Celebrate Cinco De Mayo With A DIY Taco Bar #PMedia #ShowUsYourMess #Ad

***Disclosure: This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Wet-Nap but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #showusyourmess ***

Whew! Easter has come and gone. I hope you had a wonderful day with your families! We enjoyed a HUGE brunch at a swanky hotel restaurant with my Dad and step-mom, my 90-something year young Papa, and tons of aunts, uncles and cousins. 

Just because Easter is over doesn't mean the springtime celebrations are through, though! In just a couple of weeks, it will be time for fun Cinco de Mayo celebrations. (This translates to the 5th of May.) While this holiday is generally a time to celebrate Hispanic heritage, you don't need to be of Hispanic descent to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Shoot, I am as caucasian as they come, and I like to celebrate because it's a wonderful excuse to have some delicious Mexican food and maybe a Margarita or three. 

This year, we will be celebrating by whipping up some mixed drinks, virgin for the kiddos, and setting up a fun DIY taco bar. If the weather is cooperative, we will be enjoying our fiesta out on the deck. I love nothing more than relaxing outdoors with my family. If Mother Nature has yet another mood swing and we're covered with another blanket of snow, we will set up our taco bar in the dining room. 

Of course once I started thinking about nachos, tacos, salsa and guacamole, I convinced my family that we needed to have a trial run. Of course this is an absurd idea that I concocted just because I was craving something spicy. Yes, I know...Totally self-serving of me. But my family sure didn't complain! 

Of course before I could set up our taco bar, I had to run to the store to grab all of the fixings for an amazing meal. We went to Walmart because of their everyday low prices, but I'm sure your local grocery stores will have most of these products and ingredients. 

 If you'd like to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a DIY taco bar, too, here is a list of some things you're definitely going to want to grab:

1. Taco shells and tortillas. They can be flour or corn, or both! We grabbed both hard taco shells and soft flour tortillas since we wanted a variety.
2. Tortilla chips. What is a fiesta without some vibrant, fresh salsa and some restaurant style tortilla chips for dipping? The chips can also be used for a nice, heaping pile of nachos. Yum!
3. Chicken, ground chuck, or whatever protein your family prefers. I bought both ground chuck and boneless skinless chicken breasts. If you're vegetarian, some black beans and rice would be an amazing and tasty choice. 
4. Cheese. It can be cheddar, Monterey Jack, Cojita, Chihuahua, Mexican dipping cheese, or if you're brave and like a little heat, there's a great Habanero-Jack variety available, too. Regardless of what kind you choose, you'll need cheese and plenty of it.
5. Veggies! There are so many vegetables that truly shine when used in a taco. Of course I picked up some shredded iceberg lettuce, but I also grabbed some red bell peppers, black olives, Jalapeno peppers, Roma tomatoes, and the makings for my famous guacamole. I also grabbed a big bunch of fresh, organic Cilantro since it's amazing with chicken in soft tacos!
6. Condiments. You're going to want some fresh salsa, sour cream, and taco sauces to slather on those tacos! There are so many different varieties from sweet and spicy to mild to fire and brimstone HOT. Just make sure to grab plenty of whatever condiments your family enjoys on their tacos!
7. Wet-Nap products. Tacos can get pretty darn messy, especially when you allow small kids to make their own. Luckily, Wet-Nap Antibacterial Hand Wipes are totally safe for sticky little hands and faces, or whatever else happens to get messy! 

Our Family DIY Taco Bar :

After we grabbed all of our taco bar ingredients, I went to work preparing the foods. I made what I would truly call the best taco meat in the world, as well as some lime-marinated grilled chicken. I added some coarsely chopped Cilantro to the chicken for additional bright, fresh flavors. 

I also whipped up my famous guacamole. I love avocados, and have pretty much perfected my homemade guacamole. (You can find my recipe HERE.) I scooped a generous helping onto the center of a serving platter, and surrounded it with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, black olives and a mountain of cheese. I used a mixture of Colby and Monterey Jack. 

On the second platter, I offered even more taco fixings. Here we've got some organic Cilantro, red bell peppers, jalapeno slices, homemade refried beans with a little bacon added, and some sour cream to help cool the flames of the fiery salsa and spicy taco meat.  

By the time our taco bar was ready, we had all worked up a pretty hefty appetite. The smells of the meat and chicken cooking had us all drooling. My teen even asked me every 5 minutes when it was all going to be ready. 

Finally, the table was set and it was time for everyone to dig in. Here's my husband's plate. As you can see, he definitely has a man-sized appetite. He had both hard and soft tacos as well as a nice serving of smothered nachos. 

We had a wonderful meal together. The little kids loved being able to independently make their own tacos. (Daddy helped with the salsa, guac and sour cream.) 

My 14 year old, Kyle, was especially ravenous and had 3 plates full of food! I guess nothing quite compares to the appetite of a teenage boy. At this rate, he is going to end up eating us out of house and home! Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But man, can this kid EAT! 

Sophie, my 4 year old little diva, inhaled her tortilla chips and guacamole. She also ate 2 tacos that she made all by herself! I loved having everything so accessible in a bar-type set-up. It made it so simple for my kids to get creative with their foods and try different flavor combinations. 

Of course having 3 kids create their own tacos is a messy, messy affair. Thank goodness I had just picked up a canister of Citrus scented Wet-Nap Antibacterial Hand Wipes at Walmart. They certainly came in handy when I had to clean salsa, guacamole and sour cream off of my kids' hands and faces! 

I even used some Wet-Nap wipes to quickly wipe down our serving platters before taking them to the kitchen to be properly washed. 

Overall, our DIY Taco Bar was a huge success. All of the food was fantastic, and it allowed us to have some great bonding time as a family. I can't wait for Cinco de Mayo to do it all over again, hopefully out on our deck! 

If you'd like to try a DIY Taco Bar for Cinco de Mayo, be sure to grab some Wet-Nap Antibacterial Hand Wipes for easy clean-up. For a limited time, you can save $.55 off any Wet-Nap product! Just download the coupon HERE while supplies last and head out to Walmart to grab all your taco bar essentials! 

How do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas! 

Contest Alert! 

The folks at Wet-Nap are having an exciting contest right now! The Most Original Mess Contest gives you the chance to share your messes for the chance to win some amazing prizes!

Participants can upload a photo entry of their messy kids and share the link across social media.  The photo with the most votes wins a $1,000 giftcard to Walmart and a year's supply of product. Voting will close on June 16.  

To check it out and submit your own entry, click HERE.