Go with Ease for All Saints Day Costumes - Nearly a Decade of Simple Costumes Revisited

How is it nearly October? 

I have no idea, but I do know October is likely to fly as quickly as the past weeks and months have, so, today, I thought I would share some of our past All Saints Day costumes to get you and yours brainstorming about what your children might wear a month from now.

Mind you, we are not about picture-perfect costumes here. Rather, we go for no-sew, buy-as-little-as-possible, sometimes-last-minute, use-the-kids'-creative ideas costumes.

2011

Photos from our first All Saints Day parties have been (hopefully, temporarily) lost to hard drive failures on old computers. But, I do have a few snaps of our 2011 costumes.

My eldest child is the one in brown here. he wore Daddy's old military tee shirts with a rope around them as a brown monk costume to be St. Jerome.

My youbgest wore a lion costume - borrowed and tested at a family party - as his big brother "St. Jerome"'s lion.

Meanwhile, my daughter used doctor kit toys, a lab coat, and a baby doll to be St. Gianna.

2012

One day I pray I can recover our 2012 All Saints Day photos. When I do, I will try to remember to come back and update here. 

Until then, I do have this photo of my son with his homemade St. Michael costume on.

Plus, I can share that I think my daughter was St. Mary, using a cloak and tablecloths and carrying a baby doll and my youngest was symbolically (an oh so cute as!) St Luke with a hand-me-down horse costume fashioned into a winged ox one.

2013

We were sick for our local homeschool groups All Saints Day party, so we had a belated one with friends that year. 

"St. George" wore dollar store armor with taped on crosses and a red cloth cape.  He carried a weapon and even has a small dragon figurine (which cannot be seen in the picture) to represent the dragon legend says he slayed.

"St. Nina" wore the colors the saint is traditionally pictured in (a red dress, a blue tablecloth for a cape and a white lace tablecloth for a veil.)  She carried a "grapevine" cross and a scroll.

"St. Michael" wore an oversized tee shirt as a tunic, dollar store armor and homemade wings. He carried a dollar store weapon.

For the angel wings, we took a pair of broken Dollar Tree fairy wings and upcycled them.  First, we taped on a white cardstock cut out of an angel wing shape to the elastic arm bands.  Then, using "fancy" scissors, we cut out a bunch of feather shapes, which we glued on in layers.

2014

We enjoyed All Saints Day in a Catholic school gym.

A lab coat, babydoll, and toy stethoscope made me St. Gianna.

My eldest chose to use a tee shirt, the skirt of a dress, red cloth, Dollar Tree armor and a broomstick with homemade symbol attached to become St. Michael.

My daughter sported a hand-me-down velvet dress and cape with a little veil she put together, plus homemade fake flowers in a basket to be St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

My youngest wore an old white tee shirt made tunic over sweat pants and a sweat shirt, taped up dollar store armor, and a red cloth as a cape, plus used a dollar store sword to become St. George.

2015

This was the year that one of my children wore my favorite All Saints Day costume to date.

An old bridesmaid dress and fur stole easily helped me be St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

An oversized tee shirt tunic, belt, red cloth cape, and homemade duct tape battle weapons, helmet, and armor transformed my proud son into St. Mercurius. (He was determined to find a new saint that used a sword and was delighted to find one who used two!)

My favorite to date: St. Elizabeth (with St. John the Baptist, too)! My daughter wore a hand me down dress with an faux belly (laughably repurposed from a huge stuffed bra that my sister made one year when being Dolly Parton for Halloween), plus cloths and table cloths for cloak and veil.

And with no year here seemingly complete without St. George or St. Michael, my youngest used an oversized tees shirt tunic, rope belt, cloth cape, dollar tree armor with duct tape crosses, and duct tape battle weapon to be St. George.

2016

We enjoyed good weather at a local parish hall with just the eating inside.

I wore an old bridesmaid dress, a fur shawl and another shawl atop that, plus carried a basket with flowers and bread to be St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

My eldest wore a blue ao dai from my VietNam travel days with part of a silk outfit from my other Aisa travel days atop it, then used a feather and book as props to become St. Luke.

My daughter chose to layer tablecloths and other cloth over a dress and to carry a handmade "grapevine cross' and scroll to be St. Nina (also known as St. Nino)

My youngest went with St. George again using homemade armor over a hand-me-down armor costume tunic with a red cloth cape and homemade duct tape battle weapon sword as a prop

 

2017

We have lost our photos from 2017, but a friend gave me some, and, in them, you can see me with my ususal St. Gianna costume on.

My eldest child can be seen passing by in the background with an old angel costume gown and various cloths layered as a St. Peter costume to which he tied large cardboard keys he had painted. 

My daughter (in the red and white) went easy with a dress and stole as St. Elizabeth. 

My youngest reprised his St. Luke symbolic costume, cracking us upas the winged ox made from a horse costume.

2018

We were blessed to be able to celebrate both inside and out at a church hall with a Marian garden nearby.

I could not find a picture with me in it, but, for the record, I went with my standby St Gianna costume again.

My eldest son wore fake chainmail he had purchased for other purposes with a belt and  red cloth cape, held his two duct tape battle weapon swords, and happily became St. Mercurius again for the day.

My daughter chose to wear the flower girl dress that her cousin had worn at my wedding and to put together a basket of flowers and bread to be St. Elizabeth of Hungary again.

My youngest layered some dollar store armor over a hand-me-down medieval tuniccostume, then ticked in a red cloth cape and grabbed his trusty duct tape battle weapons sword to be St. George again.

2019

Since we got on finding a host location too late and could not find an inside venue, we had a potluck All Saints Day Picnic and Party, so opted to create costumes that were easy to move and play outside in and also could be layered pending the day's weather.

St. George, of course made a comeback for my Middle Ages loving eldest son who had bought faux chainmail and a mock sword earlier in the year.

I went with my long-time standby, St. Gianna, again.

My daughter tossed together a St. Zita, patron saint of domestic servants and homemakers costume using a simple skirt, apron, cloak, and broom.

My youngest son decided to be St. Jose Sanchez del Rio, modeling his clothing and a homemade prop off of typical saint card photos of the saint.

And, my husband, who is not the costume type, went with nknown Saints in Heaven by sporting a duct tape question mark on the front and back of his shirt.

2020

Sadly, 2020's party - which was scheduled to be outdoors at a friend's farm due to the pandemic - got canceled due to weather.

I'd also LOVE to see pictures of you past costumes. Do share them with us by posting them as comments or on our Facebook page. Thank you so much!

For more All Saints Day inspiration and ideas, enjoy clicking through to scroll our All Saints Day archives.

Saints in heaven, pray for us!

Select Spiritual Reads for Teens and Tweens

...there is hardly one among you who cannot spend a quarter of an hour each day in spiritual reading...

Let it take the form of a talk, an intimate conversation with God, and I promise that it will not be long before you will witness a happy change in your lives. 

Left to yourselves, you will always revolve in the same plane, think the same thoughts, and perhaps never find a new habiliment in which to dress them. Therefore, you must frequently renew your wardrobe of ideas. Some one must whisper new sentiments into your ears each day.

                            from Counsels of Perfection

                            for Christian Mothers 

                            by Reverend P. Lejeune

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

After reading Counsels of Perfection for Christian Mothers  by Reverend P. Lejeune, I began working to build a habit of conversing with God through focusing on at least 15 minutes of spiritual reading daily.

If I am honest, I will admit that I still have not perfected the habit. However, I am getting nearer to this simple - but not exactly easy for me - goal and always find my days edified and enriched when I successfully dedicate time to immerse msyelf for a quarter of an hour in spiritual reading.

Typically, I engage in my spiritual reading during pockets of time when my children are not in my direct presence - in the wee hours before they rise, in the margins of time between dropping some of them to work and entering Mass, out on the swing in our front yard while they are otherwise occupied... As such there has been little, "there is more that's caught, than taught," going on here in regards to spiritual reading.

Okay. Over the summer, one child sometimes chose to read spiritual materials without my prompting, but the other two do not. In fact, sadly, one of my children tends to eskew all things faith-related right now. 

As I thought about all this at the beginning of the month, I wondered if I should move the times and locations of my (almost) daily spiritual reading to ones when my children are near to me in order for more "catching" to go on. Then, i realized, with my faith-adverse child in the mix, my efforts might be fruitless. I would likely end up distracted and at leat one of my children would probably not "catch" anything.

Therefore, I decided to coax the kids into personal spiritual reading this fall with clear parameters and appropriate carrots and sticks.

The parameters: Every day, each child must pick material off our spiritual reading shelf and read for a quarter of an hour, freely taking some of that time to journal, too, if desired.

The carrot: When a child finished a book, he or she can let Mom know. Then, the child can choose a treat (a snack to share or a place  to go visit) and we'll have a book chat whle eating or visting.

The stick (for the two who may need it): No child may not turn on a screen until spiritual reading/journaling are completed.

After deciding this, I stacked a shelf with fiction, nonfiction, light, and heacy faith-related reads and let each child pick one.

One of my children picked Ablaze: Stories of Daring Teen Saints, enjoyed it, and, then, moved onto Mother Teresa: Lessons of Love and Secrets of Sanctity.

Another child is reading Catholic Stories for Boys and Girls, because that child cannot remember when we read the stories as a read togther and wanted something super light to start with.

My final child began with The Great Divorce, which I am now reading, too.

Then, that child moved onto A Shepherd in Combat Boots next.

None of these books are of the deep spiritual quality that Reverend P. Lejeune indicated would be best for daily spiritual reading, but all are serving the purpose of building a holy habit in my children and that thrills me.

I pray that the habit of daily personal spiritual reading is ignited in my children and continues throughout their lifetimes.

I would love to hear what spiritual reading (including edifying faith-based fiction) has engaged your middle and high school level children. Please share titles with me in a comment here, on our Facebook page, or, if I am blessed to know you in real life, in person.

Thank you!

May God bless and guide all of our families as continue living and learning during this new school year.

Get Away to King Richard's Faire!

Disclosure: In exchange for this honest review, our family received complimetary tickets to the Faire.

If you're in New England and are looking for fun history-inspired family fun, consider King Richard’s Faire, which has recenly opened for its 40th anniversary season and will continue 10:30-6 weekends through October 24th, 2021, including the Monday, October 11th holiday.

***

 

Last weekend, my family and I spent a daycation meeting friends at the Faire.

Our friends had never been there before and we had so much fun showing them around and taking in shows together.

Rapt attention.

Laughter.

Cheering.

Amazement.

We shared it all as we took in the live entertainment, walked through the Gaming Glen, and went to all three jousts of the day - a true favorite of our family and, now, of our friends, too.

Using the program you can pick up just inside the gate, we mapped out our day and managed to get around to almost all of the eight vibrant stages.

We thoroughly enjoyed seeing our favorite longtime entertainer - Jacques Ze Whippeur and his dashing danger and whip stunts-  not once, but twice!

Our friends and my youngest quite enjoyed the new performers “The Captain’s Canines”, a specialty dog act, too.

We were also amazed and humored by another new performer The Unicycling Unicorn, a talented juggler who can juggle while sitting 14 feet in up in the air on one wheel!

El Zappo amused us with his family-friendly circus comedy and cool optical illusions. (Truly - have you ever seen a head shrink or grow before your eyes?)

The “Unspun Tails” aerial show impressed us...

...and, even more impressive, was how the performers went from there right onto performing as the Accidental Acrobats.

Wow! Such stamina.

Of course, we also enjoyed a strolling the 8-acres of the wooded Carvershire realm, seeing minstrels...

... browsing the shops of  talented artisans, and just enjoying the fun atmosphere of the Faire.

Oh, and we each chose some epicurean pleasures to keep us going throughout the day, too.

It was truly a fun-filled day and we are so glad we wew able to enjoy this family tradition again after the 2020 hiatus last year.

Speaking of that, the performers did a wonderful job incorporating precautions into their acts without overdoing it.

The Faire truly felt normal - or as normal as the wacky, wonderful, history-inspired...

...but totally fictitious fun ever is. 

A day at the Faire is an escape from day-to-day realities that inspires laughter, awe, fun, and, always, ourkdis imaginations!

This year, it did the same for our friends.

What a great time! 

If you are in the area, I recommend going. Get there at opening and stay until it closes.

There's a lot to see and do there.

More Information

Visit King Richard's Faire online for a site map, FAQ's, event schedules, ticket sales, and Visitor Information.

The Faire is at 235 Main Street, Carver MA 02330. 

Parking is free!

Tickets: $37 adult (12+); $35 for seniors ages 65+, $18 for children ages 4-11; and free for children 3 years of age and younger.

Please email info@kingrichardsfaire.net for group discount tickets.

Instagram/Twitter: @KRFaire #KRFaire; Facebook