Another excellent year of Catholic Costumes y’all. I just love the variety.

Here’s a look at how the Tierney kids’ costumes turned out this year . . . 

I had all but given up on a costume for Mary Jane and I. Then, the
morning of our homeschool group All Saints Pageant, I woke up knowing
exactly what we could be. I printed out some paper stars and a moon and
angel on yellow card stock, grabbed some blue fabric out of my stash,
put Mary Jane in a pink dress with a black sash, grabbed my baby carrier
and the southwestern-style poncho that is mandatory-wearing this fall and . . .
boom. The perfect Catholic babywearing costume. It would have been even
better if I had an outward-facing carrier.

And now for YOU GUYS!

Some of these costumes are clearly crafted with love and great skill by very talented moms. But some of the most fun costumes don’t require much beyond rooting around in your own closet or dress up box!

There are a ton of winners this year! Congratulations and prizes go out to each of these costumes . . . 

Scroll all the way down to the bottom to see the prize choices, details below.

First place:

Second place:

Third place:

Honorable mentions (these all also win prizes!):

 

Looking at the prize list at the bottom of this post, I realized that some of them are pretty, well, specific. So, let’s try this. If you won a prize, email me at helpdesk@catholicallyear.com ASAP. In your email, tell me which saint(s) were yours and rank the prizes in order of your preference 1-11 (you can just put the number of the prize, like: 2, 6, 9, 8, 5, 1, 4, 11, 3, 10, 7) and I will assign you the prize highest on your list, in order of when I receive your email. Preference goes to the top three. If a prize wouldn’t be useful to you at all, just leave its number off of your list. I have multiples of some of the prizes. Be sure to include your mailing address. (Some of the prizes are available for US or North American residents only. Please email within 1 week, or prizes are forfeit. But you still get the glory.)

Thanks to everyone who participated!

If you didn’t win a prize, please don’t be offended. Some of the costumes below are really, really good and took a lot of skill and effort to put together . . . more skill and effort than some of the costumes that won prizes. But I wanted the prize winners to reflect the fact that not everyone has the ability or the inclination to create really complicated costumes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still come up with a great costume and participate in this fun Catholic tradition.

So, also honorably mentioned, but no prizes, here are the rest of the GREAT costumes this year . . .

If you tagged/emailed/posted your photo but don’t see it here, it’s my mistake. Please feel free to email me the photo again and I’ll add it.

The Prizes

How to Raise Good Little Catholics

2. From Saint Mail, a three month subscription to Saint Mail.

I subscribed to Saint Mail
for my own kids with my own money, and it has been worth every penny.
Each month we receive a package in the mail all about one saint whose
feast is that month. There’s a letter from the saint with tons of great
information, plus crafts, trinkets, and little collectibles that my kids
L-O-V-E love.

My kids are learning about the saints (AND are quietly occupied for many
many minutes) each month without me having to do ANY of the prep work.
Molly from Saint Mail is a Catholic mom who is doing the prep work for
you, only way cuter than you’d do it. Tiny San Damiano cross for St.
Clare! Awesome leather bracelet with St. Benedict cross medallion for
St. Benedict that Bobby has been wearing for nearly two years straight! I cannot recommend Saint Mail enough.

For more on Saint Mail, see this post:

IF YOU’VE ALREADY TAUGHT YOUR KIDS EVERYTHING THEY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR FAITH, YOU DON’T NEED THIS

3. From Catholic Word, The Encyclopedia of Peg Saints, a cute little guide to creating your own little saint dolls . . .

I think this book will be what finally pushes us onto the Peg Saint
Exchange bandwagon. Betty is really excited to do one with our Little
Flowers group.

4. From Peanut Butter & Grace, Sense of the Sacred: a Coloring Book for Young Illuminators, a beautiful coloring book of sacred images . . .

I love these coloring pages to have on hand for a feast day activity, or
something to do while we listen to an audio book. There’s a companion Illuminated Book of Catholic Prayers that pairs colored versions of the illustrations with traditional Catholic prayers.

5. From Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families, a printable 54 Card Deck of Super Saints . . . 

This kit comes with templates for all 54 Cards
along with the official Super Saints back cover template. along with
printing instructions and instructions on various games to play. There’s
a pokemon-type game for older kids, or you can print out two sets to
play simple matching games with little kids.

6. Updated! Now also available as a physical deck of cards!

7. From Do Small Things With Love, Sixty-One Cross Stitch Saint Patterns . . . 

Betty (11) and I have been working on these lovelies and they COULD NOT
BE CUTER. Seriously. I dare you to look at the little cross stitch
buttons on St. Louis Martin’s blue topcoat and not just swoon. They are
adorable. And really doable for even not-super-crafty-types. It’s
excellent starter needlework if you’ve never done embroidery before, and
easy enough for big kids to do all on their own. Anita (6) has been
able to do some stitching with a lot of supervision, because it’s easy
for the counting to get away from you.

The original set of forty saints can be found here, for only $3, and the 21 all new saints are here for just $2! The winner will get both sets for free.

8. From Printable Prayers (which is me), your choice of FOUR downloads from the shop . . . 

Could be the Guardian Angel Prayer, could be the Sts. Louis and Zelie
Martin holy cards, could be the Litany of Humility, could be a JPII
quote. The possibilities are endless. No, not endless. There are
forty-three  possibilities.

9. From Interior Castle Goods, your choice of little priestly vestments for boys . . .

Available in colors suitable for all of the liturgical seasons. Collect them all? Frankie has this gold one. It’s pretty awesome.

10. From Organic Mama’s Shop, your choice of Classic Donut Nursing Necklace . . .

The perfect thing to keep little grabby hands occupied while nursing. I’ve got one in pink (but I also love this orange one) and Mary Jane is just getting old enough to need it.

11. A box full of unused Catholic books and a DVD, mostly for kids, that have been sitting around my house looking for a good home, including my A Little Book About Confession for Kids!

See you next year everybody!