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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Aug 21 2009 at 1:34pm | IP Logged
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We generally have one. And All Saint's Day is on a Sunday this year. The kids may get to dress up for Mass. And in years past we've had a bonfire party.. but that requires someone to host it that can have a bonfire. 
So I'm looking for ideas for the parish celebration
And I thought maybe if you'd all just share what your parish does that might give me some ideas including ones that would work for different venues.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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allegiance_mom
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| Posted: Aug 21 2009 at 2:05pm | IP Logged
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Well, our parish, All Saints, doesn't do a thing for All Saints Day 
Our homeschool group has a pageant every year. We have it at a local shrine. This past year, we attended Mass (kids in saint costumes) at 11:30, then Father led us in prayer and song to the priests' graveyard on the shrine grounds. There he told the children some brief memorable stories of the lives of a few of the priests buried there and led us all in prayers for the dead. Then off to the cafeteria where each child got to stand up and say something about his saint. We ate lunch during these, because of time constraints. We had quite a few little ones, and it took some time. We had an ice cream social after the presentations. That's it.
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Allegiance Mom in NY
Wife 17 years
Mom to two boys, 14 and 8, and one pre-born babe in Heaven (Jan 2010)
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Mimip
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| Posted: Aug 21 2009 at 5:45pm | IP Logged
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Our parish does nothing as well.
Our Catholic Homeschool group does go to Mass together dressed as a saint. We have lunch together (Mass is at noon) and then we have games for the kids. We have a saint relay game where the kids are grouped and run back and forth through an obstacle course with saint books in their hands. We have coloring pages of all different types of saints available. We have a fish a saint activity where the kids fish into a pool (waterless of course) and with a magnet get a holy card or such out. We have Catholic Trivia games and one year we even had a "museum" of Holy Images where kids had to guess the Creator of the Image. (This was great for the older kids) We also have face painting. One year one family made a huge cross and had the children carry it across the field to get their prize on the other side, a beautiful poem written out for each child about "running the race" to get to heaven.
Each family can sponsor an activity and they are in charge of bringing the props and prizes and such. Our family has been doing the coloring pages for years. We print out all sorts of different pages and bring a huge bin of crayons and construction paper and string to make the pages pretty.
The highlight of the day is our two pinatas.
Pinata #1 is for kids up to age 7. This is just a typical box covered in saint pictures or anything holy. The little ones each get a turn with a bat. I mean all little ones, if you can hold a bat, you get a turn. The box usually lasts until the end and then we rip it apart and candy spews out.
Pinata #2 is the real fun one. We get an enormous box and fill it with candy and little things, maybe holy cards, erasers and other stuff from Oriental Trading. The box gets wrapped up and then DUCT TAPED. The point is to make it almost impossible to break. On top of the duct tape we wrap it up with paper printed with the seven deadly sins. Then we get a real bat and let the 8 and up kids whack at the box for a LONG time. It is awesome. The older kids love this and they really get a kick out of who is going to actually get it to break. Important note: Make sure there are plenty of parents around and make sure the other children stay back a bat is a dangerous weapon and the little ones should not be running around. (This why we do the other pinata first, the little kids have their candy to keep them entertained)
We love our All Saint's day party  We have a large HS Group and almost all the families come to this event. Last year we had over 100 kids join us and it really was a blast.
HTH with ideas!
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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tissuebox
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| Posted: Aug 24 2009 at 4:39pm | IP Logged
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Sad to say our parish does not have a celebration either 
However our homeschool group does have a party in which we get dressed up, have a "parade of saints" while the song WHEN THE SAINTS COME MARCHING IN plays. There is a potluck supper. Games, The rosary is said at one point during the afternoon. It is pretty fun afternoon--we look forward to it every year.
Blessings,
Char
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~Jessica~
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| Posted: Aug 25 2009 at 9:23am | IP Logged
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Our Homeschool Group hosts an annual party in the parish hall. It is my children's favorite event of the year. Since it is at the parish, others are invited, though sadly not very many come (we have it on All Hallows Eve, so I think most other children are out trick-or-treating) but we still always have around 100 people attend!!
We start with the rosary and litany of the saints, have a potluck, games, Saint-O-Lantern Carving Contest, and more.
I posted lots of pictures,games suggestions, etc on my blog last year under the label All Hallows Eve.
God bless,
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Jessica
Momma to DS(9),DS(8),DD(6), DD(4),DS(2), DD (0)
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Your Parish All Saints' Celebration??
