With our summer break beginning this week, my children have been asking if we could invite some of their friends over to Celebrate the Saints this summer with crafts, snacks and games! We’ve attended something similar in the past, and I’ve planned/hosted many feast day celebrations and Little Flowers Meetings over the years, so I agreed that this would be a great year to host some Saintly Summer Fun at our home as well!
We started out with just inviting one family, at the last minute no less, since I waited until this morning to make any plans. It was a super busy weekend after all! But, it all came together quite nicely and everyone had a great time!
~ Saint Story & Coloring Pages ~
~ Craft Time ~
St. Anthony of Padua Basil Pots
“According to the Saint Anthony of Padua website, it is customary to decorate with pots of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) on St. Anthony’s feast day and to give some away to friends with prayers invoking this Saint.”
The kids all really enjoyed painting their pots…
Now to try and grow that basil!
~ Game ~
St. Anthony’s Outdoor Scavenger Hunt
Since St. Anthony is the patron of Lost Articles, and since we just finished up our Botany book for the year, I decided to create an Outdoor Scavenger Hunt for the children. I created a table in Word and then drew little illustrations (don’t laugh!) in each box.
I did scan a copy of my St. Anthony’s Outdoor Scavenger Hunt document and uploaded it to Scribd to share. I also uploaded a picture-less version as well. I thought it might be fun for older children to actually illustrate their own pictures as they find the items listed!
Update: You can also download these documents from Dropbox here and here.
~ Snack Time ~
“A Multitude of Fish” Cupcakes
For an afternoon snack I served “A Multitude of Fish.” These fun cupcakes were so easy to make and I posted the details over at Catholic Cuisine. They were a hit!
I only had enough M&M’s for six, but Amy picked up another bag at the store, along with some Basil seeds, on her way out to our house. Thank you Amy!
It was such a fun afternoon and we look forward to having more like them throughout the summer!
Saint Anthony of Padua, pray for us!
Prayer of Mothers
Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.
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What a beautiful way to celebrate this feast day! I love the idea of Summer with the Saints! Such a wonderful way to bring the children together and then give them something fun to look forward to next time.
btw, I am not laughing at your document. I think it's fantastic! 🙂
Thanks, Kelly! We love Celebrating the Saints all year long, not just in the summer, but it is so much easier to do so with friends in the summer time since the weather is so much nicer!! 🙂 I wish you lived close by and could join us!!
It was so much fun! The kids had a blast, and so did I!
Are "Summer with the Saints" and "Saintly Summer Fun" one and the same thing???
Nope! They are not the same thing. We participated in something called "Summer with the Saints" back in 2008-2009, and the last two that were held at the beginning of last summer.
This summer we have decided to do our own thing, which really isn't anything new since we have always celebrated the saints feast days with stories, coloring pages, crafts, and snacks, for as long as our kids can remember.
"Summer with the Saints" included a variety of saints whose feast days fell throughout the year, including a Christmas in July.
All we are doing is celebrating the Saints whose feast days fall in the summer months – for example: celebrating St. Anthony's feast day on his feast day – just as we have always done. 🙂
Hello from Portugal.
Saint Anthony wsa born in the city of Lisbon, Portugal.
On the 12th of June the people in the city start to celebrate the feast of Saint Anthony with a big party on the streets. All night long we celebrate eating sardines with bread, and dancing a lot.
On the 13th of June the church of Saint Anthony is the scene of a lot of weddings, because here in Portugal this saint is the patrone of the weddings.
Godbye and God bless.
Adeus,
Manuela
This party looked awesome! I think we will try to have a St. Anthony celebration next week. Thanks for sharing!
I loved this post! I think my little girl is finally big enough to do something like this so maybe we will try to have a St. Anthony party next week. Thanks for sharing. Your blog is great!
Thanks for the all the wonderful ideas! I used your scavenger hunt last week and added your link to my blog heartinfaith.blogspot.com. My kids had a blast with it!
I love the scavenger hunt idea and plan to borrow it this week. I also wanted to alert you the links for your printable pages come up to pages that have had the documents removed. 🙁 That's okay, though, because your photo in this post inspires quite nicely. Thank you@
Thank you for letting me know, Martianne! You aren't the only one who has been having trouble with the links. I'm not sure what is going on with Scribd, but I went ahead and added the documents to dropbox and updated the post with the links. I hope you have a blessed feast of St. Anthony tomorrow!
Awesome! I ended up making my own based on your idea since we were going to a public conservation land with no holy statues, etc. but I am bookmarking yours to use in a future year!