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Fiesta Party -8yr- Chili Pepper Relay

September 2006

Vanessa in Hollis, NH, USA

Fiesta Party - 8 years old  After having an adults-only Fiesta, my daughter decided she wanted one of her own.  I was excited to plan it, because it was not something any of her friends had done before.  We printed the invitions on the computer, using clip art of a sombrero, and wrote "FIESTA!" on the outside and the usual party information with "Casa de Courtney" on the inside.  I used a hole-punch to make red, green, yellow, orange and tan confetti to put inside.  

To decorate, we used red, green and yellow balloons, along with the chili pepper lights we used at the adult party.  I bought sombreros for each girl from Oriental Trading Company.  I made a sombrero cake with a 10-inch round cake pan and a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup so that the hat had the peak of a sombrero.

I decorated it with light chocolate frosting (tried to make a straw color), and made a zig-zag pattern on the hat with red string licorice.  I added colored non-pareils and m&m's, but I took the blue ones out to stay with a more Mexican color scheme.  I also used the red licorice to make a hat string, and put a small pair of maracas in front of the cake. 

For snacks, I served regular m&m's, tortilla chips and Spicy Salsa flavored microwave popcorn, and "margaritas" (lemonade) in plastic margarita glasses. 

For our first activity, I bought small wooden frames and little glass tiles to make mosaic frames; later I would take a photo of each child with my daughter to put in the Thank You card that they could then put in the frame.  I bought a Fiesta CD at the party store and had it playing in the background, and most of our games centered around that music. 

We did a Chili Pepper Relay (the kids carried a felt chili pepper under their chin), Musical Chairs (to the Mexican Hat Dance), and did a Conga line.  I was going to play "Hot Potato" (called Hot Pepper instead) to the song, "Hot,Hot,Hot" but ran out of time for that as well as "Pin the Tail on the Donkey"!!! 

Of course, we did a Pinata!  The best part of the party was teaching them the Macarena.  This was awesome for this age group; they caught on quickly and were really into it!!! At the end of the party they did a show (of the Macarena) for their parents. 

Each child went home with their frame, their sombrero, and a goodie bag filled with their pinata candy, pencils that said, "Courtney's 8th Birthday Fiesta", cactus-shaped note pads, Fiesta stickers, denim fanny packs (from Oriental Trading) and a fun key chain (from Target's $1 section). 

This was a totally easy party to pull together!!!

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