Decorate for Dia de los Muertos with These Shops from Mexico
If you’re new to celebrating Dia de los Muertos, try shopping from these authentic Mexican retailers to decorate your altar.
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A common misconception about Dia de los Muertos is that it’s the Mexican version of Halloween. In fact, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a colorful, happy holiday that honors late family, friends, and community members. Instead of mourning, people commemorate life.
Dia de los Muertos is celebrated all across the West in a variety of ways, both public and private.
The majority of the nation’s Mexican population lives in the West, with more than a third in California, according to the Pew Research Center. In the region, there are public Dia de los Muertos festivals where people pay their respects and join the celebration.
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Traditional Dia de los Muertos celebrations last two days, from Nov. 1-2, and involve a variety of festivities. Most often, people start by visiting their deceased loved ones’ grave sites and bring ofrendas, or offerings, such as marigold flowers and candles to attract souls to the site. The offerings include the deceased person’s favorite foods, drinks, and pictures of them. The belief is that placing their favorite items on the gravesite will make the souls comfortable with returning to visit their loved ones.
Often, people who celebrate the holiday set up decorative altars at home filled with items including photos of deceased loved ones, food offerings, and candles. In the West, the decor often follows Mexican folk art style, which includes bright colors, mythical animals, and flat figures.
Because Dia de los Muertos is about inviting the souls back home and remembering them, the holiday is full of sweets like chocolate, sugar skulls, and cookies, and traditional foods like tamales, mole, chalupas, and pozole. Hot drinks are served in decorative ceramic mugs called jarritos, and the altars typically have mezcal or tequila with a jicara (a cup made from a gourd).
If you’re ready to join in on the celebrations for Dia de los Muertos, shop for your decor from these stores based in Mexico.
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Agave Girl Boutique
Before designing your altar, place a decorative table runner to set up a base for all your components. Agave Girl Boutique from Hidalgo, Mexico sells thoughtfully designed home decor and clothing, and we love the table runners’s high-quality material and embroidery.
Santerastore
If you’re unable to get fresh marigold flowers, try using an incense blend with marigold petals instead. Marigold is believed to lead the souls home with their sweet scent, and this loose incense blend is sure to produce a beautiful smell.
EkabMexico
Perhaps the most recognizable decoration, papel picados are cut colored papers hung up to allow spirits to pass through the holes and find their way home. While you can definitely design your own papel picado at home, we love the ornate designs from EkabMexico.
Italivii
A jicara, meant to serve mezcal or tequila, is made from a gourd. These cups are similar to shot glasses, but they come in a bowl shape and are placed on top of a carrizo, or an elevated base.
Novica
Often, people will paint their faces on Dia de los Muertos to look like a skeleton to represent those who have passed, but some also place decorative masks on the altar. This eclipse ceramic mask represents the brightness in both life and death as the holiday is meant to celebrate rather than mourn.
Nahualcalli
Traditional Mexican folk art involves brightly colored and decorative animals with exaggerated features. Add these wooden figurines to the altar to celebrate lost pets or animal lovers.
ChromArtCandles
Candles are used to light the way home and it’s important to keep candles lit on the altar. ChromArtCandles creates skillfully designed candles that look just like sugar skulls. Just make sure not to eat them!
