Are you on the prowl for FREE printable Halloween coloring pages? Are you looking for a simple and easy Halloween activity that’ll please every age group in the house?
It’s been awhile but I’ve finally found the time to put together another epic suite of adult coloring pages just in time for Halloween! We’ve created two coloring pages featuring sugar skulls in honor of Dia De Los Muertos (or day of the dead).
My last foray into adult coloring pages was back in the spring and centered around succulents and florals. If you love creative coloring you definitely want to check out my 5 Page FREE Printable Bloom Where You’re Planted series of coloring pages before you leave today.
Just in case you are completely new to coloring I want to take a moment and plug the best coloring pencils out there. Why do I love them? Let me count the ways…
- Prismas are super waxy and have more pigment than most…uh…make that all other brands. This means ultra smooth coloring that leaves a lot of color on the paper. If you want to compare prismas with other pencils just grab the white pencil and make a doodle on a black piece of paper. You’ll see the clear winner is prisma because the white actually shows up on the black paper.
- You can blend and layer in multiple colors better than any other pencil brand.
- Beautiful, rich and varied colors that are on trend. Go with the big packs to get a huge selection of jaw dropping colors.
It’s almost October and we’re headed into the most decorated time of the year. Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday so it wasn’t a chore at all to create some coloring pages around a somewhat well known but widely misunderstood holiday known at Dia De Los Muertos.
Some years ago the ‘sugar skull’ became a widely popular graphic seen around the month of October. These sugar skulls adorned just about every Halloween product that could hold an image and it’s still going strong today. Sugar skulls are so colorful and full of spooky mystery so it’s easy to see why they hold mass appeal the average consumer.
|Origins of the Sugar Skull|
So what is a sugar skull & Dia de los Muertos anyway? It’s actually a celebration and honoring of those who have passed before us. It’s a holiday celebrated predominantly in Mexico and occurs on November 1st and 2nd (not October 31st!). November 1st is known as Angelitos day where young children who have passed are celebrated. November 2nd is known as Day of the Dead where adults are remembered.
The celebration itself involves preparing food, flowers, toys and yes….decorated sugar skulls to bring to the graves of those who have passed on. Family of the deceased will spend weeks preparing for the multi-day event. This often includes cooking the treasured meals and treats of the deceased to be left at the grave site and adorning graves with decorations and mementos of the deceased.
It’s very common to purchase or make sugar skulls at home. They are heavily decorated with icing and flowers to be left at the grave site of the deceased. With the melding of U.S. and Mexican cultures children and adults alike are dressing up in costume and sugar skull face paint to celebrate the holiday in tandem with Halloween (and trick or treating).
When all the preparation is complete for Dia de los Muertos, surviving family members will often spend two solid days commemorating the deceased at the grave site. This usually means sharing a meal with other living family members in the cemetery and reflecting upon the life of the deceased with stories, poems or songs.
Some of you may know that I grew up in Texas and I’ve lived very close to Mexico at times in my life. This is a very prevalent and important holiday in the areas I’ve lived so I’ve had significant exposure to the beauty and majesty of this very unique holiday.
As a graphic designer I love the bright and bold colors…the florals….and most of all the macabre. The true spirit of Dia de los Muertos is 100% the inspiration for this weeks FREE sugar skull coloring pages. I hope you learned a little something more about a little known Mexican holiday that has taken the month of October by storm! If you want a more detailed overview of the holiday you can check out what Wikipedia has to say about it HERE.
Okay, now to the good stuff….let’s get a preview of the printable FREE sugar skull coloring pages you can download and color today!
|FREE Printable Halloween Coloring Pages Sheet 1|
|FREE Printable Halloween Coloring Pages Sheet 2|
I hope you enjoy these free printable Halloween coloring pages as much as I do! It’s a great way to take some time for yourself and relax with a creative task. I hope you learned a little something about the origins of sugar skulls and how this holiday (which happens to be around Halloween) really isn’t about Halloween!
Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think so I can tailor future content! If you enjoy what we do here then consider sharing this post on Facebook and Pinterest (sharing buttons are at the top of this post).
I love it! What I want without the things I don’t want! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing that info so we can learn a little more about the holiday and what it means to people.