Cake, Chaos & Confetti : Hope's "Coco" inspired Mexican Fiesta 2nd Birthday!

My little Leo turned two this month and we threw her a Mexican Fiesta because she's so fascinated by Disney Pixar's Coco.

Coco is such a beautiful touching movie set in Mexico, steeped in tradition and tells a heart rending story of family, living your dreams and sometimes having to chose between the two. I absolutely adore it myself and my girls have watched it so often we all know the lines in it by heart!haha

As usual,( I love planning my girls' birthdays!) I started by making my planing lists and designing the invites.

A Simple invite that I designed

Unlike last year for her first when we had a little Kitty themed party for her (I'll share those pictures and ideas one of these days as well) I was very short on time and busy at work. So I had to make sure my ideas were doable with minimal effort and in the shortest amount of time!

I decided to make the Papel Picado or coloured paper flags which are cut out to make pretty designs as the main design element and went about using it everywhere. I used them on the Invites, Food Tags and on other paper decorations. Papel Picado are also easily available in Goa as well and used for festivals and feasts. I suppose its the Latin Influence. So I just had my husband Felix pick up a pack from the Panjim Market. Shop No. 9 inside the Municipality Market stock them besides other stationery and party supplies.

Our Front door outside

The Living Room

Coco playing on the Screen!

Inside the Front door- Dante the Spirit Guide Dog guards the door

The fun (and exhausting) part was making the food! I wanted it to be Mexican themed but have our guests be confused by it either so I adjusted it suit everyone's taste as best as I could. I tried to create an Ofrenda to mimic the one in the movie and had all the snacks and desserts arranged on it. We had the whole place strewn with orange marigolds that appear everywhere in movie as well.

The Ofrenda laden with Snacks

Mini Empanadas!

A Nacho Bar! with home made dips- Cheese, Salsa and Guacamole

I made a couple of Non-Alcoholic concoctions to drink but forgot to name them! Too many balls juggling in the air..

The Dessert Table had Churros made by my brother Len(Also my partner at CAKED). These he had pre-dipped in White chocolate with sprinkles and Dark chocolate. I made Arroz con Leche aka Rice Pudding. Len also baked a Chocolate Fudge Cake which I decorated with buttercream, edible gold and fresh flowers!

I also cooked dinner and we set up a simple buffet for our guests.

I wanted to do favours/ give-aways that were easy to put together and inexpensive. A quick search on the internet pointed me in the direction, I quickly made up a Thank you Tag and a large batch of Hot Chocolate Mix giving it a bit of a Mexican twist with cinnamon and chilli! And we were good to go!

Favour Tag I designed

But the pièce de résistance was definitely the large Pinata my husband Felix made for the kids. I suggested we make it look like Ernesto De La Cruz, the villain in the movie so we could give him a well deserved whacking in the end! This, for obvious reasons, was a hit with the kids..haha