Since Día de los Muertos is right around the corner, Michelle Stewart of Michelle’s Party Plan-It honored the holiday with this Day of the Dead Party filled with colorful sugar skulls & tons of glittering sweets! The meaning behind Día de los Muertos is so interesting & I think it could be a great opportunity to include the kids in learning about other cultures! Plus, who doesn’t love an excuse to pull those skeletons out of the closet (literally)! ;)

PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:

• Bright paper flower arrangements & matching paper pinwheels + a gold glitter backdrop
• Black sugar skull topped cake with fondant rosettes + golden skull topped chocolate Oreos
• Vintage shutters with stained glass style tissue paper + a vintage style skeleton costume
• Glitter skull topped candy apples & cupcakes + sugar skull placemats & napkin rings

PARTY DETAILS as told by Michelle…

I have always loved “Dia de los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) celebrations. Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico and starts on November 1st to remember loved ones that have passed and are no longer with us. In addition to the wonderful traditions and meaning behind the holiday, I have always loved the bright colors, sugar skulls and flowers traditionally displayed during the elaborate festivities. With the upcoming holiday and movie release of “The Book of Life” I was inspired to create a Day of the Dead celebration.

DECOR

To set the stage, I started with the backdrop. I purchased a beautiful wrought iron and wood wall decor piece and decided I would make my own “stained glass window” by adhering tissue paper to the back of it. It was a tedious and very frustrating DIY project, but very much worth every bit of frustration. I could not be more please with the results! I hung glitter fabric and paper fans on the wall and printed a large sugar skull for the middle of my “window.” I added a bright flower headband and lace fabric to my Halloween skeleton and added paper fans and traditional Mexican paper flowers.

TREATS TABLE

I knew I wanted Sugar Skulls throughout the party so I collaborated with some of the best treat makers and bakers in the business to create a large variety of Sugar Skull confections. The 2 tiered cake topped with a fondant sugar skull made by Kimas Konfections created the perfect centerpiece. Alongside I displayed the hand dipped chocolate covered oreos with top hats and golden skulls from Bella Bakery and Bowtique and an array of handmade sugar cookies from Creating Awesomnessity. I topped the cupcakes with fondant cupcake toppers also from Kimas Konfections. To add height to the table, I placed the Chamoy Candybobs and hand-drawn Sugar Skull Candybobs in large flower balls on top of two candle holders. I placed the bright glitter candy apples from Autumn Lynns Chocolate Sins in glitter cupcake wrappers from Bella Cupcake Couture alongside bright flowers in a hand painted mason jar from Always the Occasion. I filled treat boxes and skull buckets from Oriental Trading Company with candy and popcorn along with the handmade sugar skull cake pops also from Autumn.

PAPER CRAFTING

Using my Sizzix Big Shot, I embellished party favor and popcorn boxes from Oriental Trading Company (see tutorial here) and created the paper cupcake and candy apple toppers. I also made the papel picado banner and coordinating placemats My youngest son loves to dress up and he is super excited about “The Book of Life” movie releasing in October, so naturally he loved getting into character for the photo shoot. After I painted his face, added a beautifully handcrafted sombrero and flower clip to his $3 suit (which I found at Goodwill for him to wear over his older brother’s old skeleton costume from several Halloweens ago), he was transformed! I had a blast styling and photographing this party and am honored to have worked on it with such wonderfully talented ladies! *****