All Hallows Party 2014

As my children have gotten older, I've noticed them coming back to my blog to look at scenes from the past, so I'm trying to push myself to keep recording our days here for them. I know this is late and All Hallows Eve is probably just a distant memory for most of you, unless you still have candy left over, but I didn't get a chance to blog about our party this year since we left to go out of town just a few days after.

I wasn't going to do much this year but then I think Melody mentioned online (I can't remember where though, sorry) that her big kids still dress up as an example and witness to the littles in the family. Since this is the first year that Miss Cupcake could really get into the party, I asked my bigs if they would consider donning saintly attire to help create the party mood and of course, they were happy to oblige. With us planning to head out of town so soon. we still kept things low key. I pulled out some old games from the attic box and added a few new ones which I will show you down below, but first, a look at our saint costumes again with full props (pipe and bread).

 Bl. Pier Giogio Frassati… pray for us!

St. Elizabeth of Hungary… pray for us!

The Professor donned some Roman garb and called himself St. Longinus (or St. Martin, whichever), Sunshine dressed up as St. Zita and Rain dressed up as a writer calling upon the assistance of St. Francis de Sales, patron of writers and journalists.

For dinner, we open up "St. Lawrence's Grill" and cooked outside. Later, for dessert, we made s'mores.

We set out our offering to the neighborhood kids who were trick or treating and then started playing some games. Our neighborhood doesn't get a ton of trick or treat traffic (dark streets, houses spaced further apart and no sidewalks) and the kids are mostly respectful. We've never had the unattended bowl cleaned out in the first 10 minutes or even in the first hour and in fact, this year, there was some left at the bottom.

St. Therese's Rose Toss

Cupcake was seriously impressed that her biggest brother could do it backwards!

Pin The Candle on St. Lucy's Wreath

I drew this wreath on a piece of cardboard and the candles on card stock. I used some self-laminating sheets to help stiffen up the candles and put tape on the back side so they would stick. 

Look at how delighted that little one is in the background… playing games with her big kids was the highlight of the night!

St. Nicholas Coin Toss

We had some bags of coins for Cupcake to toss but the big kids had fun trying to flip individual coins in. Super simple but a lot of fun. I think we will pull this one back out for St. Nick's feast day.

We used to have All Hallows Eve parties with our cousins which meant lots of little ones running around. Even though we only have one little one right now and the cousins have grown and gone, I need to remember to do those things that my big kids loved so that she doesn't miss out on the family fun…even if it is just our family. I'm so glad we did this!

Happy All Hallows Eve!

The many moods of St. Elizabeth of Hungary…

(There will be some bread in that basket tonight.) We are doing a small little family party thing. We'll set out a bowl of candy for the trick or treat crowd or let the big kids hand it out. We'll play some games inside (Saintly Bingo, Pin the Candles on St. Lucy's Crown, St. Nicholas's Chimney Toss) and roast brats and marshmallows on the fire pit out back. Hope you all have a safe and fruitful evening!

Last minute boy's saint costume...

I kid you not, my 10 year old son, BigBoy, just came up with this costume in a matter of an hour. He decided he wanted to dress up as Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati. My first thought was, "Shoot! We don't own skis!" but hey, that didn't stop him. Here is what he came up with and if you've got a boy who can't decide on a saint, this might help.

Here is how we did it. The shirt is his big brother's with the button-down collar folded to the inside and the sleeves also rolled up on the inside. The cargo pants are his as are the hiking boots. The boot socks I purchased this afternoon but plan on giving to The Professor to use after BigBoy's done with them. The cane belonged to my grandfather and is serving the purpose of the walking stick (you could use just a big stick from your yard). We plan on putting some gel in his hair tomorrow to help poof it up a little and adding a pipe. I think he looks awesome and I'm so proud of him for coming up with such a great idea. He spent the day reading this book to learn a little more about Blessed Pier. You can find out more about this charming heavenly friend here.

Have a great All Hallows weekend!

And for those of you who are new here, here are my thoughts on why we celebrate All Hallows the way we do and why we hope you have fun doing what you do. 

All Hallows Treasure Hunt

We weren't able to get an All Hallows Eve party going this year.  BigBoy is the only one even remotely interested in dressing up (Cupcake won't let me put a bow in her hair much less any kind of costume) so his simple request was for a costumed treasure hunt like we've done before. He's already figured out a costume for Bl. Nicholas Postgate, one of the 85 Martyrs of England and Wales. Yeah... kind of obscure but my BigBoy likes a challenge! Who says saint costumes are boring? 

Since the kids are getting older, I made this treasure hunt a little more challenging. I'm sharing it here because I'm pretty sure it could be used in anyone's house. There are a couple of alternative hiding places if for example you don't have a particular one accessible. The clues are sort-of-kind-of connected to what the different saints are the patrons of. Whether your start your celebration the morning of or the night before, here is wishing you a Happy Feast of All Hallows! Be safe, have fun!

You can download the files via Scribd by clicking the links below:

Clues to Print (The two pictures at the end are optional. They are supposed to be cut up and placed in an envelope for the children to reassemble in order to figure out where to go next. Please excuse the my very unpoetic, cheesy rhymes. I wrote them early this morning.)

Saintly Treasure Hunt Key (this tells you where to hide which clue... don't let the kids see it!)

Treat Bag Labels (I'm making little labels for my kids' treat bags and thought I'd share them too.)