Dia de los Muertos Party Inspiration!

I have been trying for year, YEARS, to get my kids to have a Dia de los Muertos party (remember our mono prints?!). Or at least dress as a sugar skull for Halloween. I never get any takers. But I keep rounding ideas up in hopes they'll bite one year, so I figured I'd share them!

1. I'd leave papel de picado up all year long and this set of skulls is perfect for Dia de los Muertos.

2. I came across this table runner a few years ago and haven't been able to get it out of my head. Now who wants to make one for me?!

3. I usually like to make my own arts and craft projects, but OTC is a great place to find projects for a large group of kids and I love this little tissue paper craft.

4. Sugar skulls AND edible confetti!?

5. The kids love horchata and bubble tea, so I have to think this combo would be a winner!

6. A honeycombed wall is such an easy way to brighten up the party.

7. I tend to second-guess photo booths, but the kids always seem to LOVE them. Set one up fast with these great props!

8. I don't think it's a party without striped straws and I think Cam would love to make some tissue paper flowers to add!

9. I think it would be super fun to make some of these cinnamon cookies and let the kiddos decorate them with edible decorating pens.

Artworks: Dia de los Muertos Monoprints

Mom is obsessed with Dia de los Muertos, which falls on November 1st and 2nd, and we were quite happy to jump on board this year given the stronghold we have on Halloween decorations and our interest in all things involving skulls. There are tons of really cool Dia de los Muertos crafts out there, but mom had been wanting to try making monoprints for a while and was trying to think of a way to do both things. Then she remembered No Monsters in My Bed's q-tip printing post from a while back and figured we'd give that a go by making sugar skull prints. We all LOVED it. Mom printed out these coloring sheets for us to reference and sat down with us and made some herself as well. We tried colored paint on white paper and mom also tried black paint on colored paper. Both came out awesome. I'm guessing these will be made into a flag garland soon .... There also may be gems involved.

Here's the DIAlio. You'll need:
- paint
- an old pan or baking sheet
- q-tips
- paper (we used both heavy watercolor and lighter weight paper and each turned out well. the light weight paper will probably look cool strung up into a paper garland because it will move with the air better)
- a brayer or sponge paint brush

Once you've got your supplies:
1. Spread a thin layer of paint onto the back of a pan or baking sheet using the brayer or sponge paint brush. Try to spread the paint until it's translucent -- a thicker paint layer does not print as well.

2. Use the q-tip to draw a sugar skull (or have a parent draw the outline and the kiddos add detail).

3. Press a piece of paper carefully on the design and smooth with your hand.

4. Lift to see your print!

We varied our prints by changing up the type and color of paper and mixing in glitter paint to some of them. Fabulous.