In our family, Cinco de Mayo has always been an excuse to go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant, order a pitcher of margaritas and eat way too much guac. Unfortunately, the pandemic has changed everything. Even though Texas is starting to reopen and restaurants are starting to host patrons, I’m just not quite ready to take my family out to eat. This year, for Cinco de Mayo, we’re going to celebrate at home. So, if you’re like us and planning to stay home, here are a few ideas to spice up your Cinco de Mayo festivities.
Order In
Help support our local restaurants by ordering in. Many of our local Mexican restaurants and eateries are available for delivery and take-out services. A pandemic perk also includes an order of adult beverages. For now, you can order cocktails to go. Call first, but Austin restaurants are offering margarita mixed kits with or without alcohol.
Teach It
May fifth falls on a Tuesday this year, so of course we will be home teaching our children. We might as well make this year’s Cinco De Mayo a teachable moment. In our home, we’ve been exposing our kids to the Spanish language while homeschooling, so I will definitely be adding a few more flashcards to Tuesday’s lesson.
You can also make it a history or geography lesson. I have four different grade levels at home. For my older two, I want them to research the Battle of Puebla and why the date is honored in both the United States and Mexico. They can work together and give a presentation to the younger two. While they are working on their project, I will focus my younger two on geography. Where are the United States, Mexico and France located? What do their flags look like? What language do they speak?
Craft It
What would we do without Pinterest in a pandemic? There are tons of craft ideas to make Cinco de Mayo a little more festive. At our house, we’re going to attempt a pinata and homemade cascarones. If that fails, which more than likely it will, we can also make fun decorations with tissue paper and a papel picado banner using templates we found on the internet. You can also just grab construction paper, a hole punch and string. All my kids love to paint, so we’ll also plan on making rock cacti to decorate the table.
Throw a Party
Throw a party for your quarantined family or have a Cinco de Mayo themed Zoom happy hour with friends. I plan to decorate the house like Me Tierra in San Antonio using all the kids crafting. We’ll pull out the plastic margarita glasses for the kids and make non-alcoholic margarita punch. I want to make all the appetizers, turn up the music and celebrate. If I’m feeling a little extra, I might even set up a taco bar for the kids. And when they all go to bed, my husband and I will sneak out back and sip our favorite tequila all while pretending we’re back at our favorite cantina.
My goal this year is to make the Cinco de Mayo a little more than just a regular “Taco Tuesday”. I want to do more than drink a margarita and eat my way through a bag of tortilla chips. With the days all blending together, I want to put on makeup, get dressed up and host a party even if it’s just for my family.
