Home » Family Friendly Dinner Recipes » How to Throw A Mexican Dinner Party

How to Throw A Mexican Dinner Party

Save and share!

Host an Easy Mexican Dinner Party with this simple guide that shows you step by step how to host a successful dinner party, even with kids and busy schedules! Complete with a menu, time times and printable shopping lists, this has every thing you need to spend an evening connection with your friends – with ease!

image of black beans with chips and text overlay that reads \"the lonely parents guide to how to host a mexican dinner party\"

The Case for Weeknight Dinner Parties

Once upon a time, when I was young and newly married and didn’t have any kids, I was in a book club. Well, we called it a book club, but as time went on it became more about the food we ate together than whether or not we actually finished the book. But every month the 5 of us would get together at someone’s house. We would all bring a dish to share and have an amazing evening laughing, talking, and connecting. Even after we all started to have babies, we still managed to get together once a month, even if it meant bringing the babies in tow.

When we moved across the country and started life in a new city, we found ourselves a little group of friends we called our adoptive family. And every Sunday we had “family dinner” together – all bringing a dish to share, and spending the evening in each other’s company.

Now that I have young children and a busy schedule (seriously, how did our schedule become so busy?!), it becomes harder and harder to get together with friends. We are all being pulled in so many ways, our to-do lists are miles long, and we cannot even begin to dig ourselves out from under the mountain of laundry. It is easy to get lost in the busy, and before you know it, you feel disconnected, frazzled, and alone. 

It is so hard to make time to focus on yourself and kindle those friendships which are so important. They don’t say “it takes a tribe to raise a child” for nothing – its because you, as parents need that tribe! But finding the time and energy to make it happen can totally feel overwhelming.

Enter – the Lonely Parent’s Guide to Dinner Parties!

The Lonely Parent’s Guide to Dinner Parties

Erin from The Speckled Palate (the queen of easy entertaining) and I are combining forces to help you connect with your people easier. Between the two of us, we have five kids aged 9 and under. We totally understand what it feels like to be in survival mode, where you are just trying to get through the day, where nights are sleepless, and you just need a break.

We know how it can seem stressful to be in this stage of parenting young kids and actually invite people over. 

So we’re using our combined skills to make at-home entertaining WITH KIDS a possibility for all! 

Our goal is to show how busy families with small children can host and enjoy entertaining, and that it can be easy and fun, too. Even on a weeknight.

Because we all deserve that time to be with our friends. And our kids deserve to have a place at the table, too.

In this guide you will find everything you need to host an easy and almost effortless dinner party, complete with:

  • Entire Menu Meal Plan with appetizer, easy slow cooker main meal, side dish, kid-friendly beverage and dessert!
  • Printable Shopping List with activities for kids to do at the store so you don’t feel overwhelmed
  • Prep Ahead Tips to help you make it all easy-peasy!
  • Printable Time Table so you know exactly what to do and when.
  • Kid Activities so you feel like you are actually getting some help to get ready, and they feel super special and involved. 
collage of images of mexican food

How to have a Kid Friendly Mexican Dinner Party

Honestly, I am not the best entertainer out there. More often than not, when we have people over, the food I serve is simple, the dishes are paper, and there isn’t a decoration in sight. And, the bathroom is probably dirty. 

I believe that  an evening spent with friends should be about connecting with those that you enjoy being with. And teaching our children how we can easily host friends is important. Its important to teach them that the time we spend intentionally connecting with people matters, and that 

Here are some easy ways you can ask your kids to help so they don’t feel quite so under-foot, and you can actually get some help getting ready for your Mexican Dinner Party!

How to Involve Kids in a Dinner Party:

  1. Have your kids help you at the grocery store. Asking for their input and help not only gets them excited about what you are going to have, but also excited about sharing it with others.
  2. Ask your kids to help you prepare the  meal! They can help you measure, pour, mix, and make all of the food listed for this Mexican Dinner Party! Giving them this responsibility helps them to be even more excited to eat the food they make, and to share what they have made with their friends. Read “How to Cook and Bake with Your Kids” for more information. 
  3. Ask for help setting the table! Give each kid a specific job, like placing forks or napkins, on the table. 
  4. Ask for help placing the food on the table or serving plates. Serving food family style allows everyone to choose exactly what and how much food they put on their plate, greatly increasing how much they actually eat. 

How to have a Dinner Party with Kids:

Jenni Ward/The Gingered Whisk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The key to having a dinner party with kids is to keep things low key! 

  • Set the stage: Ask your kids to create homemade decorations for the party (this is always a sure-fire way to get my kids deeply involved in the dinner party without being in the kitchen). This will help them feel excited about the party and give you plenty of time to do the tasks you need to. 
  • Set the mood: Ask your kids to help you choose some quiet music that fits the theme of your dinner party. For our Mexican dinner party, I suggest listening to the Coco Soundtrack or this instrumental cd!

Want easy tips on prepping this Mexican Dinner Party ahead of time? Head over to The Speckled Palate  to grab all the steps PLUS A Printable Timetable you need to make sure you are the Hostess with the Mostess! 

Food tastes better when its shared! If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and rate below!

Love and links are always appreciated! If you’d like to share this post, please link to this post directly for the recipe, please do not copy and paste or screenshot. Thanks so much for supporting me! xoxo

Mexican Dinner Party Menu

Throw an Easy Mexican Dinner Party with these family friendly recipes!

One Comment

  1. Yes! We love having dinner parties, but it can be hard to squeeze them in! This looks so fun (and totally manageable)! Can’t wait to try it out!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.