All Saints Party 2013

Someone (not Catholic) said to me on October 31, "So, you don't celebrate, erm, you know . . .?" I had to laugh! Halloween (All Hallow's Eve, the older name for the evening before the Feast of All Saint's) is an entirely Catholic holiday--holy day--and a very busy time around here! The world may have hijacked the holy day, just like many others (Christmas, Easter), but that doesn't erase its Catholic origin.

I greatly appreciate how the Catholic Church uses the end of its liturgical year (November) to turn our focus toward last things, before the beginning of our liturgical year when we celebrate all things new with the birth of Christ. 

October 31: Halloween is the (unofficial) remembrance of the reality of hell--hence all the scary stuff and focus on the haunting dead.

November 1: All Saints' Day is the (official) remembrance of the reality of heaven.

November 2: All Souls' Day is the (official) remembrance of the reality of purgatory.

Catholic parishes are split on this issue: some celebrate with an All Saints' party on All Saints' Day, some celebrate on the eve of All Saints' in order to be a replacement for secular Halloween. We would like an opportunity for our family to focus more on the reality of hell on October 31, but we don't want to embrace just how trashy and salacious secular Halloween has become (I don't even feel I can let my kids walk through Party City and such stores, nor do I want to). So, in the meanwhile, without another appealing option, we enjoy the great party our parish throws on the eve of All Saints'.

All the supplies I needed to take to the party--and I still forgot the candy!

I avoided being the head honcho for organizing our parish party, but I was on the four-person organizing committee and that just about did me in. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I don't know how other mothers do it! I had to start planning weeks in advance: planning the costumes, shopping for the fabric, sewing the pieces, ordering the items I couldn't make (e.g., plastic armor), going to the pumpkin patch, carving the pumpkins, and gathering various supplies I had committed to provide for the event.

In years past, one family organized the event year after year. This was the second year of our new approach in which each family is responsible to bring big bags of candy, a game, and a baked good for the cake walk.

When I bought our big bags of candy a few weeks back, I didn't want to be tempted to eat it, so I hid it really well. Out of sight, out of mind! Too bad it was so far out of mind that I forgot it back at the house. We stopped by a grocery store and a drug store on the way to the party only to find shelves entirely empty of candy!

Shelves empty of candy

My four precious babies . . .

Joseph (9 months): a bear
Margaret (2-1/2): Our Lady of Guadalupe
Mary (almost 5): St. Elizabeth of Hungary
John (almost 7): St. Michael the Archangel

We went to church early because Confession was available before the party, fitting because this is the day Catholics remember the real possibility of hell, so we want to ensure our souls are in a state of grace. The party began with our pastor leading one decade of the rosary, then a woman leading us in singing the Litany of the Saints.

Teens staff all the games: Children are given paper sacks for candy and go around playing the games, winning candy as they go.

Our family's game: Holy Water Pond: If the bottle chosen says "Purgatory," the child gets one piece of candy, if the bottle says "Heaven," the children get two pieces.

John's favorite game was this one in which he reached in and identified religious items by feel only.

A game in which the children are asked to Name that Sacramental: Mary really liked this one!

Shooting the devils

After the children have made the rounds of all the games, we have four cake walks: for little kids, for middle kids, for big kids, and for adults.

Each baked good for the cake walk has on it a prayer request for us to pray for a dearly departed loved one. We will put the name we received on the altar we are putting up at home for November: to remember to pray for the deceased.

Requests to pray for Chris' brother and my mom. Note that it is not my season in life to bake from scratch. I consider myself heroic to keep my family basically fed each day!

The event ends with the pumpkin contest . . . in which every child who carved a pumpkin wins a certificate and a big chocolate bar.

Some of the pumpkin entries

Margaret astonished to be winning the very first prize!

John, so thrilled

The day was utterly long, made more so by our going to "Hansel and Gretel" at the children's theater in the morning, then having John's piano lesson in the afternoon. The children collapsed into bed around ten, the adults closer to midnight. But these are the joyous traditions we remember year after year, so the hard work is worth it in the end! One of these years, I hope to learn how to put forth this effort with more peace and less stress in my heart.