Host a St. Joseph Tea and Play Date

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This year, we will be quite busy on St. Joseph’s Day itself, but I am still hoping to celebrate a St. Joseph Tea and Play Date at some point during the month of March, which is dedicated to St. Joseph.

As such, I sat down to collect ideas over the weekend and thought I would share them here for anyone else who might want to celebrate St. Joseph this coming month.

At our party I hope to bring to life the plan that follows.  Additional ideas can be found on our St. Joseph Day Pinterest Board.

Decoration

Last Year's Tea

• Use boxes covered in white cloth to make some semblance of a St. Joseph Altar Table.

• Light a white candle with a picture of St. Joseph taped to it, since white is the color of the vestments worn on St. Joseph’s Day.  (I have also heard red, purple, green or brown are associated with St. Joseph, but can find not real basis for this.  If anyone knows of color associations for St. Joseph and the reasons behind them, please share in a comment!)

• Decorate table with pictures, toys or models that represent any of St. Joseph’s symbols: a carpenter's square,  carpenter's tools, a flowering staff, hand tools, hands holding the infant Jesus, a ladder, a lamb, one of three white flowers, a white lily, a pair of turtle doves, a plane, a rod or a star of David

• Put hand tools on the table as they are the most common symbol of St. Joseph.

GFCF Tea Time Fare

The Flowering Lily Staff We Created and Devoured Last Year

• a flowering lily staff made from sliced pears, baby spinach and the leftover Aleia's Gluten Free Almond Horn Cookies, just like at last year’s tea and play date.

• Calla Lily Sandwiches like the ones at Catholic Cuisine or the ones at TastyKitchen, but with GFCF bread, homemade pancakes or tortilla wraps as the outside and almond butter, sesame butter or peanut butter inside.

• Grapes in a bowl and in a cross image, as we did last year.

Prayer

Our friend Karen from A Servants Memories made these cool novena prayer cards for our St. Joseph the Worker's Day celebration in May.  I think making similar cards with the attached movable beads would be very cool for March.

• Ask children to make up their own prayers based on what they know about St. Joseph.

• Alternately choose any of the myriad formal prayers related to St. Joseph that others have written: a large selection of St. Joseph prayers can be found at Catholic Online and another substantial collection of St. Joseph prayers is linked at St. Joseph’s Medal.

• Introduce the St. Joseph prayer about chores shared at Parent’s Duty.

• Perhaps print out and pray with the free printable prayer card to St. Joseph that can be found at Catholic Tradition.

Activities

We still revisit activities we enjoyed in 2010!

• Read Joseph's Story.
 

• Color or paint any of the fabulous free coloring pages that can be found online, such as those at Church of the Good Shepherd, at the Catholic Playground, at Waltzing Matilda , at Little Jesus and Me (scroll down) or any of the additional ones linked on my St. Joseph Pinterest Page.

• Color and do sequencing with the downloadable Saint Joseph Coloring Book that is currently less than $3 at Holy Heroes!

Sequencing with  the Holy Heroes downloadable Saint Joseph Coloring Book was a big hit last year.

• Make a St. Joseph Lapbook like the one shared at Shower of Roses or just make a mini-book or two from it.

• Make flowering staff crafts like the ones at Catholic Inspired.

• Play St. Joseph Memory Match with great thanks to Shower of Roses free printable.

• Make 3-D Cut and Color St. Joseph Altars thanks to the kindnesses shared at Homeschool Goodies.

• Fold origami lilies.

• Play with construction toys.

More of last year's fun...

• Listen to and sing the St. Joseph song from Sing Bible Prayer Songs.

What will you be doing with the young children in your life to celebrate St. Joseph this year?  If you share a link here or on our Facebook Page, I will add it to our Training Happy Hearts:  A Call to Faith Formation for Young Children Pinterest board.