Happy Cinco de Mayo! Another holiday calls for another theme night, and therefore, another themed blog post. You know I love anything holiday-related. Give me an excuse to dress up, entertain, cook, play loud music, or make cocktails and you know I’m in!
The same goes for my mom (what can I say? I get it honest), which is why we just had to throw a pre-Cinco de Mayo party over the weekend! After all, you can’t really celebrate 100% when a holiday falls on a Monday and you don’t have the next day off work. So we decided to celebrate early! And we had so much fun and so many good eats that I just had to share (along with recipes for some of the most popular items at the party).
Me and my beautiful mom.
When our guests first arrived for the party, they could grab colorful accessories and their very own party ‘stache. (Because what’s a Cinco party without a mustache?)
As they made their way through the house, we had a plethora of snacks waiting to be eaten: 7-layer Mexican dip, queso, homemade guacamole, a variety of chips and salsa, mini tacos, taquitos, a veggie platter …
… the most amazing spinach dip (compliments of mom’s friend Sally) …
… and, I’m not sure if you’re ready for this, the best brownies in the world. Seriously – I have discovered the most AMAZING brownie recipe in the history of brownies. They are delicious, scrumptious, phenomenal, incredible …. I don’t think there is a proper adjective to describe them. (recipe below)
They are perfectly moist and fudgy, and have a nice subtle kick to them. And they didn’t last long at all.
After passing through the kitchen, guests could make their way to the backyard where we had plenty of seating …
…. a margarita bar, complete with beer (for those who weren’t tequila drinkers) …
… a large margarita pitcher that we’d made that afternoon …
… all the fixin’s … … and colorful frozen margarita glasses. (These came from the Dollar Tree. Score!)
But if a regular margarita didn’t do it, I had a few gourmet margarita recipes up my sleeve the I was excited to try out.
I’ve recently developed a Mezcal obsession (a smoky, semi-spicy tequila) and wanted to try it out in a few new margarita recipes. I personally loved the Smoky Mezcalita! It’s not super sweet, and it’s a great way to really taste the tequila. (recipe below)
If you’re more of a fan of sweeter margaritas, the Pineapple-Orange Margarita is yummy! I would suggest sticking with regular tequila for this one. (recipe below)
And of course, we had music pumping throughout the house … and had a mustache photo shoot …
Who dared George, my step dad, to eat the worm in the bottom of the bottle of Mezcal, by the way?
See the worm going into his mouth? EW! We even got it on video, if you want to feel like you were part of the action.
It was the perfect and hilarious (and most disgusting) way to end the night. We had so much fun, and appreciate all of the fabulous people who made it out.
If you’re having your own Cinco de Mayo celebration, I hope you have as much fun as we did. And if you try any of these recipes, please let me know what you think!
Best-Ever Mexican Brownies
(adapted from FoodNetwork.com)
Click to make it larger.
Smokey Mezcalita Recipe
(adapted from FoodNetwork.com)
Click to make it larger.
Pineapple-Orange Margarita
(adapted from MissInTheKitchen.com)
Click to make it larger.
Oh, and p.s. If you’re wondering what to do with all of your leftover decorations and party favors, leave them out for your nieces to find the next morning. They will think it’s Christmas morning all over again! 🙂
CHEERS!
