Need a Project for Confirmation Candidates-Banner or Sash

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Hi,
I am the new Confirmation Coordinator at my parish. I would like to do a project with the candidates, like a small banner or sash. I like the idea of a kit, since I don’t sew. I have seen communion kits and I am looking for something similar for confirmation, but can’t find anything. I would like something symbolic and has their name on it. Could someone who may know where to look and/or is crafty, give me some suggestions?
Thanks,
Kathy:)
 
do you mean an individual banner to mark pews, or as a keepsake for each candidate? or a large banner to decorate the church. for a large banner, find clip art with the basic shapes and designs you want, project on the wall with an overhead or projector and trace on paper to the size you need. cut the fabric shapes and bond to the backing material with fusible interfacing. you can attach trims with a glue gun for a neat finish (assuming you can’t find a good seamstress–does your parish have someone who makes and decorates. altar cloths for the various seasons?

most confirmation programs or texts have blackline masters for individual banners or designs for sashes

in this diocese candidates are not allowed to wear sashes or stoles because it is feared they will confuse the priesthood of all believers with the sacramental priesthood, of which the stole is the symbol.
 
IF your candidates are under the age of 12, then the artsy-craftsy thing will work in banners, AKA pew markers, with their Confirmation names and hte family name. You don’t need a kit. You need blackline copies, straight pins, markers, fabric paint pens, newspaper to protect surfaces- and time.

I would be hesitant to do this for kids in the 13-18 age group. They have a lot of stuff going on, and you might get flack from those who are less than artistic. You might also get, “That’s what I want” to some signs and symbols that are less than appropriate.

For adults: If I were an adult being confirmed, I’d take mine over to our tailor with a drawing and let her do it.

And in our diocese, we have the same restrictions on stoles and sashes as puzzleannie’s.

Most parishes do this for First Communion, cutting out the felt background and having somebody stitch the top to hold a drinking straw or thin dowel rod. The blanks are then sent home to be prepared by the families with the child. I think this is a good way to do it, as it gets the family into at least disucssing the symbols, if not the sacrament at hand.
 
Chicago Burbs said it in a nice way - my thinking was more along these lines. Little kids will go along with it, 90% of teens will give you eye rolls and think that making a craft is dumb.

For teens, I’ve found it best to avoid the “fluffy”.
 
I agree 110% with what OutinChgoburbs said.

I have a 16 year old getting confirmed this year.

If his coordinater told him he had to do an artsy crafty ‘feel good’ project, he would rebel and tell everyone who would listen how “lame” that would be. The effort put into something like this would be minimal, at best. Long term, the craft means nothing, and most will NOT be kept, but will find their way into garbage cans. Teens are way too busy for fluffy stuff like this. (Sure, you might find some girls who think it is really fun, but you would certainly lose the boys with this. - speaking as a boys’ mom).

He lives his faith by working with younger kids, helping out with retreats, demonstrating leadership to junior high and elementary kids, and participating (reading, greeting, ushering, etc.) in mass.

If your confirmation kids are teens, please seriously reconsider this idea. Now, if they are elementary age, then it would probably work better.
 
I heartily agree with the age-level and suitability of arts and crafts. even with the younger children, some kids are craft challenged, and many boys won’t do them at all. what started out as a pew banner for each family for first communion, made in class by the children as a way to teach the meaning of the sacramental symbols of bread, wine, chalice, paten, etc. which they cut out and pasted on construction paper, seems to have degenerated into a full-blown craft competition. One parent paid someone $70 to make a banner from damask, faux grapes and wheat and gold leaf. This year we went back to doing these in class rather than sending the patterns home, but we still got some extravagent banners. some parents just can’t help themselves from appropriating the child’s learning activity into a feel-good project for their own ego.
 
Our parish confirms young people in the beginning of ninth grade after two years of preparation. The priest teaches the classes which are separated by gender. Parents also help. They use the CCC as the basic text, and there are no craft projects. The candidates are confirmed in graduation type gowns, red for the boys and white for the girls. This prevents arguments of the appropriateness of strapless dresses etc. When the pastor teaches the class himself, it underlines the seriousness with which the sacrament of Confirmation is regarded in our parish. We try to treat the confimandi as young adults, and hope they will respond by behaving that way. With so much to learn about our holy faith, I don’t understand the need for a craft project at least for teenagers.
 
When I was confirmed, we had a lovely banner that we processed in with. The “art” part of it was that we got to write out name on a dove and glue it to the banner. It was an “exit ticket” type of activity that wasn’t dwelled upon. At the end of Mass, it was hung in the back of the Church with the First Communion banner.
 
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