Maggie's 1st Fiesta

Let me start by saying I LOVE to plan a party and Maggie's first birthday was no exception! Her birthday is in early May and as we were going to celebrate her birthday on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) I decided a fiesta theme was the way to go. I've never thrown a party with a Mexican theme and I was blown away by some of the amazing ideas and vendors available.  Seriously, the ideas were so fun but also a bit overwhelming. My life is pretty hectic so I had to come up with a few areas I really wanted to focus to make the party festive yet manageable to execute. Read on for my TAKE on a 1st Fiesta!

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Invitations

Paper invitations are my absolute favorite and while not always practical or appropriate I have done them for all our kids first birthday celebrations. I strive to be organized but I have never been very good about filling in their baby books so a paper birthday invite is kind of like a win-win as I can easily tape it into their book. I found Maggie's pinata themed invites and matching thank you cards through Minted and they were the perfect inspiration to start planning. By sheer coincidence, the United States Postal Service had new Traditional Latin food themed stamps that were the perfect addition to the invite!

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Decorations

I had the most fun decorating for the fiesta. I found a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and while it's easy to overdo it; especially for a 1st birthday party, I tried to stick to a few key decor items. My decor wish list was as follows: tissue paper flowers, pinatas, tissue paper banners and a serape table runner displayed with flowers and succulents. I'm definitely the most proud of the tissue paper flowers. They took longer than expected (mostly because we made more than I anticipated) but the end result was worth it. We taped 30 flowers to some framed artwork and I love the result. It almost looks like an art installation at a gallery. A week later and I still haven't taken them down. I found instructions on how to make them here and ordered this set of tissue paper to make them with. After trying a couple and not being 100% satisfied with the result I ended up watching a YouTube video to perfect my craft. The remainder of the decor I purchased online. I found a few adorable shops on Etsy where I was able to order serape-esque table runners, tissue paper garland, cactus napkins, mini pinata cupcake toppers and festive cutlery sets. I knew that I wanted to purchase a pinata for the party both for decoration and to be used as an activity for the older kids. I looked for a burro one to coordinate with the invite but ended up with a festive cactus pinata from Party City.

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Sombreros, Fake Mustaches + Pom Pom Crowns

I couldn't resist ordering sombreros, mustaches and pom pom crowns to help the kids really get into the fiesta vibe. I was able to order the sombreros in bulk so many kids left with a sombrero to play dress up with at home. George was just too much in his taco shirt, sombrero and mustache. The pom pom crown was the perfect accessory for Maggie while she attempted to blow out the candle on her cupcake even if she was a bit overwhelmed!

Food

In the past we have made much of the food when entertaining but for this party we opted to streamline things and catered most of the food from local restaurant, Big Star. The tacos and fixings were delicious! My husband attempted a chipotle like rice and made our favorite black bean recipe from Jessica Seinfeld. I did pick up a few things from Whole Foods like tortilla chips, fruit and pre-made guacamole which we combined with 2 additional avocados and fresh pico-de-gallo. For drinks we served Topo Chico mineral water, Mexican Coke, Corona and my favorite margaritas! It couldn't have been easier. While I love a churro, we decided to serve cake and cupcakes from our favorite Chicago bakery, Sweet Mandy B's. I was able to email them photos of sample cake design and they pulled off the vision beautifully!

Party Favors

No matter the size of the party I can't let our guests leave without a party favor. I love to give cut out cookies or an appropriately themed children's book for a kids party. For Maggie's 1st fiesta we did cut out cookies in the shape of pinata donkeys resembling her party invite packed in cellophane bags. The bags were accessorized with colorful maracas and tied with a ribbon. Pro tip: I found the easiest way to attach the maraca to the bag was with one of my older daughters (unused) elastic hair ties! The older kids also left with a goody bag full of treats from the cactus pinata. If you're looking for a party activity (even if it lasts 10 minutes) I love to let kids decorate their kraft paper treat bags with stickers and markers!