Do you want to paint gray everyday life with bright colors, fiery music and fun games? Invite friends and host a Mexican party at home. It can be dated to any date. Temperamental seniors with guitars, exotic scenery, flamenco and tequila will make the holiday unforgettable.
Mexican party: paraphernalia
We begin the preparation by creating the necessary atmosphere. Great if you have maracas, a guitar, a drum, wicker furniture and dishes, colored striped paths. Lay bright pillows around the room, hang balloons and ribbons of red, white and green. It is in them that the Mexican flag is painted. Arrange cacti everywhere, real or inflatable. As a last resort, draw them on paper. You can decorate the room with compositions of chili peppers, corncobs, fruits.
Many accessories for the Mexican party are made of ordinary cardboard. Draw bright flowers, Aztec patterns on it. On the walls you can hang photographs of the streets of Mexico City, shots from the series “Just Maria”, “Wild Rose”, images of attacking bulls. Decorate the windows with flickering garlands. To make a sombrero, paint the mayonnaise buckets in bright colors, make the hat margins out of cardboard and glue it to the homemade tulle.
Table setting
A traditional white tablecloth is not suitable for a Mexican party. Attributes should be bright. Great if you find a striped tablecloth, colored dishes, and cutlery. They can be disposable. Lay out the colorful napkins, fastening them with rings of colored cardboard. Light the candles.
Use your printer to print small Mexican flags. Put them on skewers and decorate all spicy dishes so that guests are warned in advance of their dangers. As a decoration, you can use chili peppers, a cactus in a paper sombrero.
Mexican party: menu
Even a novice hostess can cope with the preparation of a festive dinner . The easiest option: fried meat, seasoned with pepper, and beans for a side dish. Corn tortillas are also a must. At the store, buy Nachos chips, serve them with Guacomole and Salsa sauces. For dessert, you can offer guests fruits, a salad of them, ice cream.
Below are recipes for traditional Mexican dishes:
- Fajitos. To prepare the marinade, combine 50 gr. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. l ketchup or tomato paste, 2 slices of crushed garlic, 1 tbsp. l cider vinegar, a little salt, a teaspoon of sugar. Add spices, focusing on your own taste: pepper, paprika, ginger, coriander, nutmeg. The marinade should turn out to be sweet and sour. Cut the chicken fillet into pieces, fry for 5 minutes. Pour the marinade, stew with onions, bell peppers and canned corn.
- Burrito. Fry minced meat with onions, garlic, herbs, put spices at your discretion. When ready, add canned beans and simmer for a couple of minutes. Lubricate the tortilla cakes with sour cream and wrap the filling in them.
- Quesadilla with cheese and vegetables. Put the tartilla on a preheated pan, grease one half of the tortilla with chili sauce. Put small slices of mozzarella and cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes, onions, bell pepper, and spinach on top. Fold in half with tarrilla, turn over after 3 minutes. When the cheese is melted, the treat is ready.
The drinks
At a Mexican party, guests usually drink tequila. A traditional drink is also a Margarita cocktail. To prepare it, mix 100 ml of tequila with the same amount of lime juice, pour 50 gr. orange liquor (such as Cointreau). If cooking in a shaker, use ice.
Advocates of a healthy lifestyle will love sangria from grape juice. In a jug, put slices of fruits and berries: orange, banana, lemon, strawberry, lime, peach, apple. You can add vanillin, a cinnamon stick. Pour all this with juice and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
Buy lemonade for the kids. If the holiday fell on the cold season, you can cook hot cocoa.
Outfits
Invite your guests to dress up for a Mexican party. Costumes are easy to make from improvised materials. Men have enough jeans and an old striped T-shirt, the bottom of which is cut in the form of a fringe. Another option is a cowboy outfit. It requires a shirt, vest, neckerchief and holster with a toy gun. At the entrance to the house, a sultry macho can give out home-made sambrero and fake mustache on double-sided tape.
The best outfit for ladies is a dress with layered skirts in black and red. A gypsy costume is perfect for these purposes . But in principle, you can do with any bright dress, any short skirt and white blouse. For jewelry, choose artificial flowers that are inserted into the hairstyle or used as a brooch. They can be issued to beauties at the entrance. Neck scarves, bright jewelry, rhinestones, plant and folk ornaments will be appropriate.
Welcome guests
The doors are opened by the warm don Pedro and his wife Anita-Rosita. To sit down at the festive table, everyone who enters must pass the initiation. The scenario of the Mexican party involves the reincarnation of all those present in the senior and senior, for this you need to dress up in sombrero and drink a glass of tequila. In case of refusal of alcohol, the guest is given a choice of a pod of pepper or a slice of lemon, which must be eaten with a joyful smile on his face.
Invite the children to pronounce the Spanish tongue twister: Mi mama´ me mima mucho (My mother pampers me a lot). When the test is passed, the newly arrived Mexican receives an icon with his new name: Pedro, Juan, Diego, Marianna, Isabelle and others. Now you can only talk to each other like that. The one who has fined should eat a slice of lime or lemon.
Quiz "Is this true?"
A Mexican-style party can begin with intellectual fun. Invite guests to guess which statement is correct:
- In Mexico, all houses and streets are named according to their numbers: first street, one house, third street, six house, etc. (True).
- Here is the largest sand desert on the planet. (No, in Africa - the Sahara desert).
- It was in Mexico that they made the world's first chocolate. (True).
- Locals love to ride tricycles, in which two wheels are located not in front but in front. (Yes).
- In a circus in Mexico City, two crocodiles were taught to dance to Latin American music. (Not).
- In Mexico there was a president who ruled the country for only 15 minutes. (Yes).
- It was here that the blue rose was first bred. (No, such plants do not exist).
- In Mexico, even candy is sprinkled with pepper. (Yes).
- This country has the smallest volcano, whose height is only 13 meters. (Yes).
- Some Mexicans adore fried grasshoppers. (Yes).
- The main god of the Aztecs and Maya Indians was half human and half iguana. (No, by the jaguar).
- If the bullfighter gets scared during the bullfight and tries to escape from the arena, he may be arrested. (Yes).
Word games
At the table you can spend the following activities:
- "Favorite word." Fold the pieces of paper in the sombrero with the words: “cactus”, “don Carlos”, “beans”, “salsa”, “pepper”, “sand”, “poncho”, “ranch”. The player pulls a piece of paper with his eyes closed. The rest ask him any questions. He must answer, be sure to use the pulled out word. For example: "How old are you?" “I have been dancing salsa for so long that I forgot about age.”
- "Crocodile". The participant pulls out a piece of paper with the word written on it (cactus, iguana, pyramid, monkey, cowboy, sun, Indian, eagle, jaguar, sombrero, maracas, etc.) Without making a sound, you need to use gestures to portray this. In response to questions allowed to wave his head. The rest guess the word.
Fun contests
To make the Mexican party a success, offer your guests fun activities from the following list:
- "Tricky Cactus." Participants are given a cucumber and many toothpicks that need to be stuck in a vegetable. The leader marks time. At its expiration, players are invited to remove the toothpicks with their teeth, the stopwatch starts. Who is faster?
- "Hit the target." Throwing chili peppers in a sombrero. Each time the hats move back further; whoever misses is eliminated from the game.
- "Bean picking." At the start, put a cup with beans, beans or peas. At the finish - an empty vessel. Players are awarded a straw tube. Through it, you need to suck a pea and bring to the finish. Who will collect more beans in a certain time?
- Bullfight. Two are participating in the competition. "Bulls" are given horns. Any word is attached to the bullfighter on the back, red fabric is handed. The bull’s task is to read the inscription on the opponent’s back. He should dodge. Do not touch each other with your hands or feet.
- "Cool macho." Men are invited to play. They should smile and say the phrase: "I'm a cool macho." After each time, a slice of lime is placed in the mouth. Whose smile after 7 pieces of fruit is closer to natural, he won.
Incendiary disco
Dancing must be present at a Mexican party. You can use national music performed by mariachi, modern compositions in the style of Latin, reggaeton. It’s better to start a disco with famous tunes that will make everyone dance. These are the favorite Macarena, Besame Mucho, La Cucaracha, Pina Colada by J. Buffett, La Bamba by R. Walesa.
You can diversify your dances using the following games:
- "Newspaper". To the fast music, guests dance on a piece of newspaper, trying to tear it into many shreds. Whoever has more will win.
- "In the bag". To the music, guests pass each other sombrero. Suddenly she stops talking. The one with the hat on his head leaves the game. The player remaining last wins.
- "Lime dance." Couples dance with lime or lemon between their foreheads. If the fruit falls, the participants are eliminated. Winners are determined by the audience.
- "Three legs." The competition involves couples. Their opposite legs are tied. In this position, you need to harmoniously dance flamenco. Those who did better, they won.
Colorful finale
It's time to finish the Mexican party. A photo with a false mustache, in a sombrero and poncho will help keep wonderful moments in your memory. The final chord may be the traditional Mexican fun - pinata.
For her, you need to make papier-mâché figures in advance. We glue the balloon in several layers of newsprint, then burst it and carefully remove it from the workpiece. Inside we put sweets, candies, marmalade, confetti. On top of a pinata they glue with corrugated paper, foil, flowers or feathers.
Guests are invited to take a stick (bat) and break the toy with fun music, pouring out its contents. Two adults can hold a pinata on a rope. Sometimes hollow balls are harvested according to the number of children present so that no one is offended.
Mexicans and fireworks love, but they should be launched on the street. The most popular is the fireworks in the form of starfall, with which you can make your amigos happy.
The Mexican party will give you a boost of vivacity and good mood for the coming days. It is appropriate at any time of the year, contests are easily adapted to the company of different ages. And most importantly - you can travel for several hours into the world of temperamental, cheerful Mexicans and forget about all your problems.