Real Festa: Mommy & Me Mexican Cooking Party

I started my new year of FESTAS with a very special one: my daughter, Marianna, 4th birthday celebration.

Every year, I have problems deciding the venue and theme for her party due to the cold weather in DC. It is hard to execute a good indoor party with space limitation. What it wasn't hard this year was choosing the theme. We all knew, it had to be a Chef party. Marianna keeps telling everyone that when she grows up, she will be a chef. She loves spending time with me in the kitchen and creating new dishes.

I came with the idea of having a Mexican Mommy & Me Cooking Party. We invited a small group of friends, well, small for a Mexican that loves big gatherings. It turned to by a wonderful event. I was very happy and pleased with everything we had. The kids and the moms had lots of fun. We cooked in the kitchen with the kids and without them, too. We had games and crafts, pinata, cupcake decoration and lots of food.

Thank you to all our friends that made Marianna's birthday unforgettable and I am happy to share pictures from this special FESTA.

I created rustic signs using black boards and chalk signs

All the inspiration for this party came from a piece of fabric my mom, Rossy, and I found in a store while she was visiting from Mexico. She hand made all the hats and aprons we gave the kids. She is very talented and had the ability to make so much with such a small piece of fabric. Thank you mom you are the best, I wish you could have been here with us!

The craft tables.

Personalized hats using colorful letter stickers.

Tables decoration.

The kitchen full of items in the same color palette.

I used yellow paper lanterns and ribbons to decorate the lamps in the kitchen.

The kitchen utensils.

The dessert table had typical Mexican candy as: mazapan, banderitas, chicles, duvalin, pelones, paletas de elote y gomitas de fruta. For a Mexican twist, the birthday cake was a Choco-Flan. I decorated the table with Mexican toys like fabric doll, yoyo, maracas, toma todo, etc.

The kids made Tamales and fixed their own Nachos. They also made Strawberry jelly to take home with them.

Chef Irene taught the moms some Mexican tips to make an authentic and good guacamole.

We decorated cupcakes.

This is me teaching the kids how to use the different types of piping tips.

We had a play corner with a toy kitchen full of kitchen toys.

While waiting for the food they created their own necklaces.

The kids had nachos & meat balls.

And for the moms delicious authentic Mexican food: Quesadillas de Huitlacoche & flor de Calabaza, tamales de puerco, pollo y rajas from Connie's Mexican Authentic Cuisine, frijoles refritos y salsa de elote con aguacate.

A piece of chocoflan

Marianna

At the end each guest took a typical Mexican shopping bag with kitchen toys.

Valentine's Day Treats

Today, I had to sent Valentine's Day treats for my daughter's class. I didn't have any idea of what to prepare, but I knew I could put together something using stuff from my storage. The only thing I bought specially for Valentine's Day was these ribbons from the Target dollar isle.

I found in my storage some heart shape bracelets from a pinata filling left overs, also from Target $1.99 for 20.

I also had cand y melt in 3 colors.

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I printed these simple tags with my 4 year old daughter signature that, of course, I had to scan. She wouldn't have writen 24 times her name!

I ended making these rustic design lollipops from candy melt

and when I wrapped them in cellophane bags, tied the bracelets with the ribbon and the tags.

They look just lovely!

Mini Mexican Pinatas

Finally, back to Festa! I have a little project to share with you. I was invited to be the Mystery Reader for my son's class. I chose "Book Fiesta: Celebrate Children's Day" by Pat Mora. A very colorful book that talks about one of my favorite holidays from my childhood in Mexico, Children's day. I read the book, taught the kids some spanish words and worked on a fun craft. We made mini pinatas!

I made some glue (engrudo). You can find a recipe here.

Cut crepe paper.

The most traditional pinata is the five cone star. I made a simple one with only 3 cones made with construction paper in different colors and some paper strips.

I bagged some Mexican treats to fill the pinata.

This is the final result. For pinata body I used paper cups and a made couple holes on the side to set a cord to be able to carry or hang it.