Dia De Los Muertos Birthday Party

Now that I’ve had a few days to relax after throwing my daughter a Dia De Los Muertos birthday party, I wanted to share the easy party details with you all.

Dia De Los Muertos Birthday Party Details:

My youngest daughter was born on Halloween, so each year I try to come up with a fun birthday party idea for her. I feel like we are the house that should throw the Halloween party each year, so I have tried to go all out with the themes.

I chose a Day of the Dead theme this year because I’ve always loved the tradition and colors. Rather than go a morbid or grim route with the theme, I went with a cheerful and colorful palette. The colors looked so beautiful together and the little details made the party extra special.

Fresh Marigolds

Something that made this party unique was having fresh orange marigold flowers all over the place. As we got closer to the party date (November 1st), we struggled to find fresh potted marigolds that were in good shape.

Most of the local nurseries had already transitioned their flower supplies to their winter flowers, but I lucked out by finding a ton of fresh potted marigolds at Save Mart for around $9 each.

I kept the flowers in the dirt pots until the day of the party and then cut them at the base and stuck them in mismatched clear vases full of water. We are now many days post-party and the marigolds are still looking great.

Mexican Blanket Table Runners

I had the mindset of not wanting to do a cheesy fiesta-themed party, so I looked for authentic looking Mexican blanket table runners online. I ended up finding really pretty ones in a five-pack on Amazon and they even came with a bonus pack of 50 balloons. I didn’t end up using the balloons, but it was a pretty good deal on Amazon Prime.

Front Porch Flower Petals

To create the look of flower petals without spending a fortune, I cut paper streamer rolls into quarters, scrunched them, and randomly spread them around on the porch.

The idea behind the flower petals is that they help guide the spirits. If you’ve ever seen the move, Coco, then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Mexican Candy Party Favors

I ordered a 5 lb. bag of assorted Mexican candy from Amazon and used dried corn husks (also from Amazon) to wrap the candies up. Everyone thought the favors were adorable and the candy was delish.

Altar

My goal for the Altar was to keep it light-hearted and more decor-focused, rather than focusing on my dead ancestors. Since it was a birthday party, I didn’t want people to feel sad when they looked at the altar.

Day of the Dead altars known as altares de muertos or ofrendas are set during the Day of the Dead celebrations on November 1 and 2 to honor the dead children and adults… Cempasuchil and other Day of the Dead flowers are added to the altar together with spicy tamales, alcoholic drinks and cigarettes.

A lot of my altar decor came from various parts of Mexico, so I’m not able to link that here for you. You can find some really cute decor in the Christmas aisles at Hobby Lobby, though. They had a really cute fake pink cactus and Mexican llama for under $8 each.

I purchased a fuchsia tablecloth from Amazon, and added one of my Mexican blanket table runners to the front of the altar.

I found all of the candles you see in the pictures at Dollar Tree.

The flower arch was also an Amazon find (which I will link below).

Sugar Skull Piñata

Since this was a Mexican-themed party, I knew I had to have a piñata. I found this adorable sugar skull piñata at Party City (which is now significantly discounted after Halloween). This skull could have easily been used as decor, too.

Amazon Supplies:

Dia De Los Muertos Invitation

I found some really cute Dia De Los Muertos invitations on Etsy, but ended up going with this one by Bohemian Woods. It’s so pretty and girly and really set the vibes for our party.

Food

Somehow I managed to throw an entire party (which I planned for weeks, I will add) and failed to get any pictures of the food. I’m so mad at myself because the food and desserts were delish and beautifully displayed.

For dinner we served homemade carnitas tacos, Mexican street corn cups, homemade beans and rice.

For dessert we served Mexican cookies, empanadas, fresh churros with caramel dipping sauce, and sugar skull decorated cookies. The churros were from Smart & Final and were a huge hit. We found the empanadas and cookies at our local Save Mart bakery.