Day of the Dead Headband: What It Means and Which of Our Costumes Include One

A Day of the Dead headband, also called a headpiece, is the floral, lace, or skull-topped accessory worn with a Dia de los Muertos look. Two of our own Day of the Dead costumes, the Women's Day of the Dead Señora Costume and the Girls Day of the Dead Skeleton Dress Costume, already include one in the pack. Dia de los Muertos falls on November 1 and 2, 2026, and the marigolds on a traditional headpiece are cempasúchil, the flower traditionally used to lead spirits home from the cemetery.

Table of Contents

• What is a Day of the Dead headband?
• Why does the headpiece matter to the tradition?
• Which of our Day of the Dead costumes include a headpiece?
• What if your look doesn't come with one?
• How do you care for a Day of the Dead headpiece?
• How do you wear one respectfully?
• Frequently asked questions

Our four Day of the Dead costumes sit in the Halloween costumes hub, but this page stays on the headpiece. Our Day of the Dead costume guide covers the full outfits, and our Day of the Dead men's outfits guide covers the mariachi-jacket cut.

What is a Day of the Dead headband?

A Day of the Dead headband is a headpiece worn as part of a Dia de los Muertos look, most commonly a band or comb of artificial marigold flowers, a sugar-skull charm, ribbon, or a lace veil. Searches for the item split across several names: "headband," "headpiece," "headdress," and "flower crown" are all used for close variations of the same accessory, and in our own Search Console data for this page, "headpiece" runs nearly as high as "headband," so this page answers to both.

The look is tied to La Catrina, the elegant skeleton figure that has become the visual shorthand for Dia de los Muertos. Mexican engraver José Guadalupe Posada created her around 1912 as "La Calavera Garbancera," satirizing indigenous peasant women who sold garbanzo beans and powdered their faces to pass as upper-class, in an oversized feathered hat and fashionable French attire. Writer Frances Toor and artist Diego Rivera gave her the name "La Catrina" in their 1930 book, and Rivera later placed her at the center of his 1947 mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park, cementing her as the holiday's best-known image (PBS NewsHour).

Why does the headpiece matter to the tradition?

The marigold on a Day of the Dead headpiece is cempasúchil, a marigold native to Mexico. Its strong scent and bright color are traditionally used to lay a path that leads spirits from the cemetery to their families' homes, and the flower is often placed on ofrendas, the altars built for departed loved ones, and around graves (Smithsonian Institution). Marigold orange is the traditional color for the look, though our own two headband-included costumes lean into red and rose tones instead.

• Cempasúchil (marigold): traditionally used to lead spirits home from the cemetery; often placed on ofrendas and around graves.
• Sugar skull motifs: represent the celebration of a life lived, not mourning.
• Ribbons and lace: a styling layer over the floral base, like the black lace veil on our Señora headband; not required for the look to read correctly.

Which of our Day of the Dead costumes include a headpiece?

Two of our four Day of the Dead costumes already include a headpiece, so the fastest way to answer "where do I get a Day of the Dead headband" is to start with the costume rather than the accessory. The two included headbands are made to match their own dresses, the veil to the Señora's red ruffles and the rose trim to the girls' sugar skull skirt. Every costume goes through over 30 measurement checks, and we run over 500,000 quality checks a year across the range. Here's what ships in each pack.

The Women's Day of the Dead Señora Costume is the closest thing we sell to a complete headpiece-included look: the black lace veil headband is attached with red flowers to match the dress's skull-printed ruffles, so there's nothing extra to buy or match by eye. It's made from 100% polyester satin and runs S to XXL.

For kids, the Girls Day of the Dead Skeleton Dress Costume works the same way: the satin rose trim headband is sized to match the dress and ships in the same pack, sized 3 to 4 years through 10 to 12 years. The rose trim comes out of the box already paired with the ruffled sugar skull skirt, so there's no flower color to match by hand.

What if your look doesn't come with one?

Our Men's Day of the Dead Costume and Skeleton Costume Day of the Dead Morphsuit don't include a headpiece. The men's costume comes with its own sombrero and skull mask instead, and the Morphsuit's printed hood already covers the whole head, so there's no separate headpiece to add. If you're wearing either one alongside a partner in the Señora costume and still want the floral headpiece look, choose a separate marigold-orange or black headband with a wide, adjustable band and securely attached flowers, and add texturizing spray or bobby pins if you have smooth hair; a slipping headband is a common complaint with any add-on headpiece.

The Men's Day of the Dead Costume is the one of our four where the headwear is a hat: the sombrero sits over a full skull mask, so the head is covered before any flowers come into it. It's made from 100% polyester, runs M to XXXL, and bundles the printed jacket, built-in-shirt vest, pants, belt, sombrero, gloves, and skull mask into one set.

The Skeleton Costume Day of the Dead Morphsuit is the other no-headpiece option: a single full-body suit in 91% polyester and 9% elastane with 4-way stretch, printed head to toe with the sugar skull design. It comes in L and XL.

How do you care for a Day of the Dead headpiece?

Hand wash only, and air dry away from direct heat, is the care instruction on both headpiece-included costumes; neither the Señora costume's veil headband nor the girls' rose trim headband is machine washable. Wash any fabric flowers separately from the rest of the costume in cool water with a gentle detergent, and lay the headpiece flat to dry fully before storing it, so the flowers keep their shape instead of drooping. Store it flat or in its original packaging between wears rather than compressed in a bag, since crushed fabric flowers don't spring back.

How do you wear one respectfully?

Dia de los Muertos is a living cultural and religious tradition, not a Halloween theme borrowed for the night. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History points out that while the holiday can look like an extension of Halloween, the ofrenda tradition behind it runs deeply personal and significant (Smithsonian National Museum of American History), and "Dia de Muertos is not Mexican Halloween" is itself a catchphrase the Chicano movement adopted decades ago to make that same point (Britannica). Wearing a headpiece to honor the tradition, at a cultural festival, a family celebration, or alongside a genuine Dia de los Muertos event, reads differently from treating the sugar skull look as a generic costume gimmick.

A couple of things to avoid: don't call it a "Mexican costume," and don't mix in horror or gore elements with the sugar skull makeup; the tradition treats the skull as a symbol of remembrance and celebration rather than fear or dread. Student research on the topic points to casual Halloween use of sugar skull imagery specifically as one of the ways the tradition gets trivialized (Cal State San Marcos).

Frequently asked questions