Last Minute Twofer Costumes for Halloween AND All Saints Day: and a Catholic Costume Contest!

So, you're all set for Hallowtide, right? Your kids have got a Halloween costume and an All Saints Day costume all set and ready to go? No? Not to worry. These costumes can be thrown together in a couple of days, and if you have Amazon Prime, you might not even need to leave the house. And in case you need a little MORE motivation to get your act together . . . we're having a Catholic Costume Contest, with a prize that will help your kids live the liturgical year in your home, without YOU having to do ANY of the prep work. But I'm going to make you read all the way to the bottom to find out how. Our homeschool group's weekly parkday is on Friday. So this year our All Saints Pageant and Carnival will be held on Halloween. So . . . that's a whole lot of party for one day. At least we have a history of making All Saints costumes that can double as Halloween costumes. This year, we're really going to need it. Any sort of a black robe will work for this. I went ahead and got Betty the Gryffindor Robe, because she's been asking for a Harry Potter-themed birthday in February. For the Hermione costume, we added her own shirt and skirt, her brother's tie, her dad's socks, and a homemade wand made from a rolled up piece of paper and some hot glue. We made her hair frizzy by putting a bunch of braids in her slightly damp hair before bedtime. For Elizabeth Ann Seton, we replaced the tie with a black ribbon, and covered up the Hogwarts patch on the robe by pulling the other side of the robe across the patch and pinning it closed. I found the bonnet on Amazon for cheaper than I could sew one myself, but if you don't want to sew OR buy one, you could use a loosely tied black handkerchief or piece of fabric. In images, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is usually holding a rosary and a book or piece of paper. The basis of this costume is the Hooded Jedi Robe. You could sew one yourself, but I think it's cheaper to buy one. For the Jedi, I put him in a khaki t-shirt and brown pants shorts (Bobby couldn't find the pants, so he went for more of a California Jedi), and added our existing lightsaber toy. Fra Angelico was a monk, so we closed up the robe with a rope belt and a rosary. He was also a painter, so we added a homemade cardboard palette and a paintbrush. A Hooded Jedi Robe can be the start of ANY monk costume. This one my mom sewed for Gus when HE was two. But you could also use a too-big solid brown t-shirt, they sell them at fabric and craft stores. Frankie wanted to be his name saint, so we added a rope belt, a rosary, and a little bird for his shoulder. Depending on how committed you are to this costume, you could shave his head into a tonsure. But that's your call. No St. Francis would be complete without his St. Clare. My mom sewed this costume for Anita when she was four months old, Lulu is almost a year and it does NOT fit her. But we're going with it. For Halloween, Lulu will be "A baby who is already sound asleep in her crib." Thank God that there is a Norwegian Princess saint, because it was Anna from Frozen or bust for my five year old this Halloween. This dress is adorable, machine washable and $20: Scandinavian Princess Dress If you're not interested in really confusing yarn wig tutorials, just skip the next paragraph. For Anna, I used orange and white yarn and a headband to make her an Anna wig. I found a one inch wide headband with a rough, glittery surface that holds on to the yarn really well. To make it, I measured the total length of yarn I'd need: from one end of one braid, up over her head, to the end of the other braid. Then I put two chairs that distance apart, tied one end of the yard to one chair, then wrapped the yard around and around the two backs of the chairs, to get the length I needed. I used almost the whole small skein of orange yarn (saving out about 10 feet or so to make the bangs) then about four loops around of the white yarn, to make the white stripe in Anna's hair. Once all the loops were on, I tied a six inch length of orange yarn around all of the loops, a little to the right of center between the chairs, since Anna has a side part. Then I looped the remaining 10 feet of orange around a small shoebox lid, for the bangs, and tied the end of it in a knot around all the loops, leaving a six inch tail. I arranged the long pieces on the headband, with the tie a little to the side for a side part. Because of the rough surface of the headband, I just had to tie the piece of yarn I used to make the part around the headband and the sides just kind of stick on it. Then I cut the loops on both ends, and pulled all of the white yarn to one side. I put the headband on my own head and braided it, tying each end with a piece of orange yarn. Done. I found the yarn on clearance, so the whole thing was less than $5. For St. Sunniva, we just swapped the braids out for a dollar bin crown. By now you're probably thinking to yourself, "Wait, am I at the right blog? I thought this was the lady who allows her children to dress as all manner of horrifying martyr." To you I say: Don't worry. You're at the right place. May I present to you . . . We saw this statue of St. Bartholomew at St. John Lateran in Rome and, I tell you what, it's not something you soon forget. To recreate it for All Saints Day, we bought a SecondSkin Suit (ironic, no?) in red to be his skinned self. They HAVE a muscled one, which would allow one to look just like THIS statue of St. Bartholomew. But in an uncharacteristic show of restraint, we decided to go with plain red. I bought two yards of flesh colored fabric and I traced him. THEN we remembered that we had some iron-on transfer paper left over from another project, and things got . . . a little more interesting. He cut himself out, and fashioned himself a knife. And rolled up a piece of paper. And that's that. For Halloween, he won't bring the paper. Other than that, it's pretty much set for Halloween. Or maybe he'll leave the skin at home and just tell people he's a splat of ketchup. Gus is going as an old favorite around here. In fact, it's HIS second go 'round as St. Michael. We had a blue tunic that fits him from another costume itwasmary and a fabric chest plate from a St. George costume, and a red cape and skirt from a St. Longinus costume. And some Feather Angel Wings and a sword. Electrical tape turns regular sandals into gladiator sandals (kinda). You could do this pretty easily with just the wings, a sword, and three T-shirts: a blue for the tunic, a gray to cut into a chest plate and a red to cut into a cape. We added the coat hanger to the wings so he could wear them outside the cape. On Halloween, he'll just be a Roman soldier, sans wings. So that's it for us this year. NOW for the fun part. We're having a costume contest! If your kids are dressing up for All Saints, I'd love to see it! Share your photos on Instagram with hashtag #catholiccostumes, or share them on the Catholic All Year Facebook page. Or email me at helpdesk@catholicallyear.com and I'll share them for you! The winner will receive a three month subscription to Saint Mail. I subscribed to Saint Mail for my own kids with my own money, and it has been worth every penny. Each month we receive a package in the mail all about one saint whose feast is that month. There's a letter from the saint with tons of great information, plus crafts, trinkets, and little collectibles that my kids L-O-V-E love. My kids are learning about the saints (AND are quietly occupied for many many minutes) each month without me having to do ANY of the prep work. Molly from Saint Mail is a Catholic mom who is doing the prep work for you, only way cuter than you'd do it. Tiny San Damiano cross for St. Clare! Awesome leather bracelet with St. Benedict cross medallion for St. Benedict! I cannot recommend Saint Mail enough. It is worth every penny. If you don't win, you really should subscribe. And I'm not getting paid to tell you this. I just really like it that much. For more on Saint Mail, see this post:

IF YOU'VE ALREADY TAUGHT YOUR KIDS EVERYTHING THEY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR FAITH, YOU DON'T NEED THIS