Halloween is just around the corner and I am already thinking about how I’m going to decorate my truck for our annual “trunk-or-treat” event! I live in El Paso where the Mexican culture is HUGE so I decided to do a Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos theme for the truck. I partnered with Oriental Trading and came up with the most colorful and fun trunk or treat car ever! They have everything you could ever need for Halloween and even have really great costumes for everyone in the family at a great price. This post is full of fun crafts for the kids, sugar skull face painting, simple decorating ideas, and even a spooky treat for the trick-or-treaters!
Before I share the details, here is the entire truck. I love all of the bright colors!! Those HUGE tissue paper garlands in the back are so great!
Probably my favorite aspect of the whole truck was the sugar skull pumpkin crafts! Just paint your pumpkins white with spray paint or acrylic paint and then add the stickers from Oriental Trading. You could also add these to white helium balloons!
Another craft that was fun was the sugar skulls banner that we made. I got the sugar skull tissue paper crafts and me and Cole put them together and then I punched a hole in the tops of the skulls and made a banner. This is also a simple sticker craft that is great for the kids!
I also got this fiesta pennant banner and only used about 4 feet of it. I tied it to two dowel rods that were just sitting inside the small holes that are on every truck on the sides. It was about 100 ft. long so I have left overs too!
This white felt skull cut out is one of the only things that wasn’t from Oriental Trading and I just got it and hot glued some silk marigold flowers to the head. They sell one that is similar here. I love my Mexican blankets and think that they just make the truck even better. Just use any colorful blanket you have or you could even use a cheap plastic table cloth in orange or another bright color.
I bought a couple of cheap purple mums and wrapped them in orange burlap that I had in my craft closet and then just tied them up with a black and white string.
Another fun thing we did is get some sugar skull tattoos to hand out to all of the trick-or-treaters! They even have glow-in-the-dark ones!!
Ok now about the face paint. I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on fancy Halloween makeup so I just used the cheap craft costume makeup from the party store and a black makeup crayon. I painted his face white first, then used the crayon on him for the eyes and mouth. For the nose you just draw a black upside-down heart shape.
For me on actual Halloween night, I used a bright pink makeup crayon and just drew different flower shapes around my eyes and did the “stitches” around my mouth. Super easy and not scary at all! 🙂 I hot-glued some bright flowers to a dollar store head band for my hair.
Cole was actually a Rodeo Cowboy on Halloween and you can check that out here!
I hope this inspires you to do your own Day of the Dead trunk-or-treat and please check out this page for other Halloween ideas from Oriental Trading!
**I was given these items that I chose from Oriental Trading and all opinions are my own.
Day of the the Dead has it’s own day and prior to that there’s Día de los Angelitos. It’s great to have anyone and everyone celebrating Día de los Muertos, but it isn’t celebrated for, or on Halloween. Many people get caught up on the aesthetics of the holiday, and I don’t blame them, it’s colorful, vibrant and isn’t as frightening for the kiddos. That’s how it’s supposed feel, comforting, the remembering of loved ones who have died. There’s a lot that goes into making an altar depending on how many people you’re celebrating, and how much you want to decorate. Death is inevitable so we celebrate their lives and ours. When we paint our face (very different from a skull) we use designs similar to the ones you used to symbolize them or even ourselves acknowledging, romanticizing that we all have the same fate. Halloween is also fun we dress up as something we’re not, there’s trick or treating, parties, and other fun filled events, but it has ”spooky” in the mix; ghost, ghouls, witches. There’s no fear for Día de lo Muertos, since it’s focus is on our ancestors and other loved ones. Celebrate Day of the Dead but on its day the way it’s supposed to be celebrated. Like any other holiday, it’s cultural, and if we’re not from that particular culture, what they do may seem exotic and appealing, so we get curious and may want to participate I say we should. I don’t mind others celebrating my cultural holidays it makes me happy to see them show interest but as we celebrate respectively they need to as well. That can be done by research, know a little more about the history, why we use marigolds, where can we make the alter, what type of foods do we need on the alter, how did La Catrina originate, why is she symbol for the holiday, there’s so much to learn, but you appreciate it so much more. Also please do not use Pixar’s ”Coco” as a primary source of research, the movie is wonderful and made me proud but some aspects were made up for bettering the story. Oh, and technically since there are now characters out with movies like “The Book of Life”, “Coco” and others that I’m probably not aware of, anyone can dress up as one of them, I would just advise to keep to the look of the character as close as possible, and know the true meanings behind Day of the Dead so that if someone does try to “school” you, you can show them you’re not in anyway being disrespectful towards “cultural appropriation”. I honestly do hate those words put together, believe it or not. If you decide to celebrate this year aside from the pumpkins if they aren’t necessary, your other decorations would look very would make an alter look wonderful. I know this is a lot but I hope I helped without sounding rude.
Hi Mary! Yes I’m very aware that Day of the Dead is it’s own separate holiday. I live in El Paso and have been educated on it over the past several years and appreciate the holiday so much. We go to the festivals and I just love the imagery and celebration of family during the holiday. Thank you for your comment! I really appreciate it!
Please, please, PLEASE!!!!! Do NOT use acrylic paints on your child!!!! They are full of lead!!!!! If you need to go cheap, go to WAL-MART and get some paint by Palmers. You won’t get the same results that we professionals use, but will be MUCH, MUCH SAFER!!!!!!!!!
Hey Gloria! Yeah I need to update this post because I actually ended up using the cheap party city costume makeup later on because the acrylic paint did kinda make my son’s face red. This was LONG before Halloween and I didn’t know at the time…thank you for your comment!
This is so fun!! I’ll have to remember this for Halloween.
Yeah it was really fun…we’re doing it in Artesia for their trunk or treat and I’m excited…that’s about as scary as I’ll go 🙂