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

by | Oct 24, 2014 | Catholic Living, Costumes, Halloween, October | 17 comments

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.

1. Herminone / St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

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.

2. Jedi / Bl. Fra Angelico

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.

3. Jedi / St. Francis of Assisi

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.

4. St. Clare of Assisi

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.”

5. Anna from Frozen / St. Sunniva

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 . . .

6. Random Scary Red Guy / St. Bartholomew

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.

7. Roman Soldier / St. Michael, Archangel

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 <cough> itwasmary <cough> 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

For more ideas for Catholic Costumes see these posts:

COSTUMES FOR ALL SAINTS DAY AND HALLOWEEN: ONE PART CATHOLIC, TWO PARTS AWESOME

and
and
Speaking of contests . . . Tracy from A Slice of Smith Life is the big winner of the JPII contest!

If you’d like to keep track of ALL the feasts of the Catholic liturgical year, I’ve created a wall calendar to help you do it!

It features the all the feasts and fasts of the Universal Calendar and then some, illustrated with images featuring the traditional Catholic monthly devotions. It’s an easy visual way to bring liturgical living into your home. You can keep track of the feasts and fasts and seasons of the Catholic year, and be reminded to focus your prayer on a different aspect of our faith each month.

January:The Holy Name of Jesus
February: The Holy Family
March: St. Joseph
April: The Blessed Sacrament
May: Mary
June: The Sacred Heart of Jesus
July: The Precious Blood
August Immaculate Heart of Mary
September: The Seven Sorrows of Mary
October: The Holy Rosary
November: The Poor Souls in Purgatory
December: The Immaculate Conception

As the Church year begins with December, so does this calendar. You get December 2017 through December 2018, thirteen months. Available for purchase here. Thanks!

Linking up with Jen for the first time in forever (oh great, now that’s stuck in my head again) for 7 Quick Takes!

17 Comments

  1. Becky

    These are brilliant!
    The saints aren't something we talk about much over here, but that needs to change (for many reasons, but this is definitely one of them!)

  2. jeannemp

    Why are we not neighbors?! My kids always end up in a bathrobe with a towel tied around their head for St. Joseph/Mary. I love these, sharing them with our homeschool co-op!

  3. Isabelle Lubbock

    One day! One day, shipping from America will be so simple I'll get All.the.things. blogs recommend. One day. big sigh.
    But hey! we've got really old cathedrals! And Halloween is not much of a deal over here any way, so this particular giveaway wouldn't be for me. Although I suppose Bonfire Night could be catholicised into remembering the English martyrs. If I manage to make it a thing, I'll get back to you 😀

  4. Ann-Marie Ulczynski

    I love, love, love these. I always look forward to this post. I especially LOVE Betty's hair as Hermione.

  5. Holly

    Kendra! That second statue of St Bartholomew is in the Cathdral (Duomo) of Milan, and is one of my very, very favourites. We go say hi whenever we're visiting my husband's family – my little boys think he's ace!

  6. Anna

    Such wonderful ideas! I think I like Hermione/St. Elizabeth Anne Seton the best. Is she Betty's patron saint?

    We were thisclose to doing a skeleton/St. Bartholomew this year but the 3 year changed his mind and wanted to be a dinosaur. Which I'm fine with, since we already have a dinosaur costume and we don't have any All Saints Day costume parties to attend. Big bummer for this momma. So I won't be entering your contest but I will be checking out the Saint mail site. Thanks for the recommendation.

    • Kendra

      He just needs a sign that says "There is no conflict between evolution and the doctrine of the faith regarding man and his vocation, provided that we do not lose sight of certain fixed points.”– Pope St. John Paul II. :0)

      Betty's patron saint is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, but there are a ton of great St. Elizabeths! It was hard to choose.

  7. Amanda

    I'm off to google the saint carrying his own skin….

    These are awesome!

  8. walking dot photography

    LOL my favorite is definitely the random scary red guy/saint carrying his own skin. That's taking All Saints Day Parties to another level!
    xox
    giedre

  9. Marquette

    St. Francis of Assisi is Cameron's all time favorite (growing up in Santa Fe it's hard not to have him as a favorite with the Cathedral Basilica there). He'll love this, I'll have to show him when he gets home.

  10. Laurel

    Wow! Love the creativity! You've got some great costumes going this year! I did a St. Joan of Arc costume as a kid — wrapped myself in tinfoil. It was rather difficult to walk.

  11. Tracy Bua Smith

    You have such cooperative and adorable Saint and Halloween costume models! Loved them all! Gearing up for the ASD party I am hosting this Friday and I showed my kids this post. They loved all the costumes too! Thanks so much again for the goodies as the winner of your JPII giveaway! I can't wait for your treasures to arrive! 🙂 Have a blessed weekend Kendra!

  12. Hafsa

    These are great! Love the Hermione/St. Elizabeth Ann Seton costume. One of my favorite book characters and my confirmation saint rolled into one costume.

  13. Shining star

    I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.. Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success in your business. Halloween Costume Stores

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Hi! I’m Kendra.

For twenty years now, I’ve been using food, prayer, and conversation based around the liturgical calendar to share the lives of the saints and the beautiful truths and traditions of our Catholic faith. My own ten children, our friends and neighbors, and people just like you have been on this journey with me.

If you’d like to learn more about what Catholics believe and why, and to be inspired by saints from every era all over the world, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the prospect of how to teach your kids about the faith in a way that’s true, engaging, and lasts a lifetime, we can help!

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