Throwing a Cinco de Mayo party is as easy as uno, dos, tres

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I don’t know about you, but I am always looking for an excuse to throw a party — and an excuse to eat Mexican food. There’s nothing better than friends, fun and food. However, you may not have the time, money or space to host parties. Here are some cheap and easy ideas to turn your Cinco de Mayo into a fiesta.

Uno: Food

It’s not a party without food. I suggest putting together a taco bar. If you prepare the meat and have the guests bring toppings, you’ll have a fun meal everyone can enjoy.

This is one of my family’s favorite taco recipes. It doesn’t cost much or take long, and it can feed a crowd. Leftovers are great on nachos, taco salads or even straight out of the storage container.

Chicken Ole

1 cup chicken broth

2 cans Cream of Chicken soup

4-5 chicken breasts

3/4 cup salsa

1/2 package taco seasoning

Cook all ingredients in a crock pot on low for 6 hours. Take chicken out, shred then put back in crock pot and stir. Serve with flour or corn tortillas.

Suggested toppings: sour cream, salsa, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado and cilantro.

To drink, serve pink lemonade with lemon slices in sugar rimmed glasses. To do that, spread sugar on a piece of aluminum foil. Rub the glass rims with a lemon wedge and roll the glass through the sugar.

Of course you’ll want to have chips, salsa and guacamole. You can buy the dips or make them yourself.

Dos: Decorations

It’s easy to go a crazy with decorations when hosting a party and then end up with things like a big, inflatable cactus and no where to put it once the guests have left. There is a cheap and easy solution on the blog MADE written by BYU alum Dana Willard. With some streamers and a sewing machine, you can make a colorful decoration that can be easily stored and pulled out for next year. You can get streamers at the dollar store or any other craft or party supply store. Many stores have apps that you can use to download coupons. Go HERE for the full ruffled streamers tutorial. And remember, the more colorful, the better.

[media-credit name=”Dana Willard” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]
Ruffled Streamers
If you can’t get your hands on a sewing machine or if your fingers are worried for their safety, Martha Stewart has another cheap and easy banner tutorial using tissue paper. HERE is the full tutorial.

Tres: Entertainment

While it is fun to hang out and chat, sometimes organized fun is necessary to keep the party rolling. Hulu now has many of the oh-so-dramatic Hispanic soap operas online. Go to http://www.hulu.com/latino, pick a simple conversation clip, mute it and make your own dialogue. Take turns and vote on who did the best, or just have a free-for-all.

There you have it — a cheap, easy and fun Cinco de Mayo party. And if all else fails, get a group together, wear fake mustaches and go to Del Taco. Whatever you do, don’t pass up this chance to celebrate.

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