Día de Muertos Ofrendas in Cancún Can Cost Up to 1,500 Pesos

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Setting up a Día de Muertos ofrenda in Cancún will cost families up to 1,500 pesos this year, about 30% more than a year ago, as prices for staple foods, flowers and decorations keep climbing.

Basic food prices have swung widely over the past year. Onions, for example, are now selling at close to 70 pesos a kilo. People who keep the tradition of laying out the dishes and stews their deceased relatives loved will pay the difference.

A survey of supermarkets and public markets in the city found the cost of following the tradition depends heavily on the food, flowers and ornaments chosen, but the total can reach 1,500 pesos.

What goes on the altar and what it costs

• Chiapas bananas: 15 to 30 pesos a kilo
• Oranges: 35 pesos a kilo
• Candles: 25 to 50 pesos
• Mixed flowers: 120 pesos a bunch
• Sugar skulls: from 25 pesos for small ones to 200 pesos for large
• Traditional sweets such as candied pumpkin, sweet potato or nanches: 50 pesos for a medium cup
• Colorful papel picado: 100 pesos
• Incense and copal: 50 pesos

Food adds considerably more. Tamales sell for about 25 pesos apiece, while preparing dishes such as mole, pozole or guisados costs at least 400 pesos each.

Pan de muerto, the seasonal bread no altar is without, ranges from 25 pesos for a small piece to 300 pesos for a large one. Some supermarkets have begun offering versions filled with Nutella, chocolate or Philadelphia cream cheese, and even bake tiny plastic skull figures inside.

Bakers absorb higher costs

Patricia Velásquez, who runs a bakery business, said the cost of making pan de muerto has risen at least 30% this year.

“Because it’s a seasonal bread, we start making them at the end of September. They’re completely homemade — some plain, some filled,” she said.

She said she and her team try to keep prices within reach because the cost of flour, sugar, gas and electricity rose throughout the year.

According to the annual survey by the market research agency Kantar, an ofrenda will be set up in 86% of Mexican households this year, and pan de muerto will appear on eight out of every 10 altars.