The two ladies who were selling (update: they are now available again!) them are currently not doing so. There is the plush set by Wee Believers for $70.00 (currently out of stock on their website) and the brass set by Our Father's House for $140.00, which are great options, but outside of the "inexpensive" realm. Even the ones on Etsy were going for a justifiable $35.00-$40.00 plus shipping. So this got me thinking... if no one is selling an inexpensive set then I'll just have to figure out a way to make one.
Introducing the as little as $20.00 homemade play Mass kit for kids!
The goal when putting together this kit was to make it as cheap and easy to make as possible. So yes, even you, my "not-so-crafty" friend, can do this. And if you make multiple sets, the cost of each set goes down, so start thinking now about who on your Christmas list would love a mass kit for their kids! (P.S. According to Fr. Z, it is not a sin for your children to play mass.)
Here are the supplies that you will need:
Dollar Tree
2 Electric Tea Lights - $1.00
Target
Plastic Chalice - $2.99
Plastic Appetizer Plate - $1.99
Craft Store
Spray Paint - $2.99
Stiff Felt in 5 Liturgical Colors - $0.99-$4.96 (You really only need white.)
Regular Felt in Cream- $0.29
Ribbon in 4 Liturgical Colors - $3.99 - $15.96 (You could chose to only do green.)
2 White Bandanas - $1.99 each for a total of $3.98
Gold Puffy Pain - $1.29 (optional)
(I went to Michael's. If you are patient you can get these things on sale or with a 40% off coupon!)
Total: $18.22 - $35.45
And here is how to make it:
Chalice, Paten, and Hosts
For the chalice and paten we simply spray painted the plastic chalice and appetizer plate that I bought at Target. For the hosts, I cut out one large circle (3.5 inches) and six small circles (1.75 inches) from the regular cream felt and then added a gold puffy paint cross to the large circle. When using puffy paint make sure to tap the bottle down before each use to ensure that it doesn't leave a yucky air bubble splat.
Pall
For the Palls I just cut 5x5 inch squares out of stiff felt and added a gold puffy paint cross to the middle of them. Palls are only found in white at mass, but to help emphasize the liturgical colors you could opt to make a set in other colors as well. With the 5x5 inch square, you can get two palls out of one 8x12 sheet of stiff felt. If your chalice is smaller than mine, you could even get up to six out of one sheet!
Corporal and Purificator
The corporal is just a plain white bandana, folded into thirds twice to make nine squares. No sewing here! You could add a red puffy paint cross to the middle of the corporal if you want to be extra fancy.
For the purificator I cut a second bandana in half and sewed the cut edges to keep it from fraying. This gave me two purificators. As to the sewing, it's just one straight line, you can do it! I then folded it into thirds and then again in half. Again, a red puffy paint cross on the purificators would be a nice touch.
Stole
The stoles are made out of 1 1/2 inch ribbon in various liturgical colors. I cut them to be 1 1/3 yards long, making it possible for me to get three stoles out of each four yard spool. This is where making multiple kits really drops the cost of each kit! More puffy paint crosses were added at the bottom of each stole.
If you really want to hit a home run in the liturgical dress up area, you can also purchase or make a white alb. Options include a $7.50 white robe from Oriental Trading Company or an altar server alb from a Catholic distributor, such as Autom.
Candles and Crucifix
No altar is complete without candles and a crucifix!
Battery operated tea lights are a steal at two for $1.00 at the dollar tree and I used a crucifix that we already had. I believe we received it in an appeal letter from a Catholic organization.
Extras
There are a few more items you can consider adding to your basic mass kit...
Finger Bowl: Used by the priest to wash or dip their hands in water at the beginning of the liturgy of the Eucharist.
Finger Towel: The priest uses a finger towel to dry his hands after his washes or dips them. The towel is like a corporal, so you could even use the other half of the white bandana for a finger towel. (not pictured)
Altar Bells: I made my bells out of some store bought bells I had lying around, cut up and painted gold wooden bamboo skewers, gold ribbon, and lots of wood glue. It's Pal's favorite part of the kit.
Holy Water Bottle: Okay, what I really want it a cruet set (this one is sold for oil and vinegar, not water and wine, but it will totally work for a playset!) but those are expensive, so I settled for just a holy water bottle for now.
And of course there are still more things you could add, such as an incensor, candle snuffer, sanctuary light, lectionary, etc!
That's it friends, get crafty and raise some saints!