Tres de Mayo Ruffles and Flags

Every year when Cinco de Mayo rolls around, we host a party for the college-aged students we work with.  This year, that party fell on the 3rd... hence a Tres de Mayo party!  And what good is any fiesta without decorations?!  I've been wanting to try these crepe paper ruffled streamers for a while and since we are on a major budget, I figured that this was a good time to use them.  And seriously, how much cheaper can it get than crepe paper?  The ones I bought were 2 rolls for $1 at the Dollar Tree.  I was hoping to grab some red, green & white for the 3 colored ruffles... but the store only had green and white.  Sometimes you've just gotta work with what you have, right?

I think the ruffles came out Ah-Mazing! I can't wait to make more!  But I've got to tell you something - we haven't even been in our new place 2 months and there are quite a few boxes to be unpacked, pictures to be hung and closets to be organized.  I really have no business decorating for holidays.  But every now and then, I just need to be creative.  Anyone else feel that way?  Those curtains in the background of this picture.... they are from Ikea and haven't been hemmed.  But I needed to put that aside to decorate for a Tres de Mayo party.

This mantle is covered with all the items that I don't have a place for, but don't want the kids to break.  It is also covered with the crepe paper ruffles I didn't have time to be making! Ha! Oh the irony!  That's the way it is sometimes, right?  Sometimes we need the simple, creative things.

Since I only had the green and white crepe paper, I knew I needed some red.  I pulled out the last few sheets of the red-hued scrapbook paper pack I had in the closet.  I cut the paper in 1 1/4" strips and cut each of those strips 6" long (i.e. half of a sheet of scrapbook-sized paper).  With my hot glue gun heated up, I folded the strips over some bakers twine and dropped on a dab of hot glue in the middle.

And there ya' have it!  Fiesta decor on a budget!  But budget doesn't stop there... these thing were made for reusing.  They need a way to be stored up for the next party.  The ruffles are pretty sturdy with the stitching running down the middle and roll up nice and neat.

The flags were another story.  Those things can get tangled to the point that makes you wish you had tossed them in the trash after the 1st time you used them.  I needed something to make storage much easier... and that's when I remembered the way my Grandma had stored all sorts of things in empty paper towel tubes.  

It may not look pretty, but it works... my silly little flags are all stored up for the next party.

Maybe the Fourth of July!