I was super excited to write this post today because I had so much fun putting together this birthday fiesta for Reid. I got some great photos, but seeing it in person was so much better! This year for Reid’s birthday I wanted to do something bigger since I didn’t know what next year would bring. Our favorite “quick” place to eat has always been Chipotle. Who doesn’t love a good burrito bowl? It’s so simple yet delicious. I happened to stumble upon some homemade recipes for Chipotle’s menu items on Pinterest. I also found a lot of good details about their seasonings & marinades on their website. The key to this party for me was organization and lots of preparation the days leading up to it (which is a whole new ball park for me!) My goal was to have everything in crock pots and ready for serving by time all of our family & friends arrived so that I was able to enjoy myself.
As for the decorations, I have always been a lover of chalkboard art. I thought it added a nice touch to the house & helps guests navigate their way around. The Corona bottle flower vases I found were so fun for the theme and added lots of color! Below are some pictures I took before the party. I will share some links at the bottom of this post of recipes for this grand spanish fiesta!
Recipes for the DIY Chipotle Burrito Bar:
- Chipotle Adobo Chicken & Steak Marinade: I used the ancho chile powder substitute instead of soaking and de-seeing hot chili peppers and it still turned out delicious so I would recommend this option, major time saver. I quadrupled this recipe for 40 pounds of meat. For the meat I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and top sirloin, both from Costco)
- Cilantro Lime Rice: I did this in two different rice cookers using a Japanese long grain white rice we had in the pantry. After rice was cooked, I added lime juice, kosher salt, and cilantro and fluffed it with a fork…super easy!
- Avocado Corn Salsa: This was the hit of the party..there were barely any leftovers! I messed around with this recipe, added black pepper and cumin and more salt than it called for. I purchased the large frozen bag of organic white corn from Costco, it was delicious and fed plenty of people.
- Black Beans: Simple canned black beans, no seasoning! I thought about adding spices such as cumin and oregano but I figured since everything else going in the burritos already had so much flavor it wasn’t necessary.
- Sautéed green peppers & red onions: I glanced at the menu on Chipotle’s website to see what seasonings they used and just did a simple olive oil sauté with a little salt, pepper and oregano.
- Queso Blanco: MY FAVORITE! It is so delicious I can’t even stand it! The recipe is super simple minus the fact finding a block of white american cheese in this town wasn’t the easiest. The only place I was able to find it was in the deli and had to ask them to cut me off 2 pounds off the huge block. Worth it!
Dessert:
- Reese’s peanut butter cupcakes: Don’t even get me started on these or it’ll make me bake more right now! These are to die for, also the homemade frosting is super easy and delightful.
- Funfetti: Boxed funetti cake mix and vanilla funfetti frosting (Hey, I couldn’t homemake it all!!!)
Drinks:
- Margarita Bar: The idea here was to have a bunch of different options and let people create their favorite type of margarita on the rocks!
- Silver Tequila from Costco…obviously I cannot drink right now but I was told it was pretty tasty and also only $30 for 1.75 liters, score!
- Mango Margarita mix from Williams Sonoma
- Sweet & Sour Margarita Mix from Costco
- Triple Sec
- Fresh Limes
- Salt
- San Pelligrino: I was told this was a party favorite…silver tequila mixed with fresh limes and flavored San Pelligrino sparkling soda.
This party definitely required a lot of work but it was so fun seeing it all come together and watching everyone enjoy themselves! Happy birthday Reid!
Signing off for now,
Xoxo
Kristen,
This was a great idea for a party for Reid! The food looks amazing, Chris and I love Mexican food so I will deff try some of those recipes. I may try making those Reese cupcakes for grandpas birthday they sound to die for. All of your decorations turned out so cute! I will keep these in mind for any future parties.. We have plenty of corona bottles on hand since that is Chriss go to beer. I can’t wait to see you and meet baby smith. Love you and miss you
Xoxo
Heather