While many are busy getting ready for Halloween, we want to spice things up a bit for the bicultural families amongst us with a little Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) feast.

Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1st in Mexico and some Latin American countries.  It´s a day to remember the loved ones in our lives that have passed on.  We remember them with joy and happiness.

Latinos know how to turn everything into a fiesta and give it color!  Typical Día de Muertos iconic figures include the vibrant calacas, or skeletons, and calaveras, or skulls.  We´ve rounded up the coolest finds around the web of decorations, clothing, accesories and books featuring dancing and smiling calacas y calaveras for your very own Muertos celebration.

Handmade Skull Garland

We found this garland, and the one pictured above, in Raw Bone Studio´s Etsy shop.  You get eight colorful and handmade felt skulls with different whimsical expressions.  Nothing dark or spooky here!  Garlands always set the tone.

They are a bit pricey for $40, but this is something you can store away in your Día de Muertos box and bring out every year.  The memories it will bring your kids every year will surely amount to much more.

Skull Ornament

Nine ornaments made to resemble the typical sugar skulls kids get as treats during this holiday. Each ornament is handmade with soft, lightweight fabric so you can hang these unique pieces anywhere you want to add some Muertos cheer.  We found these at Miss Butler´s Etsy shop for $45.  Think Muerto´s heirloom at its best.

EL FESTIVAL DE LAS CALAVERAS

This book´s complete title is Festival of Bones/El Festival de las Calavera: The Little-Bitty Book for the Day of the Dead. Author and illustrator Luis San Vicente created a bilingual (English/Spanish) book that´s perfect for young readers to learn more about the Day of the Dead and the festive, yet respectful, atmosphere that surrounds it. So festive, even skeletons dress up to party!
Find this book for $10.17 in La Tiendita.

Skull Felt Baby Shoes

Cute, cute, cute!  Franny and June´s Etsy shop has adorable and unique handmade felt shoes that you will want to get for every baby in your life.  They´ve made a girl´s and a boy´s version for  Día de los Muertos decorated with embroidered sugar skulls you´ll want to eat off!  Get a pair for $24 at their online store.

Skull Pendant

A skull pendant with colorful Buri beads from WinkArtisans brings the bling to the holiday and elevates the Day of the Dead calavera to a fashion statement.  Find it at their Etsy shop for $4o.

We still have more Día de Muertos Finds to share with you.  We´ll see you here tomorrow for the second part of this calaca and calavera feast!

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Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

Since we launched SpanglishBabyFinds almost two months ago (wow! Where has time gone?) we’ve introduced you to a bunch of products we love and use–or would use–with our own children. Well, it’s time for something for us, las mamás, don’t you think?

And, since you know how much I love reading, then you shouldn’t be surprised that what I’ll be talking about today is BOOKS!!! I recently received a box with five books Hachette Book Group put together in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, which ends this Thursday, by the way. The five books are somehow related to Latino topics and are all written by Hispanic authors. Check them out:

1. Amigoland – Oscar Caseres

2. Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz – Belinda Acosta

3. Tell me something true – Leila Cobo

4. Evenings at the Argentine Club – Julia Amante

5. Zumba – Beto Perez

Although my newborn baby boy is only six weeks old (again, where has time gone?), I’ve managed to get through almost two of the books I got from Hachette. The first one I read, Tell me something true, I wanted to get my hands on since the moment I found out about it. A big time fan of the author, Leila Cobo–renowned journalist, Colombian native and current Executive Director of Latin Content & Programming for Billboard (not to mention she is the host of Estudio Billboard, one of my faves on V-me)–since the days when we both worked at The Miami Herald, I was intrigued to read her fiction writing style.

I was not disappointed. Tell me something true, tells a story about hidden family truths that is easy to follow and it was just the kind of book I needed the first couple of weeks after I brought my newborn home from the hospital. I also enjoyed the fact that it delves into some of the intricacies of Latin American societies–such as the infamous: “el que dirán“–that you can only truly understand if you’ve lived through it.

I’m now half-way through Julia Amante’s Evenings at the Argentine Club, another interesting read about what it means to be caught between two cultures, something to which many of us can definitely relate. Can;t wait to read all the other ones!

A Giveaway!!

This contest is now closed. Congratulations to our winners:

Susan Smoaks – #9
Benita G – #3
Christine W – #6
Tracy Sherman – #2
Tina R – #10

We’re giving away five of the same packages I got with the five books mentioned above to FIVE lucky winners. To enter, just leave us a comment telling us which of the five books you think you’d like to read first and why. (You can get brief summaries of each by clicking on their titles.)

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Thursday, October 15th at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of our weekly Finds, special discounts and more awesome giveaways.}

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "