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Thursday, May 05, 2011

Cinco De Mayo with kids!

This year for our Fun and Food Cinco de Mayo Craft Day, we were blessed to have our family friend Laura and her kids celebrate with us!  Being of Mexican descent she lent authenticity to our day.  She was able to help us make some authentic foods like Gorditas and Chalupas and Churros. 





We started our day off with the children putting together wooden puzzle animals. The kits were purchased from our local craft store.  The kids did a great job on these and they were so cute when finished!  Some of the animals included were a butterfly, horse, owl and a snake.

Gordita
Food Prep
Using the Tortilladora / Tortilla Press
Cooking the Tortilla's

After helping the children with their puzzles we started to prep the food for the event.  We delegated each child a task in each food item we made.  First we made dough and we rolled them into balls and pressed them in the Tortilladora (a press to flatten the dough) and fried them in oil creating two different Tortillas de Maiz fritas.  Gorditas which have a pocket for food and Chalupas are made for the food to be placed on top.  Everyone helped cutting up the vegetables and cooking the re-fried beans. We had Queso Chihuahua which is a Mexican style melting cheese to sprinkle on our Gorditas and Chalupas.  We also made kid friendly margarita punch that was very refreshing and everyone really loved it.  Click HERE for the recipe.  Here is a video of Laura assembling one of the Chalupas:

Cucumber Cactus
 Tissue Paper Flowers


We decorated the dining room with bright colors, cacti, Mexican flags and tissue paper flowers.  Because our creative cucumber cacti were such a hit last year we decided to make them again – so cute!  We used cucumbers, toothpicks broken in half and miniature tissue paper flowers.   We placed them in a terra cotta pot that we eventually painted later that day.  Lauren had a great time helping to create these.  They are easy to do and very festive.   We created many tissue paper flowers.  We cut the edges of them to give them each a different look.  These flowers are so colorful and give you an instant festive feeling!   We then sat down together and ate our fabulous authentic Mexican meal.  This was so delicious and everyone really had a great time from beginning to end! 

Wooden Animal Craft: Painting Mexican Folk Art













After our wonderful meal and clean up, we sat down with the kids and had them paint their wooden animals they had put together earlier in the day.  We asked them to paint them using bright colors similar to those used in Mexican folk art.  We also had some terra cotta pots that we offered to the children to paint to mimic Mexican Pottery.  The embellished some of the pots with terra cotta colored clay to add unique patterns. 

Churros
Making the froth using the Molinillo
Our finished Churros
After painting we had the girls make the dough for the Churros.  They then rolled the dough out and cut them in strips and then twisted them into shape.  When they were twisted they brought them to the frying pan and we fried them up.  After frying they were placed in some cinnamon and sugar mix to give them a nice coating.  We also made Chocolate Caliente which is Spanish Hot Chocolate that we made by melting Mexican chocolate in milk and then using a Molinillo to add a wonderful froth to our Chocolate Caliente.    Here is a video making the churros:

We ALL had so much fun!  We asked the kids what they liked best and here is what they said:


Lauren:  “I think the best part was decorating and making the Churros”

Tiffany:  “I liked Decorating for the party”

Matthew:  “I really liked helping to make the food and painting the Mexican Folk Art”

Willy:  “Painting Mexican Folk Art”

Willy as one of our Props, lol





Party Props we made from black paper and skewers

Margarita Punch


For even more inspiration here are some of our pictures from last years party:

Paper Place mats



Cucumber Cactus



Frozen kid friendly Margarita



Tortilla Soup and Taco Salads

Our Props

Lauren making her God's Eye craft

Our Ojo de Dios or God's eye collection

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