Taco 'bout a party! I have always been a sucker for delicious Mexican food & margaritas, but after my first trip to Mexico in 2007, I was completely blown away by the cities, the vibrant culture & most importantly, the amazing people. To put it simply, I fell in love. I have been taking trips annually (some times multiple times a year) and I cherish every single experience. I have made life-long friends, shared meals with their families & have been invited to special events in their lives. My family and I are always welcomed with big open arms and every trip back feels like visiting a second home. When my shower was being planned in 2017, everyone was trying to think of something that I loved & they kept coming back to Mexico, so this is where the fiesta bridal shower came from. It was so important to me for the party to be a celebration of Mexican culture and traditions, so that my friends and family could experience some of them and feel the joy that they bring.
THE DETAILS
Not only was the shower fiesta themed, but it was also a pool party thanks to my mom's best friend (who is also an honorary Aunt) letting us use her house & backyard. Each guest received a towel to use that had a tag on it indicating their table number. We decorated with papel picados, blankets, rebozo style table runners, bright florals, succulents & cacti, lanterns, El Pato sauce cans, maracas from Mexico, embroidered pillows and coordinating pool floats. Each table setting had a mini pinata with an Essie nail polish inside (color was "fiesta" of course), as well as a regular drink glass and a margarita glass. When guests were walking out to the yard, they passed a welcome sign and a place to apply foil tattoos. My mom and I made a giant tissue paper flower photo backdrop and picked up some fun props from Etsy. One of our favorite DIYs were the pens for playing games. We had seen pencils like this at one of the markets in Riviera Maya with the sombrero and serape, but they didn't have enough for us to buy. Instead we were able to buy the mini sombreros and serapes there and then just make the pens ourselves at home. They turned out so cute and all of the guests loved them! I made a custom pin the tail on the donkey game that we played and my mom made me a sombrero with a veil and flowers to use for gift opening that bows could be stuck on to instead of using a paper plate. Every detail was photographed beautifully by Ashley Halas Photography.
THE DRINKS
We rented a frozen margarita machine that had two flavors and was literally some of the best money spent. One of the favors was a plastic mason jar tumbler with straw, so those were spread out by the drinks. We had buckets of bottled water and Corona. We had Jarritos sodas and a tequila shot station (right near the photo backdrop of course!). Near the frozen margarita machine, we also had cut-up fruit to add to the glasses, as well as both red and white sangrias. Needless to say, everyone was very well hydrated ;)
THE FOOD
We catered an amazing Mexican buffet from Rosalita's Roadside Cantina in NJ which included chips with salsa & guacamole, fajita salad, tacos (with two meat options), arroz con pollo & lechon asado (a slow roasted pork in adobo sauce). For dessert, we had homemade "pinata sticks" (multi-colored chocolate covered pretzels), chocolate covered oreos, apple empanadas, churros, two-tone rice krispy maracas with mini m&ms inside so that they actually rattled, cupcakes in mini terracotta pots with cacti shaped cake pops on top, custom fiesta themed sugar cookies, Choco Tacos & a variety of traditional paletas from La Newyorkina. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
