Recap: Late Night Sugar Skull Making & Decorating in Los Angeles
LATE NIGHT SUGAR SKULL MAKING
Friday night I met up with our new Los Angeles Chapter Leader, Nicole, to prep for our workshop on Saturday. We stopped to eat some Mexican food, then grabbed 10 pounds of sugar and 8 pounds of powdered sugar from the grocery story.
Once we made it back to her house, we made drinks! Nicole shared the recipe for the Pepita Bonita, the cocktail she picked for our first cocktails+craft workshop on the West Coast. Then we got to work!
Making calaveras, or sugar skulls, is not hard, but it is time consuming. We followed these instructions, and frantically texted my sister who had made them for our DC workshop. Basically, you combine meringue powder, sugar and water in a specific ratio and then mix with your hands until it feels like sand you can mold. We were really nervous because we had never done this before and we wanted to make sure we had the perfect calaveras for our workshop the next day!
Once we got what we thought was a pretty good consistency, we started packing the mold and flipping the little skulls onto pieces of cardboard. Whew - we thought. Done! Now time to sleep!
Except, we had to scoop out the backs of the heads . . . five hours later. We put on our alarms and at 4:30am got up to do some more sugar skull prep! Luckily it didn't take to long and we went back to sleep with plenty of time to wake up and make the frosting before our workshop.
WORKSHOP TIME!
We hosted our workshop at Padre, a cute restaurant and bar in downtown Long Beach. Our grandparents grew up in the area, so it was nice to be back in a familiar place. Nicole couldn't of picked a more perfect space.
Once everyone arrived, we did introductions and shared the last thing we made. Not surprisingly, many people had recently made a meal.
We asked if anyone knew what calaveras, or sugar skulls, were, and surprisingly no one did! It was great to share a Mexican tradition with the group, especially since sugar skulls are currently trending in pop culture.
Once we got some cocktails and went over how to make pepita-infused agave syrup (more on that later!) we started decorating our sugar skulls with frosting and foil.
A few hours later, we had a whole village of little calaveras, ready for their ofrendas! We were really excited to see everyone's unique take on the traditional craft.
Thank you everyone for making it out to our workshop and helping us grow from coast-to-coast! Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear about our upcoming workshops in LA.
