| Author | |
jdostalik
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 15 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2935
|
| Posted: Oct 20 2005 at 10:34pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Hi all,
I am in charge of gathering some items for our All Hallows' Eve/All Saints Party this year. We are having a saint/symbol scavenger hunt where you match up a saint's symbol with an item. Ex: St. Patrick: clover, St. Agnes, lamb, St. Francis, animals...you get the picture! 
Anyway, here are my items that I have to come up with and I was hoping ya'll might have some bright ideas on where to find these or how to make them very inexpensively. I have to make 70 of each.
anchor
arrow
lamb
dog
musical instrument
saw
shell
clover
animals
knife
I thought I could buy a couple big bags of plastic knives, some cheap shells from the Dollar Store, some of those inexpensive plastic animals in a bag from Wal-Mart, and cut out some green felt clovers. But the other items I am at a loss, except to just print out images from the computer clip art programs and cut them out...I may have to do that for some but was hoping to really have "real" items. If ya'll have any inspirational ideas...and I know there are lots of creative people out there..  please share!
Thanks in advance!!!
__________________
God Bless,
Jennifer in TX
wife to Bill, mom to six here on earth and eight in heaven.
Let the Little Ones Come
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryM
Board Moderator
Joined: Feb 11 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13104
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2005 at 3:19am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Jennifer,
How is the scavenger hunt going to work? Will the items all be hidden for them to find? Will each item (example - knives) be all together for them to just take one? Does size matter? This sounds very intriguing and I'd be curious about how it will work.
Anyway, I've done some brainstorming of ideas I had.
If size doesn't matter something like these brass charms might work. You can get the smallest anchors for about 6 cents each (price goes up with size). You can get just about every symbol mentioned here as a charm, but many are much more expensive and would be cost prohibitive I would think. Now if you were charging a fee to cover costs I could see using a lot of the charms. In fact a really fun idea would be to put together a saints' charm bracelet using the various symbols. Okay so the boys wouldn't appreciate that, but I think it would be a really fun activity for girls - I know my daughter would love it. I wonder if I could put it together for this year. Hmmmmmm....
Anyway, back to the saints symbols...
I was hoping someplace like Oriental Trading Co. would have bulk (gross) items for some of the symbols. They do have some that would match (dogs, lambs, etc.) but only in dozens and wouldn't be a cheap way to go. The one item that might work is something like this bulk kazoos which could represent a musical instrument. A party store should have something like it since it's probably too late to order.
When we were looking for plastic toothpick swords for the feast of the archangels and couldn't find any, we ended up getting the plastic spears which kind of look like arrows - especially if you taped on a paper "feather" to the opposite end. Here is a Hershey Kiss arrow idea. I think you could make it for a lot less by doing it on your own instead of this kit. All you would need are Hershey's Kisses, straws cut into thirds, and tissue paper for the "feathers." (obviously drop the Valentine heart)
What about changing the symbol slightly so that it is represented but could be an actual item that would be easier to get 70 of inexpensively?
-instead of a lamb how about small pieces of wool fabric (or a cotton balls which isn't wool, but is white and fluffy like a lamb)
-instead of a dog how about small dog biscuits ( a box of those would be pretty easy to get).
A product that can be used to make your own molds of any shape you want is Sculpey mold maker. You could press into it a shape like an anchor or dog or whatever. Once the mold is made you press in the Sculpey clay and make multiple images to bake. It might be more time consuming than you want but would be one way to go.
It sounds like the saints and symbols have been decided on already, but if there is any flexibility and you could change them I have some ideas. Often it is easier to go from the item that you can easily find a large quantity of and choose a saint that will then go with it. Some I came up with:
band aid - then have that go with one of the saints associated with healing (St. Luke or St. Raphael - patron of doctors or St. Rita of Cascia - patron of wounds, sick people or St. Brigid of Ireland -patron of healing)
goldfish crackers (fishermen)- St. Andrew or St. Peter
small pebbles (rock) - St. Peter (Rock) or St. Stephan (stoned)
Gummy worms (snakes) - St. Patrick (oops, I guess you already have St. Patrick covered, but I like the idea)
Honey sticks - St. Ambrose
birthday candle - St. Blaise
plastic skull (should be plentiful because of Halloween) - St. Jerome
pennies - St. Matthew (tax collector)
Now, my mind is racing - I'll probably come up with more, but better post. Hope this helps.
__________________
Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
alicegunther
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1992
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2005 at 7:10am | IP Logged
|
|
|
We did a saints symbols craft with our Little Flowers group one year, but I only needed one of each. I purchased fairly inexpensive plain wooden symbols (anchor, rooster, shamrock, bumblebee, shell, etc.) at the local craft store. It would have been way too expensive to supply 70 of each though! I think paper clip art is probably your best bet.
__________________
Love, Alice
mother of seven!
      
Cottage Blessings
Brew yourself a cup of tea, and come for a visit!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
jdostalik
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 15 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2935
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2005 at 8:20am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Wow, Mary, I am humbled by your awesome powers of creativity!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for all your help. Do you want to move to Texas and help me on an as-needed basis?
I don't have specifics as to how the scavenger hunt will work but all the items will be hidden (I believe together or else it would take way too long to hide them all--my list is only half of the items needed, another mom is getting the other items)...I don't think size matters too much as they will all be grouped together. I was thinking of having small items hidden in a plastic ziploc bag with a cutout of the symbol on the front.
This is the first year we've attempted something like this and I am sure there will be a few kinks but we are hoping the kids will have fun looking for the items and learning a little bit about the saint's symbol and meaning at the same time.
I absolutely love the idea of a charm bracelet. This would be a terrific idea for Little Flowers or for a smaller group of people...or even a birthday party! 
I'd thought of adapting some of the items, too, like just doing cotton balls for lamb...love the idea of dog bones for a dog...I'll check with the coordinator to see if these could work!
Thanks again, Mary, and if you have any more ideas, fire away! You just lightened my load...I ordered the charm anchors already....
__________________
God Bless,
Jennifer in TX
wife to Bill, mom to six here on earth and eight in heaven.
Let the Little Ones Come
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
momwise
Forum All-Star
Joined: March 28 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1914
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2005 at 8:36am | IP Logged
|
|
|
jdostalik wrote:
| I have to make 70 of each. |
|
|
 70!! Have you considered putting the children in teams of 4 or 5? We did a similar game with symbols several years ago (only it was a memory type game) and the children were in teams that had to race against each other. We've done other team games as relay races. Even with pairs, you would cut the number down to 35.
Just in my usual mode of trying to do it with less work
__________________
Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
jdostalik
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 15 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2935
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2005 at 8:41am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Alice,
Thanks for your tip on the wooden cut-outs, I may try that route for a couple of the symbols and trace them onto posterboard to copy and cut out...
__________________
God Bless,
Jennifer in TX
wife to Bill, mom to six here on earth and eight in heaven.
Let the Little Ones Come
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
jdostalik
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 15 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2935
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2005 at 8:43am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Gwen,
Yeah, that would seem more reasonable and more manageable as far as logistics go. To be truthful, the thought of 60-70 kids swarming all over our indoor church hall is daunting and seemingly insurmountably chaotic.... 
__________________
God Bless,
Jennifer in TX
wife to Bill, mom to six here on earth and eight in heaven.
Let the Little Ones Come
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kelly
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 21 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1211
|
| Posted: Oct 21 2005 at 12:57pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Shells: You can usually find baskets of cheap shells at the Dollar Store.
Animals: Animal Crackers OR $1 bags of animals at the Dollar Store (they're there, I've bought them...)
Knives: Box of cheap plastic knives, picnic kind.
Musical instruments: Mrs. Gross stickers (usually you can get a lot of musical things on one sticker sheet)
You could actually use stickers for a lot of these things, but the clip art would be just as effective, and cheaper.
Kelly in FL
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: All Saints/Scavenger Hunt
