Celebrating your birthday with a Mexican Fiesta is a sure way to have a great time!  My daughter and several of her friends had a ball with all of the bright colors and (hopefully) vivid memories of a beautiful party day full of fun!  Planning all of the party ideas and details was loads of fun- although we don’t claim to have everything authentically perfect- this is our take on a party that combines Mexican birthday party ideas with a young girl’s likes and wishes!  For instance, we know hedgehogs don’t hail from Mexico- but when she fell in love with a festive-looking hedgehog at a local shop, we decided the hedgehog would make a perfectly fun party favor!  So read on and enjoy- and hopefully you will find an idea or two that you can use for a Mexican-themed party or even a Cinco de Mayo celebration, too- and inspiration to incorporate ideas that make your party perfectly-suited for the birthday child!

When the girls arrived at the party, they found Mexican embroidered dresses waiting for them, and they could choose their color.

We staked Shepherd Hooks in the ground and then attached a ribbon to the hooks…

I love the embroidered details on each of the dresses~

By using clothes pins, the dresses were easy to display and easy for the girls to remove from the line.

The idea was for them to use them as swimsuit cover-ups after they swam, but they put them on right away!

It was a great way to kick-off the party and to set the festive tone!

I love how the girls checked out the designs on the dresses- they said they looked like they were really made in Mexico and were excited when I told them that they were!  I ordered them directly from Mexico, and they were fantastic!  Here is one of my favorite pics of the day- how sweet!

The girls played games on the lawn~ one of my favorite ones to watch was “The Hula-Hoop Game” that we made even funnier by adding sombreros to the mix!  Each child holds hands and has to fit themselves through the hoop without letting go of hands.  Maneuvering through the hoop is funny enough, but adding a large sombrero makes it even better!

The sombreros often ended up on the grass!

The Birthday Girl loves paper flowers and so we made lots of them for decorations.  It was a fun activity for us to do together.  She loved these that she made with different colored tissue paper in one flower…

After the games, the girls had a chance to cool-off and swim.  While they were swimming, I set-up a little lemonade station for them.  I asked Sachiko, of MimiCafe Union NY, to make bottle toppers similar to what she made for our Easter Party.  As always, Sachiko outdid herself!  For this party I asked her to make kittens (similar to last year’s kitties) in dresses with flowers.  I just love them- and the girls did, too!  Gatos Chica…muy bonita!

For the bottles, I used different colored ribbon and wrapped it around each bottle.  I added a mini paper flower to each bottle using a Glue Dot.  I topped each with the kitty cat toppers and a paper straw.  We served pink lemonade in these cute bottles!

See another way I used these pink paper flowers here.

I put together the dessert table for them to have after a taco bar dinner.  The beautiful desserts were as much fun to look at as they were to eat!  These gorgeous stacked cookies were made by Better Bit of Butter- which has become a family favorite!  I love all of the fiesta flowers that covered the cookies!

Christine (Better Bit of Butter) made bite-sized cookies as well as the stacked cookies~

We also ordered hand-painted cookies from Sogoal at Sogi’s Honey Bakeshop- I asked Camille what she would like to have on some cookies and Sogoal created these cookies for us based on the Birthday Girl’s requests…they were fabulous!

Camille was very into pinatas and paper flowers for this party- and so another of my favorite sweet treats that I ordered for the party was a PINATA CAKE POP- WITH CANDY THAT SPILLED FROM THE INSIDE!  I asked Kerri, of Sweet Indulgence in Rhode Island, if she and her team could do it, and I was so excited that they were willing to try!  They turned out perfectly!!  And, I love the tulle poms from Titi’s Tutus that were with them on the table!

I was hoping to mimic a real pinata by having candy in the middle of the cake pop.  By using sprinkles, it gave the same effect and the girls loved it!  Here is the inside of the cake pop…

They looked so cute on the dessert table, served on gold cake stands and also on green milk glass plates…

We also had a fabulous rainbow ruffle cake by Kathi, at My Sweet Things.  Kathi made the cake, and then I topped it with fondant “paper flowers” made by The Bee’s Knees Bakery.

Loralee Lewis made the cute gold-foil FIESTA garland to go on top!

We based the cake design off of a cake by Jacki at Blissfully Sweet~ Camille loved the look and Jacki was happy for us to create a similar cake for her!  Thank you for the beautiful ideas, Jacki!

Pinatas, cactus plants, sombreros, and hot peppers were all Mexican-themed ideas that Camille loved and wanted to use~ and so (once again) Sachiko from MimiCafe Union NY delivered!  Fondant cupcake toppers with all of the above!

Confetti cupcakes were a perfect match for these cute toppers!

We also added macarons to the dessert table~ we used tulle pom toppers from Titi’s Tutus to give them an extra flair.  I put the macarons in clear dessert cups and then pushed the stick of the topper through the macarons.  It was such a pretty, colorful display!

Loralee made a festive gold-foil banner for the dessert table~ I loved the mix of dots, stripes, and colors!

The girls had a Make-Your-Own Taco Bar that we served from the kitchen.  I found colorful baskets for each girl to use to carry their food to the table (we put tacos in paper loaf pans and all of the extras in paper containers so we could keep the baskets food-free- I also lined each basket with a cloth napkin to help).  The baskets then doubled as a favor basket.  The table was very festive and the girls loved finding their chairs with their names!

I loved the chairback names from Ten23 Designs! I saw them used by Shauna Krantz and knew they would be great for Camille’s party.  Lauren at Ten23 sent them to me and then the kids and I painted them…

I was thrilled with how they turned out- and how cute they looked tied with different colored ribbons!

The oversized balloons that were tied to each chair were also a HUGE hit!  Jenny at Bloom Designs Online sent them to us, and the kids and I added confetti to the inside of the balloons.  They looked so pretty!

And, then those hedgehogs…Camille LOVED these cute little things and asked about giving them as party favors.  I have to say, they look pretty festive!  Each one was handmade by Amy Donaldson.  We gave her the party colors and Amy created the cutest hedgehogs dressed for a fiesta!  These were also a big hit!!

Each friend had one in her chair…

On the table top, I used flower arrangements with mini pinatas on sticks…these turned out to be so pretty.  The flowers were wrapped at the stems (like Tussie Mussies) so that each guest could take a bouquet of flowers and a mini-pinata.  We had small erasers, pens, and bouncy balls to go inside of the pinatas when they were ready to take them home.

We also used large pinatas to hang in the trees for decoration…they were all handmade pinatas from VivaLaFiesta on Etsy…

I also made tiny paper flowers to go on wooden spoons.  I ordered the spoons from the Sucre Shop and then added our own little Mexican flair!  The spoons had holes drilled in them and I attached the flowers with ribbon through the holes.

With such a hot day, we set up lots of water and drinks for the girls…

The girls also painted pots and planted a cactus!

Little Brother had fun watching the action from a distance.  🙂

Such a FUN day!!  I hope you enjoyed our FIESTA!!  You’re only “ONCE” once!!

I OFTEN GET ASKED WHERE THINGS IN THE PHOTOS COME FROM…PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR A LIST OF THE WONDERFUL LADIES AND COMPANIES THAT MADE THE PARTY ITEMS!  I THINK THEY ARE FABULOUS!!

SHOPS AND LINKS TO FIND THE ITEMS YOU SEE IN THE PARTY

Photos by ZOOMWORKS PHOTOGRAPHY

Fondant Toppers for Lemonade Bottles (Kitty Cats in Dresses)- MIMICAFE UNION NY

Fondant Toppers on Cupcakes- MIMICAFE UNION NY

Tulle Poms- TITI’S TUTUS

Stacked Cookies and Mini Cookies with Flowers- BETTER BIT OF BUTTER 

 Rainbow Ruffle Cake- MY SWEET THINGS (This cake was inspired by Jacki at Blissfully Sweet)

Fondant Flowers on Top of Cake- THE BEE’S KNEES BAKERY AND GIFTS

Macarons- THE BEE’S KNEES BAKERY AND GIFTS

Hand-painted Fiesta Cookie Colllection- SOGI’S HONEY BAKESHOP

Pinata Cake Pops with Sprinkles Inside- SWEET INDULGENCE

Hedgehogs- AMY DONALDSON on Etsy

Names on Chairbacks- TEN23 DESIGNS

Giant Clear Balloons- BLOOM DESIGNS ONLINE

Flowers- ALWAYS ALWAYS FLOWERS- Athens, GA

Mini and Large Handmade -Pinatas- VIVA LA FIESTA

Pink Tissue Paper Flowers on Bottles- THE FLAIR EXCHANGE

Name Banner, Fiesta Banner, Favor Tags, Straws- LORALEE LEWIS

Wooden Spoons with Stripes (I added the paper flowers)- SUCRE SHOP

Mexican Embroidered Dresses- QUEMACOCO ON EBAY

Sombreros, Striped Candy Bags, Papel Picado Banner- PARTY CITY

Party by LYDIA AT THE PARTY WAGON

You can also shop for my favorite Fiesta picks through my Amazon Affiliates shop… I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you.  Hopefully, this makes your shopping easier!

MEXICAN EMBROIDERED DRESSES