Mexico

Fun Ways To Celebrate Cinco De Mayo

Even though adults may head to celebrations in the neighborhood or to nearby Mexican restaurants to party, there are plenty of ways to celebrate this holiday from the comfort of your own home. It is a good way to bring some multicultural flair to your household, learning many new things while you are at it.

If you have got young children, have them make a pinata in preparation for the holiday. They are easy to craft. Place some candy inside a large balloon then fill it with air. Apply some papier mache artistry onto the balloon. Have the kids pick some colorful tissue paper and make some glue out of water and flour. Make sure it is a little runny instead of thick. Have them put the tissue paper across the balloon then let it dry. Before breaking open the pinata when Cinco de Mayo comes around, stick a small pin through the tissue to pop open the balloon.

Keep the kids busy making colorful placemats. Give them some construction paper in bright colors like red, blue, green and yellow that they can weave together. Bright colors are a part of everyday life in Mexico, and even more so on holidays. The bright placemats will look great on the table and the kids will enjoy helping to decorate for the festivities.

Have the entire family help with planning the Mexican meal for May fifth. Let them decide on their favorites such as flautas, tacos, or enchiladas. Do some research on the holiday and select foods that are traditionally eaten on the day of celebrating the French’s defeat.

Smaller children love to have coloring books. Look around your town or on the internet for pages to color. Have the older children make maracas from dried beans and toilet paper rolls. Close one end of the paper roll with tissue paper and tape, pour in the dried beans, and close the other end of the roll. Wrap tissue paper around the whole thing to make them colorful.

In Mexico, a popular craft is making flowers from tissue paper, which can be put inside vases as decorations or placed in one’s hair. Each one should be big and colorful. Making flowers out of tissue paper is considered an art form in Mexico. With lots of practice, your family will become very skilled.

Cinco de Mayo can be a great new family tradition if you have never celebrated it before. It gives you a chance to learn more about Mexican culture and it adds another great celebration to your family calendar. Invite the rest of the family or some friends over to join in the fun. Play Mexican music during dinner and invite everyone to dance and have fun all evening long.

Anytime you can get your family and friends together for great food and fun is worth the effort. Learning about the culture of our neighbors to the south through their food and music enriches us all. Hopefully these times of celebration will make you want to do it again and again. Creating new family traditions that help you appreciate other cultures helps us all understand each other better.

One of the most basic Mexican recipes that you can master is pico de gallo. This freshly chopped relish is made of tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and cilantro. It is bathed in limejuice and seasoned with just a touch of salt and olive oil. Serve pico de gallo piled near your main entre or anywhere you want a little more flavor.

© 2010 Travel Oversea.