We decided to begin with Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Mr. W loves Hallowe'en and loves costumes. He had been thinking about growing back his mustache for the winter so his beard grow out made for the perfect Fred 5 o'clock shadow. I already had leftover black felt and and white fleece from the Olaf costume I made a few years ago. I bought new orange fleece, turquoise felt, and some white cotton to be split between the Wilma costume and a saint costume. (However it was SO thin that I ended up supplementing with the fleece for the skirt and wearing a white tank top as a camisole under the one sleeved dress.) I did not use a pattern for this and there was A LOT of trail and error in sewing the Wilma dress. My ripper was well used. I used a shirt as a template for the top and tried to add pleats to the skirt to give a bit of the bubble effect. I also added a couple darts in the top once I had it all sewn together. Sewing the top and bottom together was also difficult trying to find my waistline on myself in the mirror, but eventually it all came together well enough to be worn under a coat while chaperoning trick-or-treaters. The Fred costume was much easier to sew together since it doesn't need to be figure flattering and fleece doesn't need to be hemmed. I did sew all the black spots on, rather than hot glueing, so he could wash this costume and use it again if he wanted. Mr. W really liked this costume and I think he was much warmer than I was.
Here is a closer look at the necklace (expert photography by tween.) I used the same technique as the top search result for Wilma costume. I bought styrofoam balls, rolled out white, air drying modeling clay, and wrapped the balls with it. Then I speared them with bamboo skewers until they dried over night. I originally wanted to use kitchen twine for a rustic look, but It was too difficult to force through the holes so I switched to curling ribbon instead. It was still a challenge to fit through, but eventually worked.
Fortunately the children never committed to any costume in advance so we ended up reusing or buying new store bought costumes. They settled on a donkey, Charzard, and a peacock (our spring break trip to Victoria has inspired our whole year apparently!)
One thing that I was sad about Deuce missing by not being in a traditional school this year was the 3rd grade saint project. When my oldest participated they did a report on a saint of their choosing, made a shield with 4 different facts about their saint, create a costume, and wear them to the All Saints' Day school Mass. Such a sweet tradition. I was very happy to learn that the homeschool group we joined had something similar for every student. This parish had the added fun of playing Stump The Priest at the fellowship party following the Mass. Who wouldn't want to stump a priest so the boys decided to pick less obvious saints. When T-Bone was a 3rd grader he had done his report on St. Theodore of Amasea who, as a demoted saint more popular in the Eastern church, seemed to be capable of stumping a priest. We still had the costume of this soldier saint so T-Bone just had to review what he had learned 3 years ago to compose his 3 clues.
I would have wanted Deuce to do a report on his patron saint, but he is among the most popular and would be so easy to guess. Instead he looked through the box of Patron Saint Flashcards he received as a First Communion gift. He settled on St. John the XXIII. Can I just say there are a lot more components to this saint costume than the humble, brown robe I would have been making? I bought the white cotton for the cassock and a red shiny poly blend for the capelet. I knew I could reuse the fancy cloth we bought for the chalice of the First Communion banner for the stole so I bought some gold fringe and red, fabric covered buttons. I just looked up cassock to make sure I was using the term correctly and learned that the pope's capelet is actually called a mozetta. You learn a new thing every day. I used another shirt as a templet for the white robe and made it quite long so the hem could be let down if needed. More trial and error occurred while working on the mozetta. What eventually worked was folding the fabric in quarters in order to cut out a big circle. I attached a little collar, but ended up just hand sewing on the buttons without making button holes on the joining side because I was running out of time. The yarmulke was a souvenir from my ex-boyfriend's dad's second wedding. I imagine a future pope hat is not what they had in mind when they gave them out. haha.
The homeschool group is part of a parish we do not regularly attend. They are Dominicans and it is very traditional, they still use the communion rail and receive on the tongue. Check out their chancel lamp!
As the daughter of a stained glass artisan I always check out leaded windows and every window in this church had a dalmation dog in it. I imagine that must be an attribute of St. Dominic, but I'm going to save that teachable moment for religion class next week. It was a very nice Mass and I really appreciated what the priest had to say during his homily. My mother joined us and the boys were relieved that they weren't the only children dressed up. After Mass the priest saw Deuce in his costume, bowed to him and greeted him as "Your Holiness."
Stump The Priest was very fun. So many cute and creative costumes and the two priests playing did a good job of playing along with the children whose costumes were more easily guessed. There were a couple of Maronite families in the group who were dressed as saints popular in the Maronite tradition and they definitely stumped the priest. It was pretty funny. At one point the priest said that if anyone wanted to gift them a book on Maronite saints that they would gladly accept it so they could study up for next year. Our boys did pretty well. St. Theodore of Amasea stumped both priests.
When St. John the XXIII walked onto the stage the first priest again greeted him with "Your Holiness" and kissed his ring. He thought he was either a John or a Paul, but not a John Paul. In the end St. John XXII stumped one priest, but not the other. He was a little disappointed, but I think they were proud of themselves.
These are the clues they used:
St. Theodore of Amasea
- I lived in the 3rd century in Asia Minor and died a martyr in 306 AD
- I was a young Roman soldier
- I wouldn’t worship pagan gods and set fire to the temple of Cybele
St. John XXIII
- I lived in Italy from 1881 to 1963
- I wrote several socially important encyclicals like Pacem in Terris
- I wanted a “New Pentecost,” a new out pouring of the Holy Spirit
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