My daughter has been “dying” to see this movie since the first time she saw the previews! We all loved it!! I thought she would be afraid of the skeletons, but of course Disney/Pixar did such a fabulous job making it colorful and kid friendly! She was so fascinated by them that we bought a face paint set and painted her face to match a day of the dead skull.

We loved ‘Coco’! The movie follows a little boy’s dream to become a musician, despite his family’s generations old ban on music. His destiny leads him to the stunning Land of the Dead where he finds the true meaning of family. My kids were mesmerized with the breathtaking colors and animation! You would swear some of the background was a photo, absolutely amazing! The music is addicting and made us crave for more. In the bonus features, The producers explained that they couldn’t have a family that banned music to be singing all the time. Makes sense. I’m glad we don’t have a ban on music, we bought the soundtrack as soon as the movie was over and haven’t stopped singing since! Brandon and I enjoyed every minute of it too, even the heavy-hearted moments.

I never explored the holiday Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) until watching ‘Coco’. From what I’ve read, the holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Traditions connected with the holiday include building ofrendas, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. We don’t partake in the holiday, but we do something similar usually on birthdays of our loved ones that are no longer with us. It made me think of the plain strawberry pop tarts my grandmother always had with breakfast. And even though she made them EVERY morning, she was always surprised when the toaster popped them out! Ma would have LOVED my two little ones and I love showing them her picture and the sweet memories I hold dear.

Ok, now that I wiped off the tears…. Despite my initial urge to make my grandmothers favorite morning meal, I made Chorizo Tacos. Luckily, our local grocery store recently started selling ‘Hatfields Chorizo Sausage’. I skipped the instructions on the package and made it with a pound of ground turkey to cool the spices down for the kids. Topped with our favorite toppings, we fell in LOVE the flavor of the chorizo. I don’t think we’ll ever go back to ground beef tacos!

Another winner was our movie snack! Spicy Hot Cocoa! Oh my heart! The cinnamon and chili powder punched up the flavor of the dark chocolate marvelously! To decorate the hot cocoa and get the kids involved, I bought edible markers to draw Sugar Skulls on the large marshmallows. Wilton’s Edible Markers were a huge hit! The markers were so easy to use on the large size marshmallows and let my daughters creativity soar! She made some really beautiful “skulls”, almost too pretty to eat!

We had such a fun time in the kitchen preparing for the evening and snuggling on the couch with our hot cocoa’s for the movie! Hope you enjoy the movie and the flavorful cuisine! Click here to view my Spicy Hot Cocoa recipe!

Please leave a comment, I would love to hear if you celebrate the day of the dead holiday or have a similar tradition of remembering a loved one.