7 Pieces to Stock Your All Saints Day Closet {7QT}

All Saints Day approaches, and with it comes the onslaught of slightly weird pictures of kids dressed as saints, so very niche that only those of us with ridiculous amounts of Catholic friends will truly appreciate it. Some people go all out, but... We are not some people.

I can't do the handmade costumes. It's just not my charism. But I can buy things to stock the dress-up bin so that when the All Saints Day party rolls around, the kids have decent options to choose from. Want to follow suit? Here are 7 of our must-haves:

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An animal costume for the baby

If you don't have an extra baby lying around, I'm betting you've probably got friends with babies! And while some people are willing to shave their baby's peach-fuzz to resemble a tonsure and get them to don a habit, easy costumes are best for babies, and that way you can accessorize a big kid's costume!

Try a lamb to accompany St. Agnes, a cow to accompany St. Isidore the Farmer, a lion to accompany St. Mark... The possibilities are endless! (you can even go REALLY easy and just do a headband, tail, and onesie) We've reused the same cow costume for years but got a sheep costume this year because the baby isn't big enough for the cow costume yet.

--2--

All the princess dresses!

St. Adelaide! St. Ursula! St. Elizabeth of Hungary! St. Helena! There are SO MANY saints who (probably) wore fancy dresses, and it's a pretty easy way to make a toddler girl happy. Stock up on crowns (these are dainty, these have a little more oomph), and check your local thrift store for secondhand dresses (we've found some really nice ones that way). You'll have so many saints covered!

(Part of me desperately wants to buy this because it's gorgeous but... I'm resisting! They would all fight over who got to be Mary, and that kind of spoils things, right?)

(And if you haven't read this post matching your favorite Disney princess to your favorite saint, I think you'll like it!)

 
--3--

You need a nun costume.

This is the one we have, but this one has a better selection of sizes available. Two years ago we used one part of it as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's costume and the veil was for St. Scholastica. Then last year we just had a straight-up St. Scholastica in the full costume. It works for tons of saints who were Sisters!

--4--

A knight in shining armor!

Honestly, boy dress-up clothing can sometimes be lacking... But this knight costume is glorious. St. George might appear several times at your All Saints Day gathering, but who cares? Your little boy will be ecstatic. And it works great if you have a girl who decides to be St. Joan of Arc!

A Roman warrior costume might not be a bad idea to have on hand as well... St. Longinus, St. Martin of Tours, St. Adrian of Nicomedia... So many possibilities! Boys can be tricky, give them swords.

--5--

Robes, robes, robes

Oversized t-shirts work, but having a decent variety of solid-colored costume robes has proven to be an excellent strategy in our family. Oriental Trading Company has the best prices I've found, and we use ours for saint costumes, regular dress-ups, the family nativity play (oh friends it is LONG and also LONG), you name it! Grab white, brown, and black and you'll have most religious orders covered.

--6--

Aprons and scarves

This year we have one girl going as St. Germaine and one as St. Bernadette, so when I found this two-pack of aprons I felt like I totally hit the jackpot. And these will be great for so many other costumes, too! Cinderella? Check! St. Zita? Check! St. Jacinta? Nailed it! You probably have scarves lying around if you're anything like us, but you could also order a rescue box of scarves from ThredUp and get 12 random scarves for $16, shipped. We got some really nice ones that way, actually, and a bunch of others that are perfect for dress-up.


 

--7--

Old clothes are your best friend! 

Say hello to St. Rose of Lima in her brother's undershirt and belt and her mom's old sweater! Is it perfect? Nope. But who cares with a toddler that cute?? This year I actually got a couple new (to us) clothing items for the girls because I knew they would work well for costumes and then could be worn afterwards, but I found them for a steal on ThredUp so it definitely didn't break the bank. (If you've never tried ThredUp, click here for $10 credit)

And... That's my very low-key guide! If your kids have extremely specific saints in mind, you might need to get more creative than this. But this should be a good start!

Linking up with Kelly for Seven Quick Takes!