Our first kiddie birthday party here in Mexico resulted in quite a bit of culture shock. While we’ve gotten used to the fiesta mentality for adults, it’s hard to digest the magnitude when it comes to a toddler turning only 2 or 3 years old!
Our First Mexican Birthday Party
We started with crafts: Baby Boy was in love with the sparkles that he “glued” on his mask. Then there were 2 bouncy structures and a doll station to play in (dolls, high chairs, clothes, strollers etc). Then a team of party workers that ran games for an hour and a half. Then of course food. And we didn’t even get to stay for the cake and the piñata because it was past our bedtime.
The Birthday Obsession
My boy is obsessed with birthdays. Can I blame him? Games, candy, cake for dinner, kids running around, and the main event…the piñata! What’s not to like?It’s hard to describe the level of obsession: from the day we receive an invitation until party day, he talks about it every day, especially about how there’s going to be a piñata with candy inside.

Imaginary Play: Piñata
One of his favorite imaginary games is hitting the piñata and then fake collecting candy. Then the day of a party he tells us numerous times that *he* is going to break the piñata, no matter that he is almost always the smallest one at the party.
Features of a Mexican Birthday Party
Since Little Boy started preschool, we’ve been going to lots of parties and boy do they go all out here: ponies (check), spa (check), crafting/painting something ceramic (every.single.time), bouncy house (of course), playground (check), carnival style ride (check), characters and clown shows (yup, yup, yup).
In our foreign eyes, sometimes these get a little excessive because where do you go from here if you’ve already had many of the above attractions by your third birthday?
But from my parenting point of view the only thing that is often lacking is food: usually it’s a plethora of candy and fried snacks, cake, and jello, not exactly a nutritious meal.
But the kids love it, a lot! Happy kids, happy parents!
