photo credit: Kate Eschbach
Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a primarily Mexican holiday that celebrates and remembers the deceased between October 31st and November 2nd. It sounds a little morbid, but it’s actually a cheerful day full of color, flowers and treats. Many families in Mexico will spend time at the cemetery, decorating their loved ones graves and celebrating their legacy with music and festivities. For those of us who have never experienced Dia de los Muertos, this is the perfect opportunity to explore a new culture. Get your kiddos in on the action too! You can make sugar skulls, color skulls masks and more. Some of my favorite bloggers and I decided that it would be fun to throw a kid-friendly Day of the Dead party ourselves. I’ll be blogging all of the festive details for you this week, so you can follow the tutorials for your own at-home celebration.
photo credit: Kate Eschbach
We styled the party at The Simple Farm, a bloggers dream come true photo location. It’s a 3 acre goat farm in the middle of Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s owned by a couple who never intended to become farmers, but who just started to grow food for themselves. Now they are dairy goat farmers and caramel makers in their own little sanctuary. I love their story and the minute I stepped on the farm, I knew it would be the most perfect backdrop for our party. Just past the hen house, there’s a row of old wooden tables with mismatched chairs and vintage chandeliers hanging above. I love the contrast of our vibrant party to the peaceful location.
photo credit: Kate Eschbach
You can have a Day of the Dead party without colorful skull treats! Lolly Jane bakes up the cutest cookies that the kids couldn’t wait to eat! Around My Family Table brought the yummiest cookies, topped with the cutest little edible skulls. For the party activities, A Night Owl Blog made that fabulous skull pinata and Kate Eschbach created printable skull masks for the kids to color. Keep scrolling to the bottom for links to their tutorials. My contribution to the party were the glittered skull centerpieces. So easy to make and I loved how they turned out!
photo credit: A Night Owl Blog
Skull Centerpieces
Materials:
Black Glittered Skull (I found mine at Target in the Dollar Spot)
Candy Stick
Red Acrylic Paint/Paint brush
Hot Glue
Tissue Paper Flowers
Instructions: If your skull isn’t glittered, paint with mod podge and sprinkle with glitter. Paint a layer of mod podge over the glitter to keep it from shedding. Paint the unfinished candlesticks red. Hot glue the skull to the candlestick. Add paper flowers to the skull (paper flower tutorial coming soon).
photo credit: Kate Eschbach
For more Day of the Dead crafts and recipes, visit these blogs:
Day of the Dead Cupcakes – Around My Family Table
Day of the Dead Skull Pinata – A Night Owl
Day of the Dead Cookies – Lolly Jane
Day of the Dead Mask Printable – Kate Eschbach
Day of the Dead Sugar Skulls – Around My Family Table
