Cinco de Mayo Weekend

Every year, we host a Cinco de Mayo family party at our house. We don't have it on May 5th unless it falls on a Saturday. We always have it the weekend before or after. This year, our party was scheduled for Saturday, May 9th and we spent a very busy week preparing everything for the party so that we would not have to scramble on the day of the party...and so we could try to get in a little saling early in the day.

While dusting Friday night, we discovered that the second of our latest container of Mexican Jumping Beans had hatched. You can see him in the upper right hand corner. Chicharito II had hatched over the winter. They only live for a few days as an adult and they don't eat as an adult. We let him go downstairs in our house to spend his remaining days. Our newest hatchling was lucky. We were able to let Ricardo Montalban fly away outside. Another Mexican Jumping Bean had hatched. That seemed like a good sign on the night before our Cinco de Mayo party.

Saturday morning arrived and our sights were set on saling...at least for a little while. The party was due to start at 4pm but we only needed about an hour to put on the finishing touches. There were not a lot of sales from which to choose. It was Mother's Day weekend and many of the estate sale companies took the weekend off. It was not a popular weekend for garage sales either. There was one sale described as "60 years of accumulation" but it was an hour away and there were no pictures and no more detailed decription. On a day when our time was limited, we ruled it out. Instead, we chose four sales that were pretty close to home even if they didn't seem all that promising. With hope in our hearts, off we went!

Our first stop of the day was the second day of a sale run by an estate sale company that we had only recently discovered. "Vintage Christmas" was listed in the description and that was a good enough reason to check it out. Once inside, it was clear that this was a home ravaged by Hurricane Sandy a few years ago. There wasn't much here but we did get two old plastic Santas for $1. 

Our second stop was at a family run estate sale. We had no idea what we would find as the ad was very nondescript. It was fairly close so we gave this one a shot. It was a backyard garage sale with plenty of things but nothing at all for us.

Our third stop was also an "estate garage sale" and was on its second day. In the pictures, we saw two tiki mugs and two old Christmas reindeer. When we arrived, the tiki mugs were gone but the reindeer were still there. $1 later, they were ours.

On the way to the third sale, we passed an outdoor sale at a library and decided to stop on the way back. We did not find any interesting books but we did find a great, old double picture frame and, for $1, it belonged to us.

We decided to skip the last sale on our list. It did not look promising, it was midday and we figured that we might just have enough time for a quick one hour nap before finishing our party preparations. We were right and we did! 

Before moving on to our party, here are the things we found saling:

This old double picture frame with its original store display pictures...MGM stars Tony Martin and Susan Hayward! 

Two old red reindeer and two old plastic Santas

It was a modest day of saling but we had fun and our Cinco de Mayo party was just ahead! 

We tried to put fun Cinco de Mayo things about the house...like this dream pet donkey...

...maracas, a ceramic donkey and a noisemaker which an appropriate picture...

...mariachi ducks!

We put Mexican themed records in a tension pole record holder...

...and in this one too! Our favorite is el Bingo! 

Our kitchen chef was in the spirit of the occasion...

...as was Tony The Tiger...

...and our bathroom duck.

Monica made these pull string pinatas for the kids and filled them with candy and small toys.

The food was plentiful (and delicious)...

...and the appropriate table accessories were in place!

Of course, we also had some sangria! 

It was a great party with lots of smiles! No more stress now that the party was a success. 

On Sunday, we packed our Cinco de Mayo party accessories and put them away until next year and then spent the remainder of the day relaxing together...and that time spent together is important to us too!