Cinco de Mayo Tissue Paper Flowers

Now's the time to get in fiesta prep-mode for the Cinco de Mayo. This holiday commemorates the Battle of Puebla in 1862, when the French army was defeated, despite the fact that they were better equiped and outnumbered the Mexican resisters three to one. The win was a real a boost to morale and today Mexican Americans celebrate their heritage on the 5th of May. 

My school's prom happens to fall on May 5th this year, which is why the theme is Cinco de Mayo. My students and I are making tissue paper flowers for decorations.  Large flowers require 4-6 pieces of tissue paper (we're using 20 inch squares for most of them). Three half sheets make a medium sized flower.

The tissue is stacked and folded like a fan (or accordion). Then small notches are cut for the wire or string to tie the pieces together. Petals can be formed by cutting the ends round or pointed.

 Slide thumbs deeply between two sheets of tissue and gently pull in opposite directions, to fluff each layer.

This very large table holds flowers made from about 70 sheets of tissue paper, so you can get a lot of bang for you buck when it comes to decorating. Small flowers, like the ones seen near the top of this page, are made from 1/4 or 1/6 of sheet of tissue, and are nice for table toppers.

Enjoy your Cinco de Mayo in style this year!