pacific islands, including Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and Tahiti, and if you want to pull from elsewhere, go ahead. Vic, after all, was originally inspired by the island trappings at a Polynesian restaurant in Los Angeles.

This party doesn't even have to be outdoors, and if you're not into roasting an entire pig, the cooks give you another, equally appetizing option.

Regardless of the party location, have plenty of flowers and greens for decoration. Although hard-core luau enthusiasts might demand such flowers as orchids, birds of paradise, and gardenias, we say go for whatever you can afford and find easily. If need be, skip the banana and ti leaves, opting for the more prevalent fern and rubber-plant leaves. Use fake plants only as a last resort.

We don't recommend dime-store plastic leis for this party. Instead, select fresh flowers that mass well. Trader Vic's favorites included daisies, marguerites, carnations, cornflowers, chrysanthemums, dahlias, pinks, and asters. After removing the flowers' stems, string them together with needle and thread. Keep the leis in a box of loose, wet newspapers in a cooler, not the fridge. The latter, according to Vic's Book of Food and Drink, would shock the flowers into wilting prematurely.

Greet your guests with a lei and a kissy kiss, followed by a Mai Tai garnished with care. Because you'll be busy roasting the pig, set a good first-drink example so your guests can follow suit when it's time for the next round. Although it's impossible to ruin the taste of this sweet drink, you could go wrong with the garnish. An attractive paper umbrella is really all the Mai Tai needs, so resist the temptation to overdo it with a fruit-bowl topping that looks like a prop from Beach Blanket Babylon.

The Mai Tai is one of the few mixed drinks that's just as tasty when served as a punch. Premix the rum, triple sec, Rose's lime juice, and fruit juices in a large punch bowl before your guests arrive. Don't add ice to the punch - it will dilute the drink. Rather, keep the bowl on a bed of ice surrounded by greenery, coconuts, and fruits.

Have paper umbrellas, ice, Grenadine, and dark rum at the mixing station, next to a sign illustrating how each ingredient should be added to a tall glass of punch. Soon your guests will feel like professional mixologists as they watch their dash of Grenadine and half ounce of dark rum float down into the glass, creating that fancy layered look, reminiscent (at least according to Trader Vic) of a tropical sunset.

Don't worry if you don't have enough seats or silverware. Encourage your guests to feast with their fingers from wooden plates as they sit on the floor or ground listening to the faux tropical sounds of Martin Denny and Don Ho. If you're far too boho for the haole stereotypes of Hawaii and Hawaiian music, go for the slack key guitar of Gabby Pahinui and his sons Martin and Cyril, or of Keola Beamer, the only legitimate Hawaiian musician with his own homepage.

As your guests sip Mai Tais in early March, remind them that we're finally in our last week of bad weather, as forecast by the official rodent of spring, Punxsutawney Phil, who's never less accurate than a finely coiffed weather reporter and always in line with Trader Vic's endearingly flamboyant nature.

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