Día de Muertos

Build YourAltar

A small ofrenda for someone you love, built one object at a time.

What is an ofrenda?

At its heart, an ofrenda is a way to honor and celebrate the people we love and the time we shared with them. It holds the laughter, the everyday rituals and the small moments that made them who they were, so their memory stays close and keeps being part of our story.

On Día de Muertos, families across Mexico build an altar (una ofrenda) at home to welcome the spirits of their loved ones back for one night. It is not a somber ritual. It is a warm one: food on the table, music, candlelight, and the people you miss spoken about out loud again.

The altar is usually built in tiers. Nothing on it is decoration. Every object has a job: candles light the way, marigold petals and their scent guide the soul from the cemetery to the door, water and salt restore and protect the spirit after the journey, bread and a favorite meal feed it, and copal smoke cleanses the space around it.

Then comes the personal part. A hat, a deck of cards, a coffee cup, a collar, whatever says this person, and no one else. That is what turns a set of objects into someone's ofrenda.

Build your own below. Choose who you're honoring and place the six essential items. Then make it truly theirs with personal touches, the things they loved and that still bring them to mind: a favorite drink, a hobby, a treasured keepsake. When it feels right, download it.

1

Choose your altar color

2

Choose who you're honoring

Pick who you're honoring
3

Place the six essential items

0 of 6 placed

Drag an item anywhere onto a shelf, or tap it and then tap the spot where you want it. You can add the same item as many times as you like. Drag a placed item anywhere to move it (higher or lower too), or tap it to resize or remove it.

4

Personalize with their things

Choose who you're honoring in step 2 to see their items.

Happy with your ofrenda?

Save it as an image to keep for yourself or share with the people who loved them too.