Cinco de Mayo: Have A Fantastico Fiesta With These Items

by Kevin Wierzbicki

---

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on May 5 and that falls on a Friday this year, so what better reason do you need to celebrate all weekend long? You'll need snacks, drinks and games to keep the fun going, and we have suggestions for all of those. We start with something guaranteed to make your Cinco de Mayo (or any other day) hot, hot, hot!

Fuego Box Tame-to-Insane Challenge Box

Your Cinco de Mayo party will definitely be en fuego when you bust out the Tame-to-Insane Challenge Box from Fuego Box, the curators of specialty hot sauces sourced from the world over. Fuego Box offers various gift boxes, including a five bottle collection frighteningly called Crate of Death. But for your Cinco celebration you'll want the Tame-to-Insane Challenge Box because you can have fun playing with fire in a couple of different ways. You can just set the box out next to the tacos and nachos and then watch the faces of those who liven up their snacks with dollops of one of the 11 sauces in the box, which get hotter and hotter the higher the number they're given. Jersey Bonfire (#1) hot sauce is the mildest, sort of a starter sauce if you will, while Lucky Dog (#5) is a mid-range Cherry Chipotle sauce made just for Fuego Box, and SeaFire Gourmet's Scorpion hot sauce (#8) is really getting fiery; yes, it's made with devilishly hot scorpion peppers and comes with the warning "milk won't save you now!") But the word "challenge" is in this box's name for a reason; gather some brave souls and challenge them to eat a spoonful of each sauce, beginning with the mildest, and see who can consume the hottest sauces as you work your way up to High River Sauce's Thunder Juice (#9), the "evil" Burns & McCoy Painapple Pepper Sauce (#10) and the ultimate, 100 Pound Reaper Tincture (#11) that's described as being hot as the bowels of hell and that is consumed only one drop at a time. We'd tell you more but right now our mouth is on fire! Order the Tame-to-Insane Challenge Box from Fuego Box here.

Snacks from Nuts.com

Your friends already think you're a little nutty, right? Well show them that you've gone completely nuts by putting out a selection of healthy snacks from Nuts.com at your Cinco de Mayo party. As far as the snack that's right there in the company's name, Nuts.com offers a wide variety of snacking nuts, including cashews, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, peanuts, macadamia nuts and Brazil nuts. Depending on which variety you want you can order raw, organic, in or out of shell, roasted and with salt, without salt or 50% less salt. We especially like the flavored varieties from Nuts.com. Maybe Chili Crisp Almonds would be right for your fiesta, or Tequila Lime Almonds? Salted Caramel Cashews will for sure be a hit; Toffee Chocolate Pistachios, Cinnamon Walnuts and BBQ Peanuts are just a few of the other yummy treats available. As to how many nuts you want to have on hand, Nuts.com offers nuts by the pound, in 8 oz. snack bags, and, probably best for your party, in custom trays where you can choose from more than 150 items for inclusion to ensure a crowd-pleasing nosh. And nuts aren't all that you can get from Nuts.com; 15 kinds of dried fruit snacks are available including apricot, strawberry, fig, mango, pineapple, coconut and goji berries. There are plenty of candy items too; Jordan almonds, malted milk balls, licorice, fudge, chocolate covered pretzels, rock candy and salt water taffy just to name a few. We better stop now, because we know your mouth, like ours, is watering. See all the delicious choices and place your Nuts.com order here.

SouthNorte Crafted Cocktails

Adult beverages are an important part of any Cinco de Mayo party. You don't want to run out of alcohol, especially tequila. Surprise your guests by stocking plenty of crafted cocktails by SouthNorte, tequila-based cocktails that are inspired by the flavors of Mexico. Of course SouthNorte makes a Margarita variety, flavored with triple sec and lime and these are sure to be the most popular beverage at your Cinco de Mayo fiesta. But give revelers a few other tastes too like the Matador that's flavored with pineapple, lime and club soda, the Paloma which has notes of red grapefruit and lemon-lime soda, and for something really different, the Mexican Mule that's made with ginger beer and lime, mint and a hint of jalapeno. All drinks are 7% alcohol except the marg which is 10% alcohol and all are packaged in 12-ounce cans. So forget about standing at the blender, just put SouthNorte Crafted Cocktails on ice and you're ready to go. Well, you can put out margarita salt and flavored spicy salt for those that prefer. Each variety is sold in 4-packs with an 8-pack variety carton also available. To find a store near you where you can purchase SouthNorte Crafted Cocktails go here.

PaddleSmash

Here's something that'll really make your Cinco de Mayo party a smash. PaddleSmash! Described as "pickleball meets roundnet," PaddleSmash is a game that you can play in your backyard, the park or on the beach, so long as you have about 15-feet in diameter for your playing area. Set up is simple and takes only one minute; all you have to do is lay down the foldable court (which doubles as a carrying case for all components of the game) and attach the net system to it with six 28-inch rods. Then you're ready to play, and trust us, this game will bring out the competitive nature in anyone who plays! PaddleSmash is played with four people made up of two-person teams. Teammates set up across from each other, each equipped with a paddle (four provided) that's the same as a pickleball paddle. The ball used is a pickleball (two provided) and the game begins with one of the members of Team A hitting the ball into the netted area, getting it to bounce to their teammate. Because the player is hitting it to their teammate, this is not the time for hard smashes. Then that team has up to three shots, with each teammate having to hit the ball at least once (double hits by one player are allowed) and to "smash" the ball into the court to make it difficult for Team B to take over. Points are scored for one team when the opposing team fails to clear the net in a single bounce or if the ball hits the ground. To win, one team must score 11 points and beat the other team by two points. It may sound complicated but PaddleSmash is really easy to learn; all players should first watch the tutorial on the PaddleSmash website and of course a few practice rounds will be helpful. PaddleSmash also can be played one-on-one or two-versus-one. Widely available at Dick's Sporting Goods, Scheels and Amazon or directly from PaddleSmash here.

Share this article

---