Day of the Dead DIY Floral Crown for Little Girls

There is so much beauty in traditional Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations. Often misunderstood, perhaps feared as well, the traditions and symbolism behind Dia de los Muertos is becoming more mainstream with each year that passes. And for bicultural Latinas, that’s great news! Today we’re looking at how to make a floral crown with fake flowers, a fun craft with kids during this time of year.

I’ve written on why celebrating Day of the Dead with kids is such a great idea. We continue to expose the kids to celebrations of life that the Dia de los Muertos embraces because, quite frankly, waiting to learn about death from attending funerals seems like a very sad alternative.

How to Make a Floral Crown with Fake Flowers

Floral Crown for Girls

I didn’t grow up celebrating Dia de los Muertos, but as a Los Angeles native, the imagery is nothing foreign to me. As a young teenager, I loved visits to Olvera Street to relish in the colors and aromas of the alluring Mexican traditions.

With my daughter changing schools very soon, I find it especially important that she learns about the essence of Dia de los Muertos, too. This year, we made a large scale DIY Floral Crown that is traditional to the holiday, but with a twist in keeping for a little girl.

Here’s what we did…

Day of the Dead Floral Crown Tutorial

What You’ll Need…

– a girl’s sized headband, any color is fine.

– 7 large scaled, fake roses or large bloomed flowers

– 1 sheet white felt

– 1 yard of cream or white lace (I got mine in store, at Walmart, for $2.50/yard)

– a few inches of crafter’s wire

Tools You’ll Need…

– Hot glue gun

– Sharp scissors

– Wire cutters

Get your hot glue gun ready to go. To make your floral crown, first make a cut out of the headband on the felt (as shown in picture above). Adhere it to the headband using hot glue. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but it’s important nonetheless. I found this step saved my sanity – it was much easier to glue the stems of the flowers onto a large surface area of felt than just the skinny band.

Next, you’ll be attaching the veiled lace to the headpiece using wire. Decide which way you want the lace to fall or if you want to fold the yard in half. I opted to leave it completely open, gathering the length of the yard. This gave me the most fabric when gathering. Because my girl is only 4 years old, the width still made quite a long veil.

Begin by weaving the fabric through the wire, first up and then down, until the entire length of the fabric is attached to the wire. Keep the veil gathered together while you measure how much wire is needed to wrap around the headband multiple times. I kept the gathered fabric bunched in the center of the headband.

Now all you have to do is attach the flowers with hot glue! Make sure each stem is glued to the felt. Puck the stems under the wire when possible and reinforce with hot glue.

Traditional Day of the Dead Floral Crowns are made with marigold and/or roses. The lace is usually black, too. I decided to keep things light and bright for my young girl and opted for this beautiful cream colored lace. At only $2.50/yard at Walmart, I couldn’t pass it up.

The veil is reminiscent of Catholic tradition, too, which is prevalent in many Latino cultures… including mine. I think it’s beautiful – and my little one loved it too.

To learn more about this beautiful holiday, I invite you to check out…

– Day of the Dead History, Traditions and Legacy

– Day of the Dead Kids Art and Free Printable

– Day of the Dead Craft: Papel Picado

– Atole Recipe for Day of the Dead Celebrations

– Day of the Dead Las Vegas Event at Springs Preserve