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ALL SAINTS PARTY IDEAS
This is an idea for an All Saints Day party for from a large homeschool group (30 families or so showing up).
One family gets to sponsor each game, supplying materials and someone to run the game. Sometimes it works out nicely to get the parish youth group's Confirmation students to come in and volunteer to run the games for service points ...
Signs may be posted at each game to tell some important information about that particular saint - parents can read the signs to the younger children.
St. Patrick's Shamrock Toss - large wooden board is painted white and with scattered shamrocks, cut different size holes in the centers of the shamrocks (to vary the difficulty level for different ages), beanbags to toss through the holes, starting lines (marked with tape) can be placed at different intervals to increase difficulty
St. John Bosco's Bowling - plastic bowling set, have someone to reset the pins for each child, mark starting line with tape
St. Therese's Rose Toss - silk roses tossed through a child's basketball hoop, starting lines marked with tape, adjust height of hoop if needed
St. Isadore's Produce Roll - pumpkins are rolled through an obstacle course
Guess the Saint - (more for older kids) certain facts of the lives of the saints are read one at a time, from the most difficult to the easiest, until someone guesses the saint
Seven Deadly Sins Golf - plastic golf balls labeled with the sins are putted into plastic practice golf holes (can be found at golf supply shops) labeled with the virtues, I painted a plastic kiddie golf club gold and called it the "Stick of Virtue", mark starting line with tape
Fishers of Men - large sheet hung over a rod or wire to create a barrier, fishing poles with clothespins at the end of the lines, kids hang their fishing lines over the sheet and are surprised with a goodie bag (I collected donations from local Catholic stores of saint cards, stickers, bookmarks, pencils, erasers, WWJD bracelets, etc.) If you have someone artsy, the sheet could be painted like a lake ... you could craft a "boat" from plywood for the kids to step into while they go fishing
Heaven - a backdrop of heaven (golden road leading to pearly gates, fluffy clouds, angels, etc.) for the parents to take pictures of their little saints-in-the-making
Questionnaire - A piece of paper can be handed out with the following questions:
Welcome to our All Saints Celebration!
We invite you to get to know those around you with
these questions:
1. Are you named for a Saint? If so, which one/
2. Who is your favorite Saint or Bible character, and
why?
3. Do you know someone that you consider a "living
saint"? Tell us about him/her.
Saint Parade - You can close out the party with our saints marching around the gym to the song "When the Saints Go Marching In" ...
The party can be held immediately after the parish's All Saint's Day Mass, this
way it is convenient for the families to go to Mass and come to the party
together.
Local businesses can donate drinks or candy for the goodie bags. A list of volunteers can be made up for food - chips, finger sandwiches, cookies, water cooler, coffee, etc.
To give thanks to the businesses that donate goodies to
the party you can place a poster on an easel at the entrance to the parish hall
(if you have the party there). Stacks of business cards can also be set out for the
families to pick up and "Thank You" cards for the families to sign. Then,
you can send the cards to the business owners. Families can also donate items for a silent auction. The proceeds from
the auction can be put into a bank account to be used for the following year's
party. You can include a donation jar at the exit.
You can also charge a family "admission", like gallon-sized ziploc bags full of toiletries for MUST minstries or items from the county's animal shelter wish list (in honor of St. Francis). You can plan to choose a patron saint for each year's party and try to choose an appropriate admission activity.
All Saints Day Celebration pictures: http://www.stpaulcs.com/all_saints_day.htm
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Costume ideas St. Peter: You can cut a few large
keys out of cardboard, and spray paint it (Peter is
always seen holding a key, as in the keys to heaven)
and also make a satchel out of
fishnet (Walmart fabric store, very cheap). Inside the fishnet, you can put some plastic fish toys and tie it up with string. (Fisherman). A brown clearance fabric can be bought to be used as a drape around the child, pinning it here and there like a cloak. St. Michael the Archangel: Here, you can use a dress- up armor, or make some out of cardboard -a shield, sword etc. and some wings. St. Joseph: As he was a carpenter - you could have your child carry |
Do you have any ideas or suggestions, please let us know.
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Thanks to Tracy for sharing most of the ideas in this article.
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