Many families celebrate occasions — such as birthdays, marriages, saints’ days and Mother’s Day — in traditional Mexican style: with a fiesta (Spanish for “feast” or “holiday”). But you don’t need a reason for a fiesta — it’s simply a great way to have fun. Here are some fun ideas on how to throw your own fiesta-style party.

From Mexico’s red, green and white flag to the serape — the traditional patterned shawl men wear over their shoulders — color is everywhere. Bring some to your house this way:

• Start with the front door. Buy or make a chile pepper wreath called a ristra. Or buy a string of peppers and hang them up with red satin ribbon.
• Decorate inside with red, green and white balloons.
• Put real or fake cactus plants — big and small, with flowers or not — on the windowsills.
• Drape strands of chile pepper lights (like the ones used at Christmas) around the ceiling of the living room and dining room and over the doors.
• Cover the chairs and sofa with pink, red, yellow and blue shawls.

The table can be as much fun to decorate as the house:

• Cover the dining table with a colorful cloth or a serape if you have one.
• Ask friends to bring any Mexican souvenirs they might have bought on a trip to Mexico, such as sombreros, pottery and baskets.
• Make or buy big paper flowers and put them in a decorated pitcher.
• Use lots of baskets and ceramic pieces to serve your food and drinks.

Start the party with nibbles like nacho chips with salsa and a black bean dip. You could also make a platter of red, green and white vegetables such as cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, celery and radishes, and serve them with a cheese dip.

Make the food exciting with popular Mexican-style dishes such as baked chicken, enchiladas, burritos, tacos, jicama salad and mixed fresh fruit cocktail.

There are plenty of traditional desserts you can serve:

• Buy or make your own churros — stick-shaped doughnuts dusted with powdered sugar (Trick: Use regular round doughnuts and sprinkle them with sugar)
• Fruit and cheese tarts
• Flan (Mexican-style custard)
• Anything chocolate — pudding, pie, cake
• Almond cookies

Mariachi bands play all over Mexico, and often in restaurants. Try to find a CD of mariachi music. If you can’t, guitar music can help create an authentic vibe. Ask friends with guitars if they’ll play some music before and after dinner. When it’s warm outside, you might want to dance on the porch or listen to the music on chairs or blankets on the lawn.

One of the most exciting parts of a Mexican fiesta is the breaking of the piñata — something that’s often used for children’s parties but is also fun for grownups. The piñata is a decorated container made of papier-mâché — newspaper stiffened with glue so it can harden into a shape — for instance, a fish or horse. It’s filled with candy and hung from a high spot inside the house or outside on a tree. Guests are blindfolded, and then they try to break the piñata with a stick. When the candy falls out, everyone rushes to pick it up.

You can find instructions on how to make a piñata in a crafts book or online. It’s a fun project the whole family can do together.

Use the Mexican fiesta theme for the whole party, or just try a few of these ideas for your next get-together. Either way, everyone will have the time of their life — and so will you!