Planning a Baptism for Your Baby

July 21, 2021
7:15 am
Baptisms, Christenings

If you haven’t done it before, planning a baptism can be daunting. You don’t know how to plan a baptism, let alone how to throw a baptism party or reception. To parents planning a baptism for the first time, here are five basic steps to get the job done, plus tips and baptism outfit suggestions.

How to Plan a Baptism or Christening

1. Select and Contact Godparents

Selecting and asking close friends or family members to be godparents is a very important part of planning for a christening. While the number of godparents depends on your religion, the importance of the task remains the same.

2. Schedule and Coordinate with Your Church

Second, and very importantly, you need to set up the ceremony with your church. How to do this depends on your church. No matter what, make note of any scheduling conflicts for family events, and your chosen godparents’ schedules. It’s best to have a few dates in mind before you contact the church, in case your preferred date is not available.

3. Choose a Christening Reception Venue

After you have handled the religious aspects of the planning, now you can start baptism party planning. After the baptism ceremony, many people choose to have a baptism party or reception to thank their guests and church family for their support and celebrate baby’s first big milestone. So, it’s time to find baptism venues in your area. While many churches have event spaces that you can use, not all do. If that’s the case, it’s best to find a nearby event venue that people can easily get to from the church, whether it’s someone’s home, a park, or rented event space.

4. Plan Baptism Guest List and Invitations

If you aren’t sure who to invite to baptism events, start with godparents, family, and close friends. Guest lists are often much more selective than events like birthday parties or weddings. It all depends on the number of people your church can accommodate and the budget and scope of your baptism party. Consider the following:

Do you want to serve a full meal or just refreshments? – In lieu of baptism parties per se, it’s common to have a baptism luncheon or reception following the event.
Do you want to invite the whole congregation or just your invited guests?
What will the party budget allow for?

Once the guest list is complete, it’s time for invitations. Christening invitations should be sent out about a month in advance of the event, so you have time for them to be received, for people to save the date, and so that there’s time for RSVPs.

5. Planning a Baptism Reception or Party

Once you’ve got the guest list down, you can also start to plan the baptism party. When party planning, it helps to start with a theme or color scheme. This helps to set the decorations and the menu.

Tips for Baptism Day

Here are three tips to make your child’s baptism day run smoothly.

Plan for Photos

Christening is one of baby’s first milestones. Don’t forget pictures to celebrate baptism day with your family. If you do decide to hire a professional photographer, make sure that it is someone who has experience shooting christenings, or at least babies. Additionally, it’s important to discuss with the clergy or other church leaders what the policy on photography during the baptism is so that you and your photographer know what to expect. This also helps to budget their hours and will make sure that you are getting what you pay for.

Be Clear About Gifts

Be sure that people know whether or not to bring gifts to the baptism celebration and what is expected. Whether that means religious gifts, no gifts, or simply cash, your invitations should make it clear what kind of event this is, whether it includes a reception, party, or luncheon, and whether gifts are welcome.

Get Help with the Baptism Party

As a parent, you should expect to be busy on the day of the christening. But, you want to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Consider asking friends or family to help set up decorations, tables, and chairs. It also helps to have someone besides yourself in charge of any baptism party food during the event. That way, you can focus on your baby and guests.

Planning a Baptism Outfit

At Bebe Couture, we specialize in baby boy outfits for special occasions like baptisms, christenings, and baby blessings. Let us help take one aspect of planning off your hands with our collection of baptism and christening outfits for baby boys. Our selection of baby boy bow tie outfits was specifically created for baby blessings, christenings, and baptisms. If you can’t find exactly what you are looking for, we can customize an outfit for a small fee. Contact us today.