Save Money with Cinco De Mayo Party Supplies

We all love to save money. There are some great ways to save money on party supplies if you are going to have a Cinco de Mayo party!

Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, this is a great Mexican holiday and is celebrated by both Mexicans and Americans. Many people have elaborate parties for Cinco de Mayo. However, for most of us that are on a budget, I will help you choose some party supplies that will help you have a great Cinco de Mayo party.

One of my favorite stores in the world is the good old "Dollar Store." You can find almost anything there for a dollar. This should be your first stop in finding party supplies for your Cinco de Mayo party. The Dollar Store has a multitude of party decorations from crepe paper to paper cups and plates. They may not have the great Cinco de Mayo party decorations that you can find at those more expensive "party stores," but the thing we need to do is stay within our budget.

Make sure that you buy crepe paper and streamers that are colorful and bright. The best colors to buy for your Cinco de Mayo party are red, blue, yellow, green, and white. You will be able to stretch these streamers around the room, and you can hang them from the ceiling or wrap around chairs. You can even find great tablecloths at the Dollar Store. Choose a white one and let your children decorate it with their ideas of Cinco de Mayo. Give them crayons or magic markers and let them "go to town." This will also give them the feeling that they are involved in the process of helping for the party.

You can choose to make your own piñata. Take a box that you have laying around; fill it with some inexpensive candy. Tape the box up and decorate the outside with wrapping paper, streamers, and markers. If you have children, they will love to be involved with this project. All you will have to do is to hook a rope around the box and once the party is in full swing, give your partygoers a chance to hit the piñata with a bat.

You can decorate your home with inexpensive clay pottery, filling them with fragrant potpourri or even candy (left over from the piñata.) You may even decide to put artificial or silk flowers in the pots.

Make your own little Mexican flags out of pieces of cardboard to decorate your tables. Take pieces of rectangle shaped cardboard and use construction paper to glue to it. Use green, white, and red (in that order) construction paper, making sure that the strips of the three colors go down the flag and not across. A great thing to use for the gold seal in the center of the white stripe is gold nail polish or striping. You can find this at any of the hair or nail supply stores. The cost is approximately $3.00 for a bottle.

There are some great party foods that you can make that are inexpensive and your guests will love. Take a package of tortillas, cream cheese, and a package of spicy taco seasoning. Let the cream cheese sit so that it becomes soft. Mix the spicy taco seasoning into the cream cheese. Take one of the tortillas and gently spread several spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture around the tortilla. Don't make it thick. Once the tortilla is covered, gently roll the tortilla up so that you will have a long tube. Cut the ends off, and then proceed to cut the tortilla into small bite size sections. This is a great finger food and so easy to do. Use all of your tortillas and cream cheese mixture. Place on a pretty tray or plate for serving.

You can also make a wonderful Mexican dip. You will need lettuce, tomatoes, refried beans, sour cream, black olives, and taco cheese and taco sauce. Layer the lettuce and refried beans on top of each other. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces, put on top of the refried beans. Drain the black olives, put on top of the tomatoes, and then add the taco cheese. Carefully pour the taco sauce over the top of the entire dip. Serve with corn chips.
You may also want to serve a hot (as in temperature) dip. This dip calls for hamburger, browned and drained. Put it into a crock-pot, empty the contents of a large can of refried beans, and add a can of hot chili with beans. Cube a large box of Velveeta cheese and put into the crock-pot. Mix with a wooden spoon, the dip will be very thick and hard to stir until it is melted. Add one package of taco seasoning, along with a medium size jar of salsa. Keep your crock-pot on low, stirring occasionally. Serve with corn chips.

The most expensive items that you will have to buy are the food items; however, you may be able to find some of these items on sale at your local grocery store. If there is a two for one sale, go ahead and buy the second item. Keep it in your pantry. Your friends may love your dips so much they may ask you to come to a party and bring your "famous" dip. I hope that you have found through my suggestions that you can have a great Cinco de Mayo party even if you do have a budget.