Celebrating the Saints :: Our Annual All Hallows’ Eve Party!

by | Nov 21, 2013 | All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day | 10 comments

The feast of All Saints has come and gone. With Thanksgiving and Advent just around the corner, I need to hurry up and share the pictures from this year’s party, which we hosted once again at our home on All Hallows’ Eve!  I am fighting a cold so I am going to just let the pictures tell most of the story, otherwise this post may end up permanently in my drafts folder with so many others!  🙂

St. John Vianney, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Gregory the Great, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John of the Cross,  – All Saints in Heaven, Pray for us!

 

.: Our 2013 Saints :.

As always we began the evening with the holy rosary praying that we may all one day be Saints in Heaven, as well as for our Departed Clergy, Departed Family, Departed Friends, and for the Forgotten Dead. Afterwards we took a group photo of all the children who came to the party dressed as saints!






.: “I Love All Saints…” Game :. 

My friend Trina coordinated some of the games for this year’s party and most of the games she choose were variations of youth group games. (Her husband was the Youth Minister here for many years.)

This gave was a variation of “Do you love your neighbor?”
All the children sat on “chairs” (pieces of paper) in a large circle. One of the children stood in the middle and said “I love all saints… especially saints who _________.” (fill in the blank)

For example, if the child in the middle says “I love all saints, especially those who are male.” All the boys must move from their spots and find different ones. They may not take a spot directly next to the one they are already at. This gives the person in the center time to take a spot and escape from the middle.

The person in the middle may say anything within reason to get people to move. For example: I especially love saints who are in heaven, saints who have been martyred, saints who were bishops, saints who are wearing white, etc.



All the “saints” all had such a blast playing this game!

.: Potluck Dinner :.





.: Saintly Scattergories :. 

Another game Trina coordinated was a Saint version of Scattergories!  All the children paired up in teams.  After a letter of the alphabet was announced they tried to come up with as many saints as they could whose names started with that letter! 
I was very impressed with how many saints the children were able to name on the spot for any given letter.  Trina also made treat bags to hand out as prizes for this game. 

.: Saint Presentations :.

As always I had special treats for all the children who came dressed in costume and stood up to share a little about their saint with everyone.


I also ended up giving all the older children who were not in costume candy bars as well telling them that it was “just like grace… We don’t deserve it, but God gives it to us anyways!” 😉

.: All Hallows’ Eve Bonfire :.




.: More Saintly Games :.

Saint Themed Guessing Jars


Rascal did end up winning that jar of Pumpkins which he was carefully calculating!  Our kids actually won 4 of the 11 jars: Snuggles won the jar of St. Nicholas Gold Coins, Chiquita won the Holy Souls Marshmallows and Twinkle Toes won the St. Therese Roses! I guess all that extra math tutoring is paying off! 😉 

All Saints Bingo

We played All Saints Bingo again this year… 



... with plenty of prizes!

Almighty and eternal God, who hast granted us to venerate the merits of all Thy saints in one celebration: we beg Thee to bestow upon us the desired abundance of Thy mercy on account of this great number of intercessors. 


All Saints in Heaven, Pray for us!

10 Comments

  1. Kari

    This is so wonderful, Jessica! I wish we could come too 🙂

    Reply
  2. 9peasMom

    This is just wonderful, I cannot wait until next year! I just love all that you do to encourage the faith for children, it is such a beautiful witness and inspiration! Your saint costumes are wonderful too!

    Reply
  3. Sugar Pie

    Jessica, It looks like a wonderful night was had. Congratulations on hosting such a successful night. All the "Saints" look fantastic, the food looks "Divine" and the picture of Captain with Bud asleep in his arms…well what can I say…what a beautiful photo !!!
    I thank you & Sean for sharing your family life with us all, I look to your blog for guidance and advice as we try to bring our family up as traditional Catholics in this modern world, I also thank you for your book reviews, they are a great help.
    May God Bless you & your beautiful family always.
    By the way, just curious….how many guests did you have at the party?

    Reply
  4. Anna

    Great party and great costumes, as always… and as a big fan of saint Augustine, ijust must say those 2 little bishops are soooo cute – which saints are they by the way (and the other kids) ?

    Reply
  5. Jessica Gordon

    The twins were dressed as St. Cyril and Methodius! Aren't they adorable?! Their creative mother (one of my childhood friends and bridesmaids) made their costumes and the staffs were made from a combination of pvc pipe, a christmas candy cane decoration, gold paint and duct tape!

    I will go back and add the link, but I posted more about my children's costumes here: Our 2013 Costumes

    Reply
  6. Jessica Gordon

    That photo of Captain with Bud was taken just after we finished praying the rosary! Isn't it precious? It was one of my favorite photos from the evening!

    We had right around 60 guests. This year we invited all our local homeschool friends, which added a few new families. None of my extended family or our single friends/priests were able to make it, which brought the total number down a bit from last year's 70+. Our party began at 4pm and the last guests left just after midnight!

    Reply
  7. Eliana

    I've been waiting for this post…glad you got it up! Reminds me of many All Saint's celebrations over the years–what fun!

    Reply
  8. Sugar Pie

    Oh I meant to say I hope you feel better soon Jessica too.
    Jessica, how do you do all that you do, I know it is by the Grace of God…but do you have much other help at home? I would love to know what a "normal" week for you looks like. I have 11 children, & my weeks just look chaotic, 1 week after the other 🙂 …Oh we have a special needs 17yr old child in the middle there too.
    Last weekend we had a function at our home with about 35 people on Saturday & then on the Sunday about 50…but I am usually usually quite frazzled…I try to look calm..lol…but there is usually that underlying frazzlement…not sure that's a word..LOL…going on trying to make sure all is done & running smoothly…Anyway…
    Enjoy your weekend Jessica & God Bless.

    Reply
  9. Anonymous

    So much fun! Thank you!

    Reply
  10. Erin

    Looks like so much fun!! I so appreciated the Guess How Many ideas and jar labels… I made five of them to use at our homeschool group's All Saints party, and they were a big hit!! Looking at your Bingo cards, I think the ones we used at our party were from you also – another mom brought them. You are truly helping to share a Catholic culture for others to use in our own families and communities! 🙂 Oh, and we used your banner, too!! http://mommyerin.blogspot.com/2013/11/happy-feast-of-all-saints.html
    Thanks for always sharing these things with others!

    Reply

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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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Sean & Jessica, Captain-23, Ranger-22, Twinkle Toes-20, Chiquita-19, Snuggles-16, Rose-14, Bud-12, Grace-6 and Joy-4 (blog nicknames)

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Hi! I'm Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings--the beautiful "Shower of Roses" that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

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