Dinner Kids Cooking Party

Kids Taco Bar Party!

Looking for another way to have fun at home?  Start planning your Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) party now.  Of course if you don’t have kids it’s okay to act like one and get in on the fun of this at home party!

No matter what the size of your current stay at home family is, the key is to have some fun along the way.  It’s up to you if you tell the kids there is a lot of learning along the way or just let it happen naturally.

Planning ideas

  • Art class; Coloring decorations, making colorful banners
  • History lesson; older children could research Cinco de Mayo and write a short report to read at the celebration.  The report could be about the history of Cinco de Mayo or on a lighter note the history of some of the food people like to enjoy now at this time, like what is an avocado, how do they grow?
  • Teamwork; Recipe scavenger hunt; have everyone in the family pick one recipe that they will make for Cinco de Mayo-could be as easy as store bought Chips and Salsa or maybe something a little more involved like Guacamole or Pork Carnitas. 
  • Gym class; Plan a fun dance to do after dinner.

Shopping

  • Organization-Kids can make the shopping list and sort by different departments in each item is in.  Ordering your groceries?  That’s okay, this is a good practice for them.  
  • Budget-set a budget for the party (Math class)  Let your kids research online where the best price in town is to buy ground beef for your tacos etc., 

Getting it together

  • A timeline and prep plan made a day or two ahead of time for who is making what/when will help everyone feel proud of themselves and happy for the fun day.  
  • Assign pans/serving dishes to each recipe.
  • Set up decorations the day before or morning of your celebration.

Cooking tips

  • Do what you can the day before like prepping veggies and desserts.
  • Kids can help with a butter knife (with your supervision)-cutting lettuce and tomatoes.
  • Protein; cooked ground beef or cooked pork is common.  Love fish?  Baked tilapia is great for tacos!  Vegetarian-black beans-yum!

Pictures!

Take lot’s of pictures even if you don’t have time to do something with them now…

-For the family photo album…

-Share on social with family…

-Print and make a family cookbook…

-Frame a picture of your child cooking and put in your kitchen…


Taco Bar Ideas

-Chips & Salsa

-Shredded cheese

-Chopped lettuce & tomatoes 

-Sour cream

-Rice

-Taco sauce

-Hard or soft shell tacos

-Black beans

-Cooked protein

-Guacamole-have the kids help with the Rock Your Guac recipe (below), they love mashing avocados!

Add in some festive music, a fun refreshment like margaritas for the adults and a fruit punch for the kids.  Go easy on it, if something doesn’t work out, no big deal, if your dinner is at 6pm instead of 5pm you are making memories and having fun, that is all that matters!

Take care!

-Angie


Rock Your Guac!

3-4 ripe avocados
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup salsa
1 Tbsp Tajin Clasico Seasoning (love it, adds a great little kick of lime seasoning to just about anything!)
1/2 tsp salt

  1. Discard skin and pit of avocado and mash rest of avocado with fork.
  2. Mix in salsa, salt and half of seasoning and tomato.
  3. Garnish with rest of tomato and seasoning.

Enjoy with chips or sliced cucumbers.