I had no idea the was so much felt involved in preparing for First Communion. First, we had to make a felt chalice and decorate it as we saw fit, so long as we included the child’s name (along the bottom) and picture (in the center). This will be on display in the church like a giant chalice quilt-thing. As you can imagine, with 8 and 9 year olds involved, these are some blinged out chalices. Glitter, gems, pearls, ribbons…if it could adhere they had no fear. I forgot to take a picture of Mikey’s chalice, but I gave him full control of the project so it ended up looking like something Black Beard would use to swig rum while sitting on a dead man’s chest.
Unless you ask Nico, who upon seeing the chalice on the table took a step back as if blinded by its beauty and solemnly asked Mikey if it was the Holy Grail.
I decided to handle making the required banner that will hang at the end of our pew. Our church does a lottery for seating. Parents and their guests are assigned a pew and the banner goes at the end of the pew so everyone knows where they should sit. The banners are cute, but you know their purpose is to prevent fighting, pushing, and shoving among the adults (in church while children receive a holy sacrament).
For about 2 seconds I considered making the banner from scratch until the temporary insanity passed. I went with a kit–there are tons of places you can buy them online–that I bought at our local Catholic supply store. The one I bought was only $9.99 and basic because that’s all you can get at the last minute. In the picture above I still had to trim the bottom and the glue on the grapes was still wet, but it’s dry now and looks okay. It was a cheap kit, but they could have tossed in a couple more purple balls. Sheesh. I might swap the purple balls with some purple stones left over from Black Beard’s chalice.
I doctored the rest of the banner kit by changing the background and cord, adding letters and shading to the cross, and adding the red tabs and gold buttons because I thought Mikey would like the medieval look. Of course, after I did it I realized it also gave it a Crusades look. Shhhh.
Speaking of those little red tabs, as I was cutting the felt into strips I…have no idea what I did but I ended up cutting the background felt, too. I guess I picked up the red and the blue at the same time? Who knows. The point is I cut straight down an area I call the “I-Guess-I-Know-Where-The-Cross-Is-Going” left of center. The cross hides most of the cut and the rest is held together in the back with adhesive price stickers from Michael’s. If you want to know the price of felt and other craft supplies but don’t feel like driving to your local Michael’s, then by all means come by my church and flip over our family banner.
Is it ghetto to keep our banner together with price tags? Perhaps. Is the banner done and crossed off my to-do list, never to be thought of again? Abso-freaking-lutely.
In the event you want to read about how people do crafts well, you might want to read my post on watercoloring over at the Craft Cabinet blog.
Sounds like First Communion is a much bigger deal that when I first walked down the aisle. We had no banners or felt of any kind involved. I remember my mom scrambling to get me a dress the night before–and of course, there weren’t a whole lotta white, little girl, First Communion dresses to be had on a Saturday evening in our little suburb in 1973. In the group picture, I’m the girl wearing a big-girl-sized polyester smock-top with a giant strawberry applique that hit me just below the belly button. I’d had plans to cover it all day with hands clasped in prayer, but the photographer made us raise our praying hands to our chest. In addition to the strawberry, you can identify me by the big, pouty, frown on my face. And yes,–of course–I was put in the middle of the first row!
Hope you have a wonderful day with Mikey.
I am laughing so much at this. It is Everything.
The strawberry just below the belly button is pretty damn funny. :D
I had my communion in 1980, just 7 years later and I don’t remember a banner or chalices or any lotteries, either. All I remember is that our dresses had to be from certain stores and within a certain price range so that it didn’t become a fashion show/display of wealth.
I’m so glad you’re not all freaking out about cutting something wrong and Macguyvering it back together on a First Communion banner that no one will care about roughly 3 seconds after everyone is seated. With crafty blogs and Pinterest raising the bar on everyone, I’m so glad you did the Real Person thing and called this little thing done so you can focus on big things. Like your son’s First Communion.
Right? When I saw that I cut it I didn’t even do my usual perfectionism panic. I may be cuckoo, but even I know what’s really important about the day, and a banner isn’t it.
Your banner looks lovely! Despite the fact that our First Communion curriculum is parent-led and we still have two more lessons to get to before the big day (they send the books home and you’re supposed to do the 8 lessons with your child on your own time), you have made me grateful that at least I’m not expected to do any crafts! They make one giant banner, and all I had to do was send in a photo of the appropriate size. Whew. However, I like the idea of lottery assigned seats. We just have a free-for-all (aka Get There Really Early and Stake Your Claim).
I think our chalice/giant quilt thing is the big group banner you’re talking about. I believe it’s going to be hanging in the vestibule.
The Stake Your Claim is what they’re trying to avoid–and the usual skirmishes that follow–so I’m thrilled with the lottery. I know my mom would be one of those who would have no problem camping out for prime seating.
Our nephew had his First Communion last week and he did the whole felt banner thing too. Instead of hanging their individually, the banners were tiled onto a larger banner and hung from the lectern.
I’m with Rita, I don’t remember doing that when I was a kid. My sister didn’t remember it either. However, we don’t tend to remember a LOT of things my mother swears were of utmost importance to us as children. I haven’t asked mom yet if we did the banners. I think I hurt her feelings once already because my sister and I didn’t remember having a font in our bedroom. But apparently we did. And my mother made certain that there was always blessed holy water in there.
We have a font! The boys could care less about it, but I still have it up and filled with blessed holy water.
I saw your font on Instagram. Your timing was perfect. Just moments prior, I was trying to explain what they were to Sweetie & friend. Then I saw your Instagram and just showed them the picture. Perfecto!
This is awesome on so many levels.
Well I will really show my age and share that I recall my First Communion was at 7:30 am mass so we would not pass out from starvation since the original rules were no food 3 hours prior to communion/no drink one hour prior. It was raining and we went to the church social hall for a picture of I swear 60 kids–my baby boomer class + the dreaded CCD kids from public school (who trashed our desks when we were gone for the day and they filed in for religion class). The group picture is priceless and wonderful, but we all look exhausted and no one seems to be really smiling, including me. All the girls were wearing white knee socks–must have been de riguer in Ohio in the early 60s, and matching veils–standard issue–no creativity of headress back in my day. My daughter wore anklets in 2006 and opted for a bow and not a veil. Much easier on me. At her school they did the banner in class. I think they figured the “Jesus” book that took the school year to create was enough of a burden. So much so, they got rid of it the next year. Have to say, we love the Jesus book and I’m glad it was mandatory. My daughter is still reviewing it regularly. Enjoy the event. Another milestone signifying time flies by when raising kids!
I keep hearing about this Jesus book. Everyone has said the same thing. It absolutely sucks to put it together but once you are done it is awesome and you are so glad you did it.
If I get my act together I will take a picture of a couple of pages and send them to you. . . .but maybe not since that sounds a lot like “come see my home movies”!
Ah, I was one of the dreaded CCD kids! :-)
We had a ton of us in our group photo, too. Which is why it was so nice that my big ol’ strawberry really made me stand out. :-) Obviously, I was more focused on fashion than the Holy Spirit that day.
So your son made the Holy Grail, did he? Sounds like a pretty talented young man! I’m totally non-crafty, so I’m sure when they day comes that my future kids need a costume for a school play, or a banner with their name on it, I’m going straight to the $10 kits too…or ask my own mother, who is the patron saint of child costume making. :-)
If that chalice was the Holy Grail, Jesus would have wept. And, yes, it’s all about the cheap kit. :)
I love that you took the whole felt cutting thing in stride and set an intention to really enjoy the day and what it means! And you have the cutest boys. Seriously. And Mikey made the Holy Grail – well mystery solved! ;)
I loooove this post, Jules. It brought back a flood of memories. For my banner, my momma decided it was the right time to teach me to cross-stitch. I was super into it, but also SUPER SLOW. She and I passed it back and forth the night before, speed-stitching the rest of the chalice and the grapes. Luckily, I loved it as a craft and still like to take on cross-stitch projects today (though not super-often), and I have a nice think about my momma and church whenever I pull out a project. We, too, had the lottery system and I feel like I was in one of the first few pews with my family. I was SO proud of my banner as I walked up the aisle! I am not sure if we had any dress restrictions, though I think some girls had sparkly tiaras for their veils and I thought they were so lucky. (Nothing like a little pre-Communion coveting, eh?) The only other things I remember vividly about my First Communion was that the Kentucky Derby was that day, so there was betting at the party at my house afterwards, and that I played tag with my friends and cousins and ran smack into the metal clothesline pole in our back yard and knocked a baby tooth out.
My mother did the same cutting of two pieces of material on my PROM dress. Like the day of.
It worked out fine and she fixed it, thank god NOT with price tags. :)
You make recovering perfectionism look so easy!
Oh, heck….just keep the price tags on…
In some ways, it is more real that way.
and this is why I LOVE reading your blog – keep on keepin’ it real, Jules! I love that you fixed it with price tags – so clever! And the banner came out really cute. I’ll have to remember that they sell kits for these things, when my daughter makes her first communion!
I don’t even know how I ended up right here, however
I assumed this post was good. I don’t know who you might be however definitely you’re going to a famous
blogger if you aren’t already. Cheers!