Liturgical living is a great way to deepen our faith, and especially the faith of our children! All Saints Day is a tremendous opportunity to have a liturgical living celebration. On this Holy Day, we should take time to learn more about the Saints. I learned at a young age the importance of virtue and goodness because I was encouraged read and learn about these holy men and women. Can you imagine what our culture would be like today if our children’s role models were saints and not superheroes??
Every year our family tries to celebrate All Saints Day with an All Saints Day Party. It does not need to be anything complicated—your family can keep things as simple as you would like! You can keep it just your family or make it an event and invite friends, your homeschool group, or your Catholic Mom’s group! In this blog post, I will share with you a little bit about what our All Saints Day parties look like!
First things first, we always decorate! The kids absolutely love balloons, so they are a must! Next, I set up snacks! I try to incorporate snacks for certain saints. So for instance, animal crackers for St. Francis of Assisi, caramels for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pretzel sticks for St. Bernadette, and goldfish for St. Peter!
At our party, we first talk about the Saints we are dressed up as. On this particular year, I had a St. Michael, a St. Philip Neri, a Pope John Paul II, and a Mother Mary! If you’re needing some inspiration, you can get lots of great saint costume ideas on Pinterest! I have a bunch to share on my Pinterest page as well!
After snack time, the kids color pictures of saints from this awesome coloring book, Our Heavenly Friends, made by Herald Entertainment. All of these activities are in an effort to help the kids go deeper into the lives of the saints and make them more familiar and relatable!
At the end of the party, we pray the Litany of Saints. It’s the perfect way to end the event!
*Also, don’t forget that All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation. Don’t forget to go to Mass on this day!
Here are some of my favorite Saint books for children:
My First Book of Saints by Kathleen Muldoon—It’s pretty short and there’s a picture with each saint. It’s a great one to read to young children or as a daily reading during one of your meals!
The Day by Day Coloring Book by Sophia Institute Press
Stories of the Saints by Carrie Wallace—Much more in depth than some of the others. It has beautiful illustrations! I truly cannot recommend this book enough!
There are tons of great saint chapter books out there as well. We try to get in the habit of reading one chapter a night!
One Response
Happy feast day of the Archangels! I love your October checklist. Praise God for your efforts to bring the Catholic faith into our homes. Halloween is confusing and I am trying to balance the fun gothic decorating while avoiding what is displeasing to God.
What are your thoughts on putting out a haunted house luminary? It is beautiful and not scarry. But does it send the right message? I also love my black crows and jack o lanterns. The Victorian decorating possibilities really appeal to more for Halloween and I am torn.