El Dia de los Muertos - Fair Trade Decor

Trick or Treat? Trick. All the way.

We decided to decorate our production manager's office for El Dia de los Muertos. While he was at the national renewable energy conference in Denver, we strung cobwebs and fair trade paper skeletons all over Brian's office. He was surprisingly happy about the effect, though the office does look a bit Rip Van Winkle-esque. It wasn't a comment on his age, so much as a chance to prank the eternal jokester with Papel Picado Mexican Streamers that we bought from Global Exchange. More on this haunting paper art from the Global Exchange Fair Trade Store:

Papel Picado is a traditional art handmade by artisans from Mexico. The brightly colored tissue (or in this case, booo-ti-ful black!) is handcut, using chisels and a top pattern as a guide. Although Papel de China (tissue paper) was originally brought to Europe from China and then to "New Spain" (Nuevo Espana), the indigenous people of Mexico had already been using hand made paper *(amatl), along with the tradition of cut decorative and ceremonial images, for centuries.

If you are taking young ones around for trick or treating this year, consider downloading Reverse Trick or Treating materials to promote Fair Trade chocolate in your neighborhood. Or just buy some to eat yourself--that's what I did!

The truth is that Fair Trade is a practice that everyone can get excited about--whether you prefer office trickery or fabulous treats.

--scrEAmIng mOnkEy