I am ALL for store bought Halloween costumes, and for the Trunk or Treat we went to a few days before Halloween, that is exactly what my children wore - store bought costumes! Our local Target didn't seem to have a very large selection of Saint costumes, however. Really though, wouldn't it be awesome if we could order Saint costumes on Amazon? The reality is that for All Saints Day celebrations, the Catholic mama is on her own. I honestly think that's why many people skip Saint costumes, because as much as they'd like to do some special Liturgical living with their children, it takes a lot of time and planning to make a number of Saint outfits!
This year after the children decided who they wanted to be, I planned our costumes out with the goal of being as efficient as possible, and while their costumes are clearly not seamstress status, they held up for our All Saints Eve Party at our church, and each of them loved their costumes!
I cheated as MUCH as possible on these, and from start to finish I spent less than three hours making them. So, Catholic Mama, here are my hacks - let's cheat together!!
We have a Benedictine monk (Saint Benedict for the party!), Saint Philomena, and Saint Therese of Lisieux!
Our Benedictine habit is just a few yards of black jersey fabric, folded in half, with a little crescent cut out just big enough for his neck! I had my son lay down on the folded fabric and traced out the arms, then cut away - the fabric looked like a letter "T." This is the only one I pulled the sewing machine out for. I used jersey fabric as much as possible for these costumes, because with jersey you can make a straight cut, rip the fabric quickly, and then the "hem" will just roll a little and look fairly finished! Not spending energy cutting perfectly saves so much time! He wore it over a black hoodie so that I didn't have to attempt to sew a hood!
Saint Philomena has on a pillowcase! I cut arm holes and cinched the "neck" with twine! We used a cape we already owned, which was perfect. Her crown was an existing pink jersey headband, and I just hot glued flowers and leaves on to it! With this little love being under three, I didn't take the chance of accessorizing her with an anchor, arrows, palms, or a rope...in fact my husband forbade me from letting her wear a rope around her neck...what can you do?
Saint Therese the Little Flower also has a pillow case tunic; bottom cut off and left unhemmed, arms cut out, neck cinched! Her mantle I ruffled by hand quickly, and then hot glued sparkly gold ribbon to both sides. The toque is a simple piece of white jersey, and the veil is black jersey - both cut, ripped, and left unhemmed!
I hope my hacks encourage you to make Saint costumes for All Saints Day celebrations - no one needs to know we cheated! ;-)