8 Easy Eats for Your All Saints Day Party

There are so many meals, snacks, and treats that can be made for All Saints Day.

In fact, if you want an idea, you could pick just about anything shared on Catholic Cuisine, peruse our past sharing of Simple Eats with the Saints, borrow an idea from Snacking with the Saints, or browse Pinterest.

You can also take a peak at these eight easy eats that have been served at All Saints Day parties we've attended through the years.

Mind you, our parties are often thrown togther fairly last-minute by busy moms who have too much going on, so you won't find picture-perfect set ups in the photos - just quick, easy ideas.

1. St. Thomas Fingers

Mini-franks were heated and put in a crock. Kids devoured them!

2. St. Bernadette's Sticks

We love bringing these, because they can be gluten-free and eveyrone likes them. 

Find a printable signfor this along with other snakcs here.

3. St. Maria's Stew

A crock of stew warms everyone up. Use your favorite recipe or the one here, and find a printable signfor this along with other snakcs here.

4. Blood of the Martyrs

Juice wigglers made like the orange juice ones described here, but with red 100% juice instead of orange juice, always go in a flash!

5. Saint Halo's

When you have Portuguese friends, their cookies become halos!

6. St. Francis' Friends



Who doens't like animal crackers? You can even find gluten-free ones.

7. St. Therese's "Carmel"ite Apples

Sure, they brown quickly if you don't shake them in lemon juice, ut sliced apples and caramel are always a hit!

8. St. Isidore's Bounty

It's alwasy good to have whole foods to balance the treats, so a tray of favorite produce is a must most years!

What are some of your favorite simple eats for All Saints Day parties? Do share them with us by posting them as comments or on our Facebook page. Thank you so much!

Saints in Heaven, pray for us.

Simple Eats with the Stigmata of St. Francis

The Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi on September 17th can provide another opportunity the enjoy simple eats while learning about the saints and reflecting on your family's faith and virtues.

A suggestion for the day is to gather to read St. Francis and the Stigmata here or here.

Then, make some "Stigmata pizza" together on toast or pizza crusts, using five sliced tomatoes to represent the stigmata.

While the pizza cooks, chat about the Stigmata of St. Francis: 3 Ways for Holiness.

Then, along with praying grace before eating your pizza, perhaps pray the following short prayer found here.

Lord Jesus Christ, we praise you and adore you. Like Francis, we are amazed that you held nothing back from us in pouring yourself out for us so totally through your holy wounds on the cross. We ask you to breathe forth your Holy Spirit into us and set our hearts on fire, so that, with the Spirit’s help, we might respond more fully to you. Amen.

St. Francis, pray for us. 

Celebrate St Francis of Assisi through Art, Music, and Poetry

If you're looking for a way to include the riches of art, music, and poetry into your day on October 4th, feel free to borrow ideas from the plans I've made for our AMP Club meeting. 

When I realized meeting was schedules for St. Francis of Assisi's feast day, I decided to connect all of our activities to Saint Francis.

Invite Children to Share What They Know about St. Francis

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St. Francis images, statues, books, a candle, and some Little Ducks gummies,  K-Kritter animal crackers (due to St. Francis' connection with animals) honey-almond cookies (said to be a favorite of St. Francis), or another treat can make a wonderful invitation to welcome children to the feast day celebration.

Once everyone has gathered, you might ask whose feast day it is and what children know about St. Francis.


Share about St. Francis and the Birds

Source: Wikimedia Commons

During the sharing, if no one pipes up with the story of St. Francis and the Birds, wonder aloud about how many St. Francis statues and images include birds and why that could be... Then, wait for the children to chime in.

If a child can retell the story of St. Francis and the Birds, encourage that child to do so, adding details as seems fitting. You may even wish to read or listen to the words of the Sermon to the Birds:

My little sisters, the birds, much bounden are ye unto God, your Creator, and always in every place ought ye to praise Him, for that He hath given you liberty to fly about everywhere, and hath also given you double and triple raiment; moreover He preserved your seed in the ark of Noah, that your race might not perish out of the world; still more are ye beholden to Him for the element of the air which He hath appointed for you; beyond all this, ye sow not, neither do you reap; and God feedeth you, and giveth you the streams and fountains for your drink; the mountains and valleys for your refuge and the high trees whereon to make your nests; and because ye know not how to spin or sow, God clotheth you, you and your children; wherefore your Creator loveth you much, seeing that He hath bestowed on you so many benefits; and therefore, my little sisters, beware of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to give praises unto God.

Saint Francis of Assisi - c1220

Source: Amazon

You might also wish to read a picture book related to St. Francis and the Birds, such as The Song of Saint Francis or Saint Francis Preaches to the Birds.

Source: Amazon

You could also listen to a story on YouTube.

St. Francis and the Birds Art Appreciation

Source: WikiArt

Next, introduce Giotti's image of Saint Francis Preaching to the Birds, the fresco of St. Francis Preaching to the Birds, or another great artwork on the same theme.

Source: Wikimedia

Encourage the children to study the image for 30-60 seconds.  Then, turn it over and ask the children what they recall from the image.

(If you've never done a picture study before, Simply Charlotte Mason has a good explanation with a demo video, Well-Trained Mind explains how to lead with simple questions, and Mater Amabilis offers an approach. A Humble Place also offers a FREE Giotti Picture Study Resource!)

Source: Amazon

You might also wish to share The Story of St. Francis or The Message of Saint Francis for browsing.

Source: Amazon

St. Francis and the Birds Music Appreciation and Creation

Share that many musical compositions have been inspired by birds and ask children to name some famous composers.

Vivaldi Handel, Beethoven, Saint-Saens, or others may come up. (If they don't, you can cue such names.) As they do, share clips of classical music that these famous classic composers created with the inspiration of birds.  Squilt, Spinditty, and Classical-music.com all have curated some with YouTube videos.

While listening, you may wish to do some "musical sketching" by  "drawing what they hear". Or, you could simply listen to one piece, and, then, play the others while children create their own bird artworks.

My children and I may also try our hand at creating pencil drawings of owls with Creating a Masterpiece. You might enjoy that too.  Or use one of many free online tutorials for creating bird art, such as this one:

Share and Write Poetry

Finally, invite children to share any poems they might know about birds and share Robert Louis Stevenson's "Time To Rise":

A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon my window sill,
Cocked his shining eye and said:
"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!"

Notice how in the poem, the bird addresses someone. Recall how St. Francis addressed the birds. Chat about how there are different types of poetry and one is "Direct Address", or a poem that talks directly to another person or thing, such as a bird!

Source: Amazon

If desired, read a bit more about Direct Address poems in Poetry from A to Z and suggest at the end of reading about them that the poems can also be written to inspire! Much like St. Francis' Sermon to the Birds inspires us to be grateful and praise God.

Then, challenge children to write a direct address poem to a bird or other animal that has a faith-inspired message.

More Feasting, Fun, and Learning with St. Francis

You might also consider adding other. St. Francis feast day fun, leading, and food to your day:

Celebrate with St. Francis

Go on a St. Francis Nature Hunt

Enjoy a Game

I'd love to hear if you use any of these ideas and how your feast day celebrations go. Please do pop back to comment here or on our Facebook page to let me know.  I also, of course, welcome your ideas, inspiration, and links for celebrating!

 St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

Get a FREE St. Francis of Assisi Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Printable!

As I looked ahead at this week, I realized that my family may not be able to celebrate St. Francis of Assisi's feast day in some of our usual ways, but that we may have time to focus on the feast day outdoors with friends.  So, I thought it was a perfect time to make another scavenger hunt sheet, which I am sharing with you today as a FREE printable!

In conjunction with the introduction of our Symbols of St. Francis of Assisi Outdoor Scavenger Hunt, I will likely:

• Open with a prayer.

• Have a chat with the children to see what they already know about St. Francis of Assisi.

• Read from whichever of our home and library collection of books about St. Francis I can lay hands on before the 4th.  (See list below.) 

• Ask children what they typically notice in in depictions of St. Francis.  

• Explain that St. Francis is patron of ecology (the study of the relationships between living things and their surroundings, or environment) and, so, I thought it would be fitting to explore our surroundings while doing a scavenger hunt inspired by symbols of St. Francis.

Then, I will set the children loose with colored pencils (and cameras for some), to begin hunting for the items on the printable.  As the children hunt, in the boxes on the scavenger hunt, they can make a sketch, write a check mark, or pen a verbal description of what they found. 

(You can see my Saint Anthony Nature Scavenger Hunt post to get a visual of how they might work.)

Finally, I will wrap up by chatting about the significance of some of the symbols (as described on the second sheet of the printable) and will lead the children in a closing prayer.

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Some Books, Videos, and Audios Connected to St. Francis We've Enjoyed

• Picture Book of Saints
• Dragon Slayers: The Essential Training Guide for Young Dragon Fighters
• Loyola Kids Book of Saints
• Brother Sun, Sister Moon 
• Saint Francis of Assisi: A Life of Joy 
• Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi 
• Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi (The Life of a Saint) 
• Saint Francis and the Wolf 
• Brother Wolf of Gubbio: A Saint Francis LegendHandprint Books 
• The Song of Francis
• The Knight of Assisi 
• Amazing Angels and Super Saints CD 

More Liturgical Celebration Ideas for This Week

Click through any of the images or text below for other ideas related to this week's feast days.
Guardian Angels on October 2

• St. Michael’s Symbols 3-Part Cards Free Printable 

• An Easy, Active Game for St. Michael's Day (with a Free Printable)

• Planning St. Michael’s Feast Day Tea: A Resource Round-Up

 

St. Theodore Guerin on October 2

St. Francis on October 4

 

I'd love to see snapshots of your nature walk if you go on one.  I also welcome your ideas for living the liturgical year with children.

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us.

8+ Simple Ways to Celebrate St. Francis

Sometimes, I go all out learning about and celebrating saints with my children.  At other times, we go for simplicity.  We did the latter today, incorporating eight simple ways to celebrate St. Francis into our day.

(1) St. Francis Honey-Almond Cakes

St. Francis was said to have loved almond cookies.  So, for breakfast, we enjoyed sliced apples and pears along with a gluten-free adaptation of a recipe I found years ago.

To make our version:

Preheat oven with baking stones in it to 350 degrees F.

Stir 2 egg whites vigorously.

Mix in:

• 1/2 cup of raw local wild  flower honey
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Add:

• 2 cups of almond meal flour or 1 cup of almond meal flour and 1 cup finely chopped almonds

Drop by teaspoonful onto baking stones and bake for about 15-25 minutes.  Start checking at 15 minutes for light browning. 

Catholic Cuisine has other recipes, too.

(Note:  Some of the links which follow are affiliate ones.  Should you click through them to make a purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.)
 
(2) St. Francis Prayers

 
This year, we simply read the prayer from the St. Francis page in the Picture Book of Saints.  In past years, we have used a variety of prayers.  The National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi has a useful collection to draw from.

(3) St. Francis Readings

There are so any fabulous picture books and saint book excerpts about Saint Francis that we've read over the years. Included in our St. Francis day readings have been:

• Dragon Slayers: The Essential Training Guide for Young Dragon Fighters
• Loyola Kids Book of Saints
• Brother Sun, Sister Moon 
• Saint Francis of Assisi: A Life of Joy 
• Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi 
• Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi (The Life of a Saint) 
• Saint Francis and the Wolf 
• Brother Wolf of Gubbio: A Saint Francis LegendHandprint Books 
• The Song of Francis

(4) Video Time

We so love our CCC of America collection of kids videos.  A favorite from them, The Knight of Assisi, was our post-breakfast viewing this year.

(5) Church Building - Physical

Ever since we played the Build a Church like St. Francis game that I created for an All Saints Day party several years back, it's become a tradition for us to talk about how St Francis first thought he was to rebuild a physical church, but then realized it was a spiritual church he was called to rebuild. We give the kids blocks, Legos, toothpicks and marshmallows, or whatever and have handy and challenge them to design and build a church structure. Then, we think of ways we can make the spiritual church strong, such as... (Read the next numbered idea.) 

(6) Church Building - Spiritual

This year, the children opted to give to the poor as St. Francis did at the beginning of the the CCC of America video we watched.  They were so eager to place food donations into the food pantry basket at our church's entry that they ran to the door.

(7) Singing

St. Francis wrote canticles.  Cat Chat wrote a catchy tune about St. Francis.  So catchy, in fact, that my kids were singing it as they built with blocks this morning, so we had to dig out our Amazing Angels and Super Saints CD after Mass to listen to Go Francis.  Love that song and the CD it comes from.

(8) Visit St. Francis

These days, we may not be able to visit with St. Francis in person, but we can certainly go to chapels or churches named after him, spend time meditating on his life and works,  pray for his intercession, and, as my kiddoes did, find a statue of him to go say hello to.

Of course, there are many, many other ways to celebrate St. Francis' feast day, too.  Nature walks.  Zoos.  Blessings of the animals.  Works of Mercy.  Adoration.  Mission work.  Arts and crafts.  The list goes on...
 

Praying you had a wonderful St. Francis Feast Day.  I'd love to hear how you celebrate!