Celebrating Cinco de Mayo doesn’t have to leave you peso-less. There are many ways you can throw a frugal fiesta on the fifth day of May. The key is to make use of everyday items you already have around your home and turn them into priceless parts of your party.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
DECORATIONS
Who says you need to fill your home with fresh flowers in order to have a successful Cinco de Mayo shindig? Instead of busting your budget on fresh blooms, make your own colorful creations with tissue paper. All you need is a stack of colored tissue paper, some pipe cleaners, a can of glitter spray and some perfume. To form the flower, take three sheets of tissue paper and stack them on top of each other so that their corners do not directly overlap. Next, gently fold the stack in half without creasing the paper, and then gather the center into a bunch. Leave at least two inches of tightly gathered paper as a base for each flower. Wrap the top of this base tightly by twisting a pipe cleaner around the top. Fluff the flowers with your fingers. You can embellish each flower by spraying on the glitter and a little perfume to make them smell pretty. Finally, you can add the flowers to piñatas, sombreros or arrange them in bouquets by twisting their stems together.
PARTY FAVORS
These simple Mexican-inspired magnets are a cinch to create and even easier to give out as party favors. To make you will need some dried corn and beans; white, green, and red felt; white, green, and red paint, a paintbrush, scissors, glue, wax paper, and magnetic strips. Start by painting the corn and beans in the colors of Mexico (red, white and green). When they’ve dried completely arrange 6 to 10 beans and corn kernels in a flower shape. Next, cut a circle from the felt so it is a bit bigger than your flower. Then, glue your flower on the felt circle and set it on the wax paper to dry. When the flower is completely dry, attach a piece of magnetic strip on the back.