Hi friends! I recently had the awesome privaledge to get together with some of my favorite local bloggers to put together one fabulous Day of the Dead Party! The Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is a Mexican holiday observed throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Growing up in the Southwest, we’re very familiar with the holiday and since it begins on All Hallow’s Eve, it coincides with many Halloween festivities. This year, we thought it would be fun to put together a modern take on the Day of the Dead with this kids party. I created a few items that I will share this week, starting with this fabulous and fun Day of the Dead Skull Pinata!
What you’ll need:
- Elmer’s foam board
- White poster board
- White crepe streamer
- Colored cardstock
- Xacto or hot knife
- Glue gun/glue
- Silhouette or scissors (for embellishments)
And the steps:
- Draw your skull shape on white foam board and cut out using an xacto or hot knife.
- Then trace the same shape on a second piece of foam board and once again cut out with an xacto or hot knife.
- Cut a long strip of poster board that will determine the thickness of your pinata.
- With hot glue, glue that poster board strip around the perimiter of your skull foam board pieces. You may need more than one strip to make it around the entire pinata.
- Once the base is complete, cut “fringe like” slits two-thirds of the way up strips of white crepe paper stremer.
- Then you’re going to want to glue those strips of crepe paper on to your pinata, starting at the bottom and working your way up, layering strips of fringed crepe paper to give a pinata look.
- Once you’ve covered the entire pinata with your fringed crepe paper, you’ll want to add some Day of the Dead skull embellishments.
- We used aspects of the dia de los muertos sugar skull Silhouette design by Jennifer Wambach to add eyes, nose, teeth and more to our skull pinata, but you could cut out designs on your own if you don’t have a cutting machine.
- Glue your embellishments in place and voila! One adorable Day of the Dead Skull Pinata!
He was right at home as a fun and festive backdrop to the party.
What do you think of our Day of the Dead Skull Pinata? So fun, right? The whole party was a blast! We have a few more things to share with you this Friday – stay tuned! But in the meantime, be sure to click around for MORE fun Day of the Dead party ideas and tutorials by my friends!
Day of the Dead Floral Centerpiece by See Vanessa Craft
Day of the Dead Cookies by Lolly Jane
Day of the Dead Mask Printables by Kate Eschbach
Day of the Dead Cupcakes by Around My Family Table
So much party fun to be had! If you love these Day of the Dead Party Ideas, be sure to check back on Friday for another round of party goodness!
Thank you to Kate Eschbach for providing some of the photography and images shared here today!
OMG- Kimberly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love, like seriously LOVE day of the dead skulls. This is so CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hehe! Thank you Gina, he was fun to make!
Love this! We’re going to be throwing a Halloween/Dia de los Muertos party later in the month and I might just end up making this!
I always loved this holiday after I learned about it in Spanish class. What a fun party idea, i love the pinata. I know my younger sister would love this, she loves anything skulls!