Hallowtide . . . It’s How We Roll: All Saints Day Costumes for Awesome Kids Only

by | Nov 1, 2013 | 7 Quick Takes, Catholic Living, Costumes, Halloween, Liturgical Year, October, Zombies | 15 comments

Happy All Hallows Eve, Feast of All Saints, and Commemoration of All Souls everyone!

Here’s how we celebrated/are celebrating/will celebrate.

For Halloween, we carved pumpkins and went trick or treating around our neighborhood. It was lovely. The weather couldn’t have been nicer and there were a TON of other families out. We had a great time!

For All Saints Day, we’ll be back in costume first thing in the morning and off to Mass then to our Homeschool group’s All Saints Pageant and Carnival. The kids will each give a few clues about their saint then the other kids guess who they are. Then the teenagers throw a carnival for the little kids, with saint themed games. My kids look forward to it all year!

Then for All Souls, we usually go as a family to a Catholic Cemetery to say a rosary and pray for the dead, but more on that at the bottom.

For now, you need seven of something. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the costumes we were planning for this year. Let’s see how they turned out shall we?


Bobby was St. Maximilian Kolbe for All Saints, and an escaped convict (or guy in his pajamas inexplicably in handcuffs and a ball and chain) for Halloween. Looking at these pictures, I am totally going to shave his head in the morning. So please imagine him to look even more authentic.


Anita was St. Gianna Molla/a doctor and now I want to do her hair like that every single day.

Betty was St. Joan of Arc. She used a set of armor Jack and Grandad made for Jack’s St. Nuno costume two years ago, along with a new frilly red skirt (thanks Nana!) and a battle standard that I made according to the description St. Joan of Arc gave of it during her trial. Except she probably didn’t use google image search and inkjet iron on transfer paper for hers.

Betty clank clank clanked around the whole neighborhood very authentically while we were trick or treating!
And now, if you’re thinking to yourself, “Wow, those costumes were really in good taste. I wasn’t offended at all.” You might want to just stop there.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you . . . 

Gus was St. Lazarus of the parable. Jack made him the crutch, and Gus pretty much couldn’t have been more into it. He insisted on being very serious for his photos.


For trick or treating he was a zombie. That face is a combination of him trying to be a zombie and not liking how the fake blood tastes.

Perhaps you’re saying, “That wasn’t so bad. St. Lazarus did have leprosy after all.” Well, it’s only going to get worse.


This is where we ended up on the St. John the Baptist head on a platter costume. Jack and Grandad designed and built it. And it turned out awesome!

Jack was a huge hit trick or treating. He would kneel and set the table down on each front porch, with the cover lowered over his head. Then when the door opened, he could pull a little lever under the table and open up the cover! One house announced that Jack had won their costume contest and gave him a full sized candy bar. Only him. Not the other kids. It was like his personal dream come true.

I can only imagine the folks at the Saints pageant will like it too. Yes?

Okay, now I’m serious. Do not scroll down any more. Don’t do it. It will only make you mad.


I tried to warn you. But look how cute he is! And how cooperative he was for the photo shoot! Firing squad ready, this one.

For trick or treating, he was a junior businessman, which was especially funny since his pants kept falling down.

Well, if you made it through that you get to see the grownup costumes!

Jim was business casual Abraham Lincoln.

And I was Lori from The Walking Dead. I am mildly obsessed with that show.
So, like I said at the beginning, we have some traditions that we usually do as a family for All Souls, like baking soul cakes and saying a family Rosary at a Catholic Cemetery. But this year the husband and I are heading up to Santa Barbara for our babymoon this weekend. Nana and Grandad are in charge of all the kids (well, I guess I’m bringing one with me!). So I’m sure they’ll get to Mass and the Rosary, but I’m not sure where they’ll do it. 
Me, I plan to be scandalizing the good people of Santa Barbara by having a glass of wine with dinner (yep, I do that), visiting Mission Santa Barbara (and its cemetery for our Rosary), and spending some quality time with my fabulous husband.
In case you were wondering, there are many awesome ways to gain indulgences this week:
“Throughout November the Church prays for all who are in the purifying
fires of Purgatory, waiting for the day when they will join the company
of the saints in heaven. The celebration of Mass is the highest means
the Church can provide for charity for the dead, but we can also relieve
their sufferings through our prayers, sufferings and penances. We can
also help the Poor Souls by doing acts and prayers that have indulgences
attached to them. There are many indulgences, applicable only to the
Souls in Purgatory, that can be obtained during the month of November. . . . 

To be able to gain an indulgence, one must have the intention to gain
them, and perform the works at the time and in the manner prescribed.

The traditional conditions to attain a Plenary Indulgence:
A Plenary Indulgence can be gained only one per day. The faithful must
be in the state of grace and these three conditions must accompany the
prescribed act:

  1. the faithful must receive the sacrament of confession, either eight days before or after the pious act is performed,
  2. receive Holy Communion on that day
  3. and recite prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father (one Our Father and one Hail Mary is the minimum, but any other additional prayers may be added).

All attachment to sin, even venial sin, must be absent. If one’s
disposition is less than perfect or if some of the above conditions are
not fulfilled, the indulgence becomes partial”

Happy weekend and Happy Hallowtide everyone. And if you’re reading this on Friday remember, it’s a solemnity — you have to have dessert!

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!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

15 Comments

  1. Colleen

    Everyone turned out awesome!! The St. John the Baptist was so great, wow. And you are super cute with just a pregnant belly. I'm thinking boy.

  2. Anna

    Really cute costumes! I have yet to truly venture into the land of homemade costumes-so far we are firmly in the hand me down camp, but at some point I do hope to get more creative.

    Unfortunately our Catholic group's All Saints Day festivities are always planned for Halloween night, making it quite clear that it is meant as an alternative to Halloween, not something meant to be celebrated in addition to it, so we are forced to choose one or the other. I would be fine going either way. Growing up we didn't do much trick or treating; my parents objected to the candy part more then the costume part and they let us go next door and across the street and that was it. But my husband has strong feelings in favor of trick-or-treating so that's what we do.

  3. Cristina

    Everything turned out so cute, well–disturbing too, but mostly cute 🙂

    Have fun on your babymoon! My husband wants us to take our first weekend away sans kids this spring once the baby's a little older and can be left with grandma and grandpa–but I suppose by then it might be a babymoon! If we could get pregnant soon maybe I could actually have a baby in a city where I have friends I've known longer than five months 🙂

  4. Ewe

    Poor St. Lazarus made me laugh! Your son looks so despondent, but those cute little stuffed doggies really lighten the mood. Your family couldn't be more adorable!

  5. Kris

    Personal Halloween dream come true – best line ever!! Awesome costumes – enjoy your weekend away!

  6. Erica Saint

    You all look great! Your Lori costume made me laugh out loud.
    Enjoy your weekend!

  7. Kate

    You're not really convincing as Lori because you aren't constantly holding up your belly 😉

  8. Jules

    "Except she probably didn't use google image search and inkjet iron on transfer paper for hers" Yes, but she WOULD have. Work smarter, not harder. 😉 The costumes are excellent!

  9. Emily Q-F

    You look AMAZING! Can't wait to "meet" the new babe.

    And everyone else was great too. : )

  10. Staci

    These costume ideas are amazing! Just when my kids were getting bored with our saint costumes, I have some new, totally gruesome and unexpected ideas to share with them. Thank you!

    • Kendra

      They are three separate days. October 31st, Halloween, is the Eve of (the day before) All Saints Day. November 1st is All Saints Day, on which we celebrate all of the holy souls in Heaven. November 2nd is All Souls Day, when we pray for all people who have died, especially our own friends and family members.

Submit a Comment

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!

Contact me at helpdesk@catholicallyear.com

This blog contains affiliate links and sponsored posts, for which I receive a commission. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.