It’s October and that means it’s time to start thinking about one of the most-loved feasts of the year – All Saints’ Day! Here are 9 delightful ways to celebrate All Saints’ Day with your children on November 1st.
1. Go to Mass
All Saints’ Day is a Holy Day of Obligation in many parts of the world. Even though it is not in Australia, going to Mass together is a beautiful way to give thanks for the saints in our lives. Along with the angels and holy souls, the saints are present at every Mass – this is the closest we can get to them!
2. Watch a movie
There are many movies and shows that creatively retell the lives of the saints. Some can be found via online streaming services, like Formed, EWTN, or this channel on YouTube.
Some saint movies are available on DVD. Here are a few recommendations:
Brother Francis: The Saints is a favourite with my young children and one that we recommend, also.
3. Read a book
Pick a selection of favourite picture books on the saints to read with your children. Alternatively, for a brief introduction to the saints, read about their lives from a compilation book like this one.
4. Have a discussion
Discuss with your children how each one of us are called to be saints, despite our faults or past mistakes. The saints, too, had their fair share of temptations and struggles to overcome.
Remind them that you don’t become a saint by doing great things in the public eye. St. John Paul II may be credited for the end of communism in Poland; St. Jerome for translating the Bible from Greek to Latin; St. Thomas for the Summa Theologica; but it is not these things that made them saints. It was their choosing to live a life of heroic virtue.
Ask your children to think of ways they can work on being a saint today.
5. Worksheet activities
Some children love a good worksheet. Print some colouring pages of the saints, crossword puzzles or other activities that the children will enjoy. If you are after a colouring book, here is a beautiful recommendation.
6. Costumes and parade
While others will be decked out as superheroes for secular Halloween, why not dress your children as the best superheroes of all: the saints! Costumes can be as elaborate or simple as you want them to be.
If you don’t have the time or skill for sewing, rummage through your costume stash. A firefighter costume can be St. Florian, patron of firefighters. A doctor costume can be St. Gianna Molla. If you plan to get together with others to celebrate the Solemnity, have the children showcase their costumes in a parade. You can sing, ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’! Children can be given the opportunity to explain who they are dressed as. Offer prizes for best effort!
7. Party
You may be blessed enough to have an All Saints’ Day party organised in your area. If not, consider hosting a party; maybe with your local parish, your homeschool group, or a few Catholic friends. As mentioned above, have your children dress as a saint and conduct a parade. Try to share the load with preparing party food, cake, and games. Parties are probably the most fun and memorable way to ingrain a love for our Heavenly friends.
8. Food
Food is a vital part of any celebration. If you attend an All Saints’ Day party, there will need to be food! Even if your celebration is just with your family, food can bring delight to the day. Cook your family’s favourite meal or something extra special. Make a special cake to mark the day. If you have some mini plastic saint statues or saint peg dolls, pop them on the cake. If not, fish out some holy cards, tape toothpicks to the back, and pop them on the cake instead!
9. Prayer
Encourage your children to decorate the family prayer altar with their favourite statues, icons, and holy cards of the saints. As a family, recite the Litany of the Saints. Make it extra special by singing the prayer. You can choose between this traditional version or more modern one by Matt Maher.
Whatever you choose to do with your children on All Saints’ Day, let it be fun! In the end, we want our children to grow to love the saints and embrace them as their life-long companions. After all, what a joy it is to know that because of God and our Heavenly friends, we are never alone.
Which of these nine suggestions will you do? Let us know in the comments!
“We can, if we will, become a saint, for God will never refuse to help us to do so.”
St. John Vianney
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Stephanie Philippou, co-founder of Litany of the Home, is a Catholic wife and mother of eight in Melbourne. She has a heart for instilling liturgical living in her home, loves ordered spaces and often laughs at her own jokes.
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