“All God’s Creatures Got a Place in the Choir” Birthday Party

by | Nov 20, 2025 | , , | 0 Comments

Back in 2017, our youngest son requested an “All God’s Creatures Got a Place in the Choir” Birthday Party for his 6th birthday, inspired by his absolute favorite song at the time as sung by his all time favorite band, Celtic Thunder. All our kids had “their part” of the song that they had to sing, and they still remember which guy from Celtic Thunder was “their guy!”

I had just gotten home the day before his birthday from a trip to California for my Grandpa Murphy’s funeral. His funeral actually fell on our daughter’s 8th birthday, so this ended up being a double birthday celebration once I made it home. (I’m splitting up the photos into two posts since she picked Little Red Riding Hood for her 10th birthday theme that year. I made two small 6″ cakes and pulled together some treats to go along with each of their themes, instead of one larger cake.)

All God’s Creatures Got a Place in the Choir Birthday

All God’s creatures got a place in the choir
Some sing low and some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
Some just clap their hands or paws, or anything they’ve got now

To make his cake I used three 6″ cakes with white frosting, black fondant for the music notes, and placed our Ostheimer Bremen Town Musicians on a small wooden circle on the top of the cake!
(Note: Unfortunately the Ostheimer toys have really increased in price in recent years.)

Listen to the top where the little bird sings
On the melodies and the high notes ringing
And the hoot owl cries over everything
And the blackbird disagrees

Singing in the nighttime, singing in the day
When little duck quacks and he’s on his way
And the otter hasn’t got much to say
And the porcupine talks to himself

Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches – Sandwich Sealer & Cutter

Dogs and the cats, they take up the middle
While the honeybee hums and the cricket fiddles
The donkey brays and the pony neighs
The old grey badger sighs

A Multitude of Fish Trail Mix

Listen to the bass, it’s the one on the bottom
Where the bullfrog croaks and the hippopotamus
Moans and groans with a big t’do
And the old cow just goes moo

Bear Paw Cookies
Chocolate Cookies with peanuts and upside down Hershey Kisses added immediately after baking.

It’s a simple song, a little song everywhere
By the ox and the fox and the grizzly bear
The dopey alligator and the the hawk above
The sly old weasel and the turtle dove

All God’s creatures got a place in the choir
Some sing low and some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
Some just clap their hands or paws, or anything they’ve got now

All God’s creatures got a place in the choir!

An Intimate Evening With Celtic Thunder

Flash forward to 2025… We finally took our now-teens to see Celtic Thunder last Friday night on October 24th!!! It was truly a dream come true for this guy. And, to quote our 15-year-old daughter from the family text string: “Guys! I’m so excited to finally see one of my first ever crushes! 😂” (Damian McGinty was a little younger back then!)

We had the cheapest seats in the back but the venue was small and we were on the riser section which allowed us to see right over all the heads in front of us! It was perfect and such a fun evening!

And YES! They sang A Place in the Choir. Like I said at the beginning of this post, all of our kids had their assigned “parts” of A Place in the Choir when they were little, and they still remember exactly which Celtic Thunder member was “their guy!”

Our 13-year-old always had to sing “the kid’s” parts (Damian McGinty) and our daughter was assigned to Paul Byrom’s parts, chosen, of course, by whichever older sibling was in charge of “assignments” back then. They knew all the dance moves too!

And the best surprise? Paul (who resigned from Celtic Thunder back in 2010) was actually back for An Intimate Evening With Celtic Thunder Tour this year!

Our kids are growing up so quickly, but I really love when we get these little glimpses of their childhoods all over again… So many wonderful memories, along with all the new ones being made!

You can find more of our past birthday celebrations here.

Advent Candles and More

by | Nov 19, 2025 | , , | 49 Comments

With Advent beginning on November 30th, just days after Thanksgiving this year and coming up so very quickly, it’s time for my annual reminder to make a few preparations, before Thanksgiving hits, and order your Advent candles if you haven’t already! 🕯️

If you’re looking to order Advent candles for your wreath, there are some lovely options below! The dear nuns at The Cloister Shoppe have beautifully crafted candles ready to ship, and they tend to sell out quickly as the season draws near. You can also check out the 100% Beeswax Advent Candles from Forestville Candle Company, hand-poured by two talented college students.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom for another Wooden Advent to Christmas Wreath giveaway!

100% Beeswax Advent Candles from The Cloister Shoppe

For many years, our family has been ordering the exquisite 100% Beeswax hand-poured tapers created by the talented Dominican Nuns at The Cloister Shoppe. These candles have been the centerpiece of our Advent wreath, casting a warm and comforting glow as we gather for dinner each night throughout the Advent season. The craftsmanship and love put into each taper make these candles a cherished part of our yearly celebrations.

In these pictures, you can see Joseph and Mary making their journey down our Advent Path. Many years ago I decided to create a path down the center of our table for Advent, using our Jesse Tree ornaments for each day of the season. The first year was a simple countdown path made from doilies, but the following year, I incorporated our wooden Jesse Tree Ornaments from Jesse Tree Treasures.

More Favorites from The Cloister Shoppe

Each year, I make an effort to plan in advance and order additional candles to be blessed on Candlemas (February 2). This ensures that we have them ready for the new liturgical year and the upcoming Advent season. Here are some I have purchased over the years:

Click here to visit the Cloister Christmas Shoppe!

Advent Taper Candles from Forestville Candle Company

You can also find gorgeous 100% Beeswax Advent Candles—hand-poured in Lavender and Rose and Deep Violet and Rose by two talented Catholic college students, Abbey and Anna, over at Forestville Candle Company! 🌲

Abbey and Anna sent me a couple of sample sets last year, and we absolutely loved them! Their craftsmanship and attention to detail really shine through.

The Our Lady of Guadalupe Candle in the center is from Clear Creek Abbey. (Also available from Amazon.) While I’ve yet to bring myself to burn it, it adds a lovely touch to our Advent decorations.

This year we’ll be using another set of their lovely Deep Violet and Rose Advent candles.

While you are over there, be sure to check out their Saint Candles which would make great Christmas gifts! Pictured above is Adoring Our Eucharistic Lord with Carlo Acutis and A Light to Guide from Our Lady Star of the Sea. They have many others to choose from as well!

Book pictured above: All About Advent and Christmas: Sharing the Seasons of Hope and Wonder With Children (also available here at Amazon) originally included in my 2023 New Finds for Advent section of my annual gift guide. Highly recommend!

Handmade Advent Candles by the Clear Creek Monks

I also wanted to share these Advent Candle sets that are hand-dipped by the Monks of Clear Creek… but I wasn’t quick enough to finish this post and they have already sold out! You can sign up for a reminder if they end up restocking them.

Advent Candle Crafting for Children

Our children have also really enjoyed crafting their own candles using the 100% Beeswax Advent Candle Kit from Illuminated Ink.

This hands-on Advent project is a wonderful way for children to actively participate in preparing for the Advent season.

You can also order the Advent Candles kit from Holy Heroes along with An Advent Hope. They also carry All About Advent and Christmas if you’d like to get all three from one place!

Save 10% with coupon code GORDON

Advent Wreaths Around Our Home

In our home, we like to set up two Advent wreaths during this special season.

The taper Advent Candles find their place in an Advent Wreath on our dining room table, where we light them each night during dinner, creating a warm and beautiful atmosphere.

Additionally, we have a larger wreath adorning the coffee table in our living room. This one is lit during our family rosary each evening, and we leave it aglow while unwrapping and reading from our cherished annual Advent Book Basket.

I still miss the pillar candles I used to buy from the Benedictine Monks when they were still making them. Currently, I opt for these 3×3 candles in purple and pink. (You can find more Advent Wreath-related posts here.)

There was one particularly ambitious year when I even hung our Advent Wreath like the Von Trapp family! 🕯️🎶

Advent Devotional: The Road to Bethlehem with our larger Advent wreath in Living Room

Liturgical Year Calendar: Advent/Christmas 2025-2026

I love these wall posters, especially for the Advent and Christmas season!

Order this year’s from Sophia Institute Press.

Wooden Advent Wreath Giveaway!


The Double-sided Advent to Christmas Wooden Wreath Set from Shining Light Dolls is BACK IN STOCK this year!!! I also have one to give away to a lucky winner! 🎉

To enter, simply leave a comment sharing your favorite Advent tradition or a new Advent resource you’re excited to try this season and then claim your entry using the Gleam box below! Rafflecopter has been discontinued this year so I’m giving this a try to see how it works.

Domestic/US Shipping is included. International residents are welcome to enter but would be responsible for shipping costs. Giveaway ends November 23, 2024 at 11:59PM PST and winner will be announced on November 24th in this post.

Click here if you are on the home page to get to comment box: Leave a Comment

Advent to Christmas Wooden Wreath Set 

I posted a review of this sweet Wooden Advent Wreath for Children a couple year’s ago here.

You can also save 10% on other toys at Shining Light Dolls with coupon code: SHOWEROFROSESBLOG

While you are over at Shining Light Dolls, be sure to check out all their BRAND NEW Catholic Kitchen toys! I am especially excited about the St. Lucia Buns (Lussekatter) & Swedish Glogg Wooden Play Food Set – definitely will be gifting these to our little girls on the Feast of St. Nicholas!

“It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.” — Pope Benedict XVI

For more Advent Planning:  

The Advent Season In Our Catholic Home


Northern Lights and Lanterns on Martinmas

by | Nov 18, 2025 | , | 0 Comments

Where do the weeks go these days? I feel like every time I blink another week has vanished… Has it really already been a whole week since Martinmas? And is Thanksgiving really next week?! Whew… I cannot keep up!

With all of our adult kids (!!!!!) unexpectedly coming home (last minute change of plans for all four of them currently out of state!), I really need to get my act together for hosting Thanksgiving, and then start pulling together a plan for Advent and Christmas, which are suddenly just right around the corner.

Anyway… Martinmas was extra special this year. Just after our lantern walk and sunset, the Northern Lights came out! We got to see them last year for the first time and the little girls started talking about their Northern Light Art Project as well.

We had a lovely new picture book to add to our November book collection, pulled out the Martinmas Lanterns, and headed down to the river to watch the sunset, pray, and read about St. Martin. The girls also asked me to print their favorite St. Martin coloring page from Auntie Charlotte (“and one of St. Martin on a horse too, please!” – found one here) and Sean even got a little bonfire going out back for roasting s’mores.

At one point the girls started singing while re-reading parts of their new book. It was the sweetest! 🎶

Saint Martin, Saint Martin, Saint Martin

Rode through wind and snow;

His horse so fast with him did go,

Saint Martin rode with a cheerful heart,

His cloak around him warm and smart.

In the snow there, in the snow there,

In the snow there sat a beggar near

…

Even though this post is a little late, I wanted to share a these snapshots (so they’re here for the kids to look back on!). If you celebrated Martinmas this year too, I’d love to hear how it went. And if you’re already gathering ideas for next year, I linked our favorite Martinmas books and coloring pages (here, here or scroll through all past Martinmas post here). And now… on to Thanksgiving prep and getting my heart and home ready for Advent!

5 Ways to Celebrate Martinmas

by | Nov 11, 2025 | , , , | 1 Comment

This is another article I wrote ten years ago (back in 2015) for TAN Homeschool on 5 Ways to Celebrate Martinmas. It’s no longer available on their site so adding it here to the blog along with some pictures from over the years!

November 11th is not only Veterans Day in the US and Armistice Day around the world, it is also Martinmas, the feast of St. Martin of Tours!

Born to pagan parents in the year 316 A.D., Martin was raised in Pavia, Italy and was a Roman soldier before discovering Christianity. He was baptized at the age of 18, became a “soldier of Christ” as a monk, and was later declared Bishop of Tours despite his reluctance to accept.

“The most common, and almost universal, harvest and thanksgiving celebration in medieval times was held on the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours (Martinmas) on November 11. It was a holiday in Germany, France, Holland, England, and in central Europe. People first went to Mass and observed the rest of the day with games, dances, parades, and a festive dinner, the main feature of the meal being the traditional roast goose (Martin’s goose). With the goose dinner they drank “Saint Martin’s wine,” which was the first lot of wine made from the grapes of the recent harvest. Martinmas was the festival commemorating filled barns and stocked larders, the actual Thanksgiving Day of the Middle Ages. Even today it is still kept in rural sections of Europe, and dinner on Martin’s Day would be unthinkable without the golden-brown, luscious Martin’s goose.” – Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs by Francis X. Weiser, S.J.

Here are five ways to celebrate Martinmas at home with your family:

Read About the Life of St. Martin

If your children are anything like mine, they will love the comic style stories from Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact. You can download and print The Mantle of Charity: Saint Martin – Patron of Tailors (3 pages) from Comic Book +.  

Update: You can print my pdf of The Mantle of Charity here.  

Additional book suggestions can be found in our November Book Basket or scrolling through past Martinmas posts. This year we are adding Martin and the Red Cloak to our collection!

Donate Clothing to the Poor

Celebrating Martinmas 2024

“The best known legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying from the cold. That night he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the half-cloak. Martin heard Jesus say to the angels, “Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized; he has clothed me.” – Wikipedia

Inspired by the example of St. Martin, we too can “clothe the naked” (one of the seven corporal works of mercy) by going through our closets and sharing our warm winter clothing with the poor. 

Celebrating Martinmas 2017
Celebrating Martinmas 2021

Make a Martinmas Lantern or a Lantern Walk

“But undoubtedly the main festivity on St Martin’s Day especially in France and Germany is that of making paper lanterns and carrying them in procession. Children form groups – either informally or as part of an official organization with a band – and walk through the streets with paper lanterns that they have either made or bought. Shops produce a large variety of lanterns depicting everything from spacemen to Mickey Mouse for the processions. Undoubtedly, it is as much a celebration of the arrival of winter, with its long dark evenings, as of St Martin. There are lantern songs and nonsense rhymes to accompany the processions.” – Joanna Bogle, A Book of Feasts and Seasons

Our family loves making beautiful Stained Glass Martinmas Lanterns using glass jars, but you can also find some free printables for creating paper lanterns from the following blogs:

You can also create lanterns with balloons! Just blow them up first and set them in a bowl to stabilize while decorating. After the glue has dried, pop the balloon and cut out an opening in which to place the candle. Punch a hole on each side and gently thread the wire through to make a handle.

St. Martin’s Bags (Il-Borza ta’ San Martin)

Children are given a bag full of fruits and sweets associated with the feast, known by the Maltese as Il-Borża ta’ San Martin, “St. Martin’s bag”. This bag may include walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, chestnuts, dried or processed figs, seasonal fruit (like oranges, tangerines, apples and pomegranates) and “Saint Martin’s bread roll” (Ħobża ta’ San Martin). – Wikipedia

St. Martin’s Bags are quick and simple to make with a bag of Fruit & Nuts from Costco, or just create your own combination of treats. 

There is also a traditional rhyme associated with this custom:

Ġewż, Lewż, Qastan, Tin

Kemm inħobbu lil San Martin.

Walnuts, Almonds, Chestnuts, Figs

I very much love Saint Martin.

You can download and print tags with the rhyme included over at Shower of Roses.

Additional Martinmas recipes including Goose with Apple Stuffing for Martinmas, St. Martin Horseshoe Cookies, and Martinshornchecn (St. Martin’s Day Croissants) can be found at Catholic Cuisine.

Family Prayer

Celebrating Martinmas 2019

Following your lantern walk, warm up by a bonfire, sing songs, and end the evening in prayer, remembering to pray for our veterans and soldiers.

(Gospel for Nov. 11 – St. Martin, The New Roman Missal, Father Lasance)
Celebrating Martinmas 2014 – And “How do you do all that you do?”

St. Martin, you were first a soldier like your father. Converted to the Church, you became a soldier of Christ, a priest and then a Bishop of Tours. Lover of the poor, and model for pagans and Christians alike, protect our soldiers at all times. Make them strong, just, and charitable, always aiming at establishing peace on earth. Amen.

St. Martin of Tours, Ora Pro Nobis!

All Hallows’ Eve by Anthony DeStefano

by | Nov 8, 2025 | , , | 0 Comments

Our little girls have been reading the brand new All Hallows’ Eve by Anthony DeStefano on repeat as we pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory this month. Our eight year old said, “I could read this one a THOUSAND times!”

I was skeptical before reading it, thinking the cemetery setting might be too scary for my little girls, but it is so incredibly well done! The author does an excellent job at introducing children to Purgatory and the reason why we pray and offer sacrifices for those who have died.

You can order a copy from Sophia Institute Press (see bottom of post for 40% off sale this weekend! – or over at Amazon.) While your over there, be sure to grab a copy of Christmas in Heaven if you don’t have it already! It’s another absolute favorite of mine, also written by Anthony DeStefano, which I included in last year’s New Christmas Books for the Feast of St. Nicholas.

Amazing SALE over at Sophia Institute Press THIS WEEKEND ONLY!

40% OFF + FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $25!

Just use code EB40 at checkout. (Some exclusions apply.)

Celebrating the Saints: Our 2025 Saint Costumes

by | Nov 7, 2025 | , , | 0 Comments

Celebrating the Saints: Our 2025 Saint Costumes

Other than our youngest two, our saints costumes all came together at the very last minute this year! I loved their creativity. One of our college kids flew in for the weekend and his older brother (jokingly) asked in our family chat if he dressed up as himself this year….. Nope, he did not! Yay for newly canonized saints this year!!

This year’s saint costumes: St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St, Carlo Acutis, St. Scholastica, St. Benedict, St. Anastasia and Our Lady Star of the Sea (Stella Maris).

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

St. Elizabeth of Hungary 👑✨

She pulled her costume together about 20 minutes before I took the pictures and came downstairs as her confirmation saint! I was impressed. Cape from my St. Elizabeth of Hungary costume back in 1991, round tablecloth for veil, white blouse, her sister’s green dress, basket with rolls & roses, and this crown from a previous St. Barbara costume.

O St. Elizabeth, with heart so pure and kind, in your noble service, true compassion we find. Guide us in our efforts to love and to share, in the spirit of Christ, may we show that we care. Patroness of the poor, inspire us each day, to seek out the lonely and help them on their way. With your intercession, may our hearts be set free, to live out the Gospel in true charity. Amen.

St. Carlo Acutis

St. Carlo Acutis 💻✨

He had just arrived home from University of Mary for the weekend, found a red hoodie from his closet, pulled his laptop out of his backpack, and then just put his backpack on! Not perfect but it worked!!

Oh God, our Father, thank you for giving us Carlo,a model of life for young people and a message of love for all.

St. Scholastica

St. Scholastica 🕊️📖✨

She also choose to dress up as her confirmation saint this year and younger brother agreed to be, St. Benedict, her twin! His pics coming up next… She used a veil/whimple from our costume collection, some black fabric for her cape, this and this black dress (from one of the servant costumes from this Murder Mystery). She added an old book from one of our shelves and this dove!

O God, to show us where innocence leads, you made the soul of your virgin Saint Scholastica soar to heaven like a dove in flight. Grant through her merits and her prayers that we may so live in innocence as to attain to joys everlasting. 

St. Benedict

St. Benedict of Nursia 🐦‍⬛✨

I am realizing I don’t have a lot of costume options for the older kids! However, they are so creative and find things that work! He ended up using a cassock combined with a black hoodie. Then just adding a belt, rosary, cross, the crozier his dad helped him make a few years ago for his St. Augustine costume, and an old gray beard from his older brother’s St. Paul costume back in 2012.

Admirable Saint and Doctor of Humility, you practiced what you taught, assiduously praying for God’s glory and lovingly fulfilling all work for God and the benefit of all human beings. You know the many physical dangers that surround us today often caused or occasioned by human inventions. Guard us against poisoning of the body as well as of mind and soul, and thus be truly a “Blessed” one for us. Amen.

St. Anastasia of Sirmium

St. Anastasia of Sirmium🏺✨

A martyr who lived in the late second century and early third century. She died during the Christian persecution under Diocletian. She is one of the few women saints mentioned in the Canon of the Mass! Her feast day is December 25th, Christmas Day. She used a red gown (from St. Margaret of Scotland 2009), a green cape and veil (from St. Brigid costume), with a palm branch and an oil bottle.

Dear Lord, we thank You for giving us St. Anastasia as an example of holiness. Help us to imitate the love of You she showed from her time as a young child learning the Faith in secret, until her martyrdom.

Our Lady Star of the Sea (Stella Maris)

Our Lady Star of the Sea 🌊⭐️✨

Her costume was simply one of our St. Lucia Day nightgowns with a crown of stars (previously used for Our Lady Queen of the Angels in 2022), and this beautiful cape from Trish Scully. I ordered the cape as one of her Christmas gifts last year with this costume in mind. It’s actually a size 10/12/14, but I wanted it to be long on our tiny 6 year old! I meant to get a picture with her hood on, but I forgot… Oh well! She also went inside at one point to get her Baby Jesus doll (also in this Holy Family set) to hold.

O Stella Maris, light of every ocean and mistress of the deep, guide your children on earth across all dark and stormy seas, that they may reach the haven of peace and light prepared in him who calmed the sea.

You can see many of their saints costumes from over the years here or scroll through all past posts here.

All Saints in Heaven, pray for us! 

Murder at the Cherry Creek Saloon

by | Oct 27, 2025 | , | 3 Comments

Murder at the Cherry Creek Saloon – Another Murder Mystery Party

Hi, my name is Jessica, and I apparently throw Murder Mystery Going Away Parties for young adults entering Carmel… 🤔🤦🏻‍♀️😅 I haven’t blogged the other two yet, but I threw one in December of 2022 for my girls’ dear friend Rosie when she entered Carmel, and another for their friend Ben when he entered a Carmelite Monastery in December of 2023. When I heard that Ben’s younger sister (another dear friend of my girls) was entering Carmel as well, I asked her at our 18 year old’s graduation party this summer if she’d like one too. The answer was YES!!!

When I offered, I didn’t know yet that my brother had just passed away, and that the following weeks would shift to funeral planning while also getting kids back to college… and so much heartache … but distractions and staying busy has been good for me, and we were able to pull the party together for last Saturday, just before she enters Carmel this upcoming weekend! (At least that was the case at the time I started writing this post… she entered yesterday!!)

We decided on a Western Theme (perfect for her!) and she and our oldest daughter worked on the guest list and assigned the suspect roles while I worked on the rest of the planning. It was so much fun, and the “best one yet!” according to some of our guests. I hear that each time!

This here gathering is in honor of a (sweet girl), who’s hangin’ up her cowboy hat and boots to take up the Carmelite habit and veil.

Saddle up in your best Old West attire and be ready for a night of mystery, laughter, and cowboy send-offs before she rides off into the cloistered life at Carmel.

Party Supplies & Decorations

This was the 6th Murder Mystery I’ve used from Shot in the Dark Mysteries. I always make sure I pick out a “Clean” Murder Mystery – always a 4 or 5 on her Angel Rating Scale.

We always use the Mingle format and it’s like a live game of Clue! Everyone is mingling, asking questions, and trying to find out who had the motive, means, and opportunity!

“Mingle” Mystery Games

This is our baby. Leigh created this format over 2 decades ago to cure all the things she disliked about traditional murder mystery games, so if you see these terms on other mystery sites, this is where the format came from… and yes, we did innovate the entire mystery party game industry, as many of our competitors have since taken our format and tried to duplicate it.

The Mingle Mystery format is designed to have everyone up off their bums, mingling (hence the name) to find the suspect with the motive, means and opportunity to commit the murder or crime. While other formats of mystery parties (turn-based and dinner, for example) have guests reading clues in turns in a certain order or acting out scripts (as in a script-based mystery), Interactive Mingle mysteries are quite different. Your Suspects will be up and mingling around, and it’s up to the other suspects and any non-suspect Investigators (aka ‘Sleuths’) to question each other to piece together the mystery. (More FAQs here)

Things I rounded up or purchased for this party:

Wanted Posters

I had so much fun with this! In addition to including our guest of honor, to make wanted posters of some of the young adults who have attended our parties in the past and wouldn’t be at this one! I included my two college kids plus the Carmelites I had hosted parties for in the past and one other young man who is now in seminary!

I used the Crayolas website to upload their photos and create “coloring pages” to use for their Face Sketches.

Suspect Guides & Name Tags

The name tags come with the download. We use Badge Holders and Clips from Walmart, though you could order some online too. I had been reusing my original ones for each party, but after the one I hosted in December of 2023, I missed taking the name tags out (I had just gotten over shingles and then broke my leg/still in rehab… so many things got forgotten!) so the ink bled onto the plastic and we had to replace them this time. At least we got a lot of use out of them first! So, tip, if you want to reuse, remove name tags before storing! 😉

Costumes

My kids rounded up costumes from what we had around the house with the exception of the following things that we ordered/picked up a couple days before the party:

Our older girls were the following suspects:

Kitty Flores – Wife of Abe Flores, Kitty helps Abe run the saloon. She is strictly in charge of renting the rooms above the saloon, and ensuring any male patrons are well taken care of. Kitty is tender and classy, wearing a high-necked dress and tight corset. She knows how to gauge the tension in the saloon in order to make she and the saloon girls scarce when the men are threatening to break out into a brawl.

Cassie Flores – Daughter of saloon owners Abe and Kitty Flores, Cassie is almost twenty years old, and is tenacious and rebellious. Because of this, her parents keep a strict rule over her and insist she remain in her room on the second floor of the saloon during the evenings. Cassie is young, sweet and innocent, and wears a modest dress with a high collar.

Our Guests Arrive

The Suspects and Sleuths

The Menu

I planned to make Chili for a Crowd (double batch), Cherry Punch (Mocktail), Texas Sheet Cake, Cowboy Caviar, and pick up all the paper goods/silverware. But with a crowd of 35 expected, I used Sign-Up Genius to make providing food and drinks for such a large crowd easier on me, like I did for the other two going-away Murder Mystery Parties. The guests were all more than happy to help and we had plenty of food and drinks to last through the evening!

  • Chili for a Crowd
  • BBQ Meatballs in Crockpot
  • Homemade Mac-N-Cheese Casserole
  • Cornbread Muffins
  • Dinner Rolls
  • Hearty Appetizer of Your Choice (2) – ended up being Amazing Sliders and Deviled Eggs
  • Cole Slaw
  • Cowboy Caviar with Tortilla Chips
  • Veggie Platter – Cactus or western theme!
  • Fruit Platter (we ended up not having this)
  • BBQ Chips or Kettle Chips
  • Cherry Pie
  • Apple Pie
  • Pumpkin Pie
  • Texas Sheet Cake
  • Brownies or Cowboy Blondies
  • Fall or Western Theme Cookies
  • Iced Tea (Sweetened & Unsweetened)
  • Lemonade
  • Henry Weinhard’s Root Beer (Glass Bottles)
  • Henry Weinhard’s Black Cherry Soda (Glass Bottles)
  • Cherry Punch (Mocktail)
  • Paper Plates & Napkins (I got ours at Hobby Lobby – more options here)
  • Paper Bowls (I bought these 12oz bowls)
  • Silverware

A Murder Is Announced

After everyone had a chance to mingle and eat I called their attention for the “Announcement of Murder.”

After I read through it I had each of the suspects introduce themselves by reading their bios.

The culprit doesn’t know they are the culprit!

Some mysteries inform the guilty party that they are guilty. We don’t do this for two reasons. First, not knowing allows all Suspects to be completely honest with the information they receive. Second, it allows all players to piece together the mystery equally. With one Suspect not investigating, it quickly becomes clear to the other players who the culprit is and your mystery ends up ruined. In our experience, your mystery is more successful when the culprit isn’t aware they are the culprit.

I really love this aspect of these mystery parties! So fun for everyone and I never peek into “The Big Reveal” until I read it at the end, so I don’t even know who the culprit is! Surprisingly, of the five parties I’ve hosted for this crowd, I’ve had one of the guys end up the murderer twice now, and one of my daughters (off at college for this one, hence one of the Wanted images!) has been the murder twice as well!

The Investigations

After the Announcement of Murder it was time to start the investigations. Once again I set a time limit of 90 minutes for everyone to question all the suspects!

The Big Reveal

After I had had everyone cast their accusations (and also vote for their favorite costumes) it was time for “The Big Reveal!”

I’m not going to tell you who the murdered was, in case you give this party a shot, so let’s move on to who had the popular vote for best costumes.

Voted Best Costumes

I whipped up some slips for everyone to vote for their favorite male and female costumes.

There were so many great costumes, but “Tom Willis”, The Sheriff, and “Penelope Gold” were voted first place followed by “Hettie Coulson” and my youngest son who was just an investigator/gambler for the night.

And some more pictures with our guest of honor… because backdrops are so much fun! … and so everyone wanted some last pictures with their friend. God bless her!

Scroll through more of our past Murder Mystery Parties…

… and Birthday Parties in the archives!

Dragon Birthday Party

by | Oct 21, 2025 | , , , , | 3 Comments

“Never Laugh at Live Dragons.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

Back in June we celebrated one of our sons turning 18 with a dragon birthday party! It is so hard to believe that he is eighteen now… I was pregnant with him when I started this blog. He is our “middle child” – number five of our nine, so now more than half our children are adults. So hard to believe! Life is changing so rapidly…

He hadn’t had a themed birthday party in a few years – last year we were in Oregon over his birthday and celebrated at my parent’s home and the year before we celebrated by taking everyone to Silverwood (our very first time going to a theme park as a family). This year the oldest three had plans to be together down in Arizona and (other than ordering him some gifts) I hadn’t made any plans but wanted to try and figure out how to make it special.

Friday afternoon (his birthday was Saturday) the girls and I were discussing options on what we could do (despite the rainy weekend) and thought going to a movie might be fun. Mission Impossible was discussed. That could be a fun theme for a new adult! 😉 … but not appropriate for all the younger kids. Then one of the girls suggested the new live action How to Train Your Dragon movie. They said it’s one he had been wanting to see so that sounded perfect. Plus some of the gifts I had ordered him also featured various dragons!

All of our children are Tolkien fans, especially this particular son (he and his 20 year old sister read through The Simarillion over the summer), so I thought I could maybe round up a bunch of Tolkien dragon quotes and go from there!

After a couple hours of the girls and I discussing food and cake ideas, he came home from work and said “I know it’s probably too late, but have we ever done a dragon themed birthday?” The girls and I started laughing and told him that’s exactly what we were planning!

Anyway… here are some pictures from his special day!

How to Train A Dragon Movie

Fire Pizza

Originally I thought we’d head downtown for Fire Pizza (a favorite of ours!) but settled for wood-fired pizza at Vicino Pizza (also excellent!) right across from the theatre.

MARGHERITA – San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil, basil oil

IL NORCINI – pepperoni, house made sausage and speck, meat sauce and mozzarella

SPECK AND PEAR – house made speck, apricots, balsamic reduction, San Marzano tomato sauce, burrata, chives

SAUSAGE AND HONEY – house made sausage, jalapeño, honey, San Marzano tomato sauce, mozzarella, oregano

Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Movie Night Snacks

I did a little brainstorming then headed to the grocery store the night before his birthday. I planned to have lots of snacks and appetizers for a Lord of the Rings movie night at home.

Download my Dragon Party Food Labels

You can also download my Movie Reel Birthday Banner from our “Surprises” Birthday Party

  • Dragon Fire Punch (Orange Punch)
  • The Only Brew for the Brave & True (Root Beer)
  • Dragon Veggie Platter (our go-to for St. George’s feast)
  • Dragon Scales (Fiery Hot Chips)
  • Dragon Claws (Bugles)
  • Dragon Eyes (Deviled Eggs with Slices of Olive)
  • Sushi Dragon Roll
  • Dragon’s Hoard (Gold Coins)
  • Dragon Eggs (Peanut M&M’s)
  • Wyrms (Trolli)
  • Minty Mountains (Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream)
  • Middle Earth Cupcakes (made with the rest of the chocolate batter from small cake)
  • Dragon & Lonely Mountain Cakes

Orange Punch

  • 48 oz orange juice
  • 2 liters lemon-lime soda, chilled
  • 1 can (46 ounces) pineapple juice, chilled
  • 1 quart orange or pineapple sherbet

Pour orange juice, soda and pineapple juice into punch bowl. Top with scoops of sherbet. Serve immediately.

I shared more details on how I made the dragon cake decorations here.

Map of Middle-Earth Cupcakes

To make the Map of Middle-Earth Cupcakes I printed a map and used a cupcake wrapper guide to cut them out, then just taped the edge together. Super easy!

Birthday Gifts

I printed an image of Dragons of Middle Earth to glue on to a gift bag…

…and also printed an image of The Green Dragon onto card stock to create a birthday card. (Click the link to download my pdf document.)

His gifts included the new LEGO Lord of the Rings: The Shire with the Sméagol & Deagol (Free gift with purchase!) I had been able to snag on release day, a couple hats featuring two of his patron saint from Dulia Saints, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to complete his collection of Tolkien Illustrated Editions (he got super excited opening these two books!), and a sweatshirt from Silverwood’s Stunt Pilot ride.

Dragon Birthday Cake

You can find my post with additional pictures of making his Dragon Birthday Cake(s) here.

It ended up being a BIG week for him! He finally got his driver’s license (my injury, surgeries and this long recovery has delayed so many things!), bought his own laptop and cellphone for college with some of his savings (he previously had a Gabb phone), and was awarded the Gregorian Scholars Honors Program and Scholarship as well as Early Assurance into the DPT program, and made the decision that he was GOING AWAY for college after all (originally he was looking at all his local options or an apprenticeship). We are so very proud of the young man he has become and how hard he has been working!

Happy 18th birthday!

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

St. Michael, defend us in battle…

St. Joseph, Terror of Demons, pray for us!

St. Aloysius, patron of Catholic youth and students, pray for us!

St. Francis of Assisi, patron of animals, pray for us!

Saint Teresa of Avila’s Bookmark

by | Oct 15, 2025 | , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Saint Teresa of Avila’s Bookmark

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing affright you.
All things are passing.
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Who has God wants nothing.
God alone suffices.

Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing affright you. All things are passing. God never changes.
Mass at Carmel
Little Jesus Prayer Book

Our first visit to Carmel’s new location (sad they aren’t just down the road any longer, but also happy for them), with just our two youngest (the rest were visiting their brother at college) and my husband’s oldest brother to offer Mass. I really needed this prayer reminder as I continue to grieve the death of one of my younger brothers. God is Good! 🌹🙏🏻

St. Teresa of Avila, ora pro nobis!

Dragon Birthday Cake Ideas

by | Oct 14, 2025 | , , , , | 0 Comments

“It isn’t a story without telling if there aren’t any dragons.” – J.R.R. Tolkien 🐉

I love how this little dragon cake turned out for our son’s 18th birthday this past June! I’m planning to share more pictures from his party soon. In the meantime you can find my Instagram Reel of this cake here.

Dragon & Trees Sunset Cake

To make the dragon for the little three layer six inch cake, I found an image of a similar cake online, printed out a picture of the dragon and then piped black candy melts onto parchment paper, making sure it was thick enough to not break apart once it hardened. I have made lots of different cake topped this way using clip art and silhouettes.

This drago definitely could have used a little more thickness for where the dragon’s wings connected to the body! 😉

To frost the cake I just used some red frosting and yellow frosting and then combined a bit of the two, while circling around the cake with the end of a frosting spatula, to create the orange frosting and complete the sunset look.

I used chocolate frosting to pipe on some simple trees around part of the cake.

Lonely Mountain Birthday Cake

The other Tolkien themed candy melt cake toppers were options to go on top of a Cold Stone ice cream cake we picked up the day of the party— because Tolkien themed birthdays (especially 18th ones) sometimes call for second cakes.  For those I used black candy melts for the text and mountain, and red for the dragons. I then covered it all with white candy melts for the background.

The first was “The Lonely Mountain” with a red dragon flying overhead inspired by the image on a map of Middle-Earth and the second was the quote, “Never laugh at live dragons.”

I always get nervous around this stage thinking the cake will be a flop!

NOTE: If you are trying to copy text, make sure to flip your image horizontally since the bottom of the candy melt design becomes the front when it hardens and you flip it over. To mirror an image in Word, click on the image, go to the Picture Format tab, click Rotate, and then select Flip Horizontal.

I started getting extra tired and sloppy finishing up the last candy melt option with all the text, but the birthday boy really loved how it all turned out!

Our 8 year old kept reminding me that “It doesn’t have to be perfect!”

The Lonely Mountain cake topper ended up working out great on the Cold Stone cake we picked up.

More dragon themed birthday pictures coming soon!

“Never Laugh at Live Dragons.” – J.R.R. Tolkien 🐉

Advent Candles and More

Advent Candles and More

by | Nov 19, 2025 | , , | 49 Comments

With Advent beginning on November 30th, just days after Thanksgiving this year and coming up so very quickly, it’s time for my annual reminder to make a few preparations, before Thanksgiving hits, and order your Advent candles if you haven't already! 🕯️ If you’re...

Northern Lights and Lanterns on Martinmas

Northern Lights and Lanterns on Martinmas

by | Nov 18, 2025 | , | 0 Comments

Where do the weeks go these days? I feel like every time I blink another week has vanished… Has it really already been a whole week since Martinmas? And is Thanksgiving really next week?! Whew... I cannot keep up! With all of our adult kids (!!!!!) unexpectedly coming...

Murder at the Cherry Creek Saloon

Murder at the Cherry Creek Saloon

by | Oct 27, 2025 | , | 3 Comments

Murder at the Cherry Creek Saloon - Another Murder Mystery Party Hi, my name is Jessica, and I apparently throw Murder Mystery Going Away Parties for young adults entering Carmel... 🤔🤦🏻‍♀️😅 I haven't blogged the other two yet, but I threw one in December of 2022 for...

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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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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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