I greet those for whom the sacrament of baptism of a baby is a serious event, a magical holiday and an occasion for giving a memorable gift.
Today I’ll tell you about how to celebrate the christening of a child so as not to break traditions, and the celebration was beautiful and memorable for all its participants.
- Event Features
- When can you be baptized?
- How to spend your baptism day
- Home decoration
- Holiday dinner
- Do you need a cake?
- Beverages
- Christening gifts
Event Features
One of the seven church sacraments is baptism. Every year, parents bring more and more children to church to perform an important and wonderful action. The ceremony takes place in a special way.
The priest immerses the person being baptized three times in water while reciting prayers. Man is reborn for spiritual life. The ceremony is held in the temple, usually in a special baptismal hall.
It requires some serious preparation:
- Special rituals for preparing the baby’s mother and father;
- Choosing godparents;
- Sewing or purchasing baptismal clothing (a baptismal shirt for a boy and a cap and shirt for a girl);
- Purchasing a cross;
- Decoration of the room for the celebration;
- Preparing a gala dinner.
Christening celebration: decor of the event venue
The color of the baptismal shirt is white. White is the color of purity and holiness, so it is in this color that, as a rule, the table is decorated for a festive dinner on the occasion of christening. White is often combined with yellow or orange - the color of gold (the color of a baptismal shirt and a gold cross).
You can choose one of the decor styles:
- Classic (white, can be combined with gold; decor - white doves, ribbons with prayers, candles, angel figurines, etc.)
- Russian ethnic (tablecloths and napkins with Russian ornaments, a samovar on the table, wooden utensils for common dishes, etc.)
- Modern Russian (decor using tricolor flowers)
- Children's (white in combination with pink for a girl's christening and in combination with blue for a boy's christening; cards with a photo of the baby can be placed on the tables).
The room can be decorated with a banner with an aphorism on the topic or a phrase from the Bible. For example: “Children are the grace of God .
When can you be baptized?
The sacrament can be performed on almost any day of the year. However, when choosing a suitable day for baptism, you need to pay attention so that it does not coincide with secular holidays.
Also note that some churches do not hold baptismal ceremonies during Lent. Before baptism, future godparents are recommended to undergo training in the temple.
How to spend your baptism day
On the magical day of baptism, thoughts should be pure, joy in the soul for your child. You cannot use foul language, quarrel or swear.
How do you celebrate this important day? The daily scenario is usually as follows: preparation for the sacrament, baptism, festive meal and gift-giving. The process of preparing for baptism is individual for each family. Much depends on the age of the child, his church training, godparents and parents.
Baptism itself is a very personal ceremony. Whether it will be individual or general, how exactly it will take place, who will be invited, whether to take photos of the ceremony, only the parents decide.
It would be appropriate to send a voice greeting “Happy Christening”
How to prepare for baptism
In order for the sacrament of Baptism to take place, the consent of both parents is required.- If the child is 7 years old or older, his desire should also be taken into account when asking whether he will be baptized.
- In addition, you need to find godparents.
According to Christian traditions, godparents must also be baptized in this church and be Orthodox. Ideally, there should be two godparents, but it is acceptable for there to be only one person.
In this case, you need to take into account that a girl needs a godmother, and a boy needs a godfather.
Home decoration
For a holiday on such a wonderful occasion, it is better to decorate a house or apartment in light colors. White, symbolizing purity of thoughts, and gold, a symbol of sun and warmth, are suitable.
A beautiful white tablecloth, napkins, dishes and cutlery in light shades are required on the table. If you want to drape a room with fabric, then let it be light and transparent. Everything around should be filled with light, cleanliness and warmth.
When decorating your home with fresh flowers, it is better to give preference to delicate white lilies, chrysanthemums, mimosas, and lilies of the valley. In spring, you can decorate the space with willow branches.
How to celebrate christening? Preparation
To celebrate christening , it is not necessary to arrange a magnificent feast, although this is not forbidden. In many countries, the christening holiday is equal in scope to a wedding: they spend a lot of money on preparations, lay the tables with a lot of dishes, and invite a large number of people. For example, celebrate christenings . However, instead of a magnificent holiday, you can have a family dinner at home or invite friends not for a holiday dinner, but for a brunch - in this case, you can arrange a light buffet or set a sweet table.
First of all, you need to decide on the date of baptism and visit the church at least a week before the planned day, announcing your intention to baptize the child. It is advisable to get acquainted in advance with the priest who will perform the Baptism ceremony. The church will tell you what you will need for the christening, and you will immediately decide on the list of necessary purchases. It is immediately necessary to clarify whether it is possible to photograph and videotape the ceremony and how many relatives and friends can be invited to the church.
It is better to invite guests, if they are not only your closest relatives and friends, in advance - just like for a wedding, 2-3 weeks in advance. It is preferable to send real invitation cards in envelopes. Invitations must indicate where guests should come - to the church or to the place of celebration. And, of course, you need to inform the date, time and, if necessary, the dress code. All over the world it is customary to invite as many children as possible to christenings. Children are the main decoration of the christening holiday.
The christening celebration can be held in different places: at home, in a restaurant, in a summer cafe. In the warm season, it is worth organizing a celebration in the form of a picnic or feast in the fresh air.
Holiday dinner
It is advisable to hold the baptism dinner at home in a calm environment. Especially if the child is small, the environment at home will be more comfortable for him. If for various reasons the event is celebrated in a cafe or restaurant, then let it be a separate room, without loud music and noise.
The menu for the gala dinner will be special. There are traditional dishes that must be present on the table on such a day - these are dishes made from dough and cereals, and poultry snacks.
The holiday will be decorated with buckwheat porridge flavored with mushrooms and vegetables, sweet millet or rice with fruit, buns, donuts, pretzels, cheesecakes, buns, pancakes. Chicken prepared according to classic recipes or baked in a clay pot with cereals and vegetables will be appropriate.
Do you need a cake?
This is not at all necessary. However, if parents want to please their guests with sweets, they can order an individual cake filled with delicious fruit filling and marked with a personalized inscription on top.
You can also make sweet gifts for little guests; children will enjoy cakes or sweets.
Beverages
The celebration is special, so you should not abuse alcoholic beverages. Strong alcohol is not needed, you can just sip a little light wine. Offer children sweet drinks, fruit drinks, compotes, juices. Serve good tea for the adults.
Christening gifts
It is customary to give special gifts to the baby on this day. According to tradition, the cross must be presented by the godfather. The godmother presents a towel in which the child is wrapped after immersing him in the font.
Relatives can give clothes for the ceremony, religious books, icons with the faces of saints, silver items (for example, a spoon for the first tooth), amulets, educational toys.
Guests often present books, souvenirs in the form of images of angels, sets of towels and children's bedding. Any gift will be appropriate and will bring joy if it is presented with a pure heart and bright intentions.
Today I tried to tell you a little about baptism itself, offer options for celebrating this wonderful and important event, and suggest gift options.
Thank you for reading my blog, I try to make it interesting and useful. I would be grateful if you could share my tips on social networks. All the best!
How to organize a celebration in honor of a child's baptism?
A wonderful event is expected in your family - the christening of a baby, and do you want to organize a celebration for your loved ones on this occasion? How to celebrate a child's baptism?
Decorate your apartment with balloons and paper garlands. Design a congratulatory poster: in the middle of a large piece of whatman paper, draw a sun and paste a photo of the baby. Stick or draw small images of angels, crosses, church domes, doves, leaving plenty of empty space. Hang whatman paper on the wall, ask guests to circle their palms and write wishes to the godson in them.
Think over a holiday scenario for your child's baptism with fun games and competitions for guests.
Celebration script for a child's baptism
We will tell you how you can celebrate the baptism of a child in a large company. If there are children at the party, make sure they have something to do. You can prepare board games, coloring books (preferably with a biblical theme), pencils and markers for them. You can organize outdoor games for children.
The holiday dedicated to the christening of the child will begin with a speech by the presenters: - Dear guests! Today we have gathered to celebrate a wonderful event - christening. And before we start our evening, I would like to tell you about this holiday.
– Do you know that in the old days birthdays were not celebrated in Rus'? Starting from the 17th century, it was customary to celebrate name days - days of remembrance of saints, after whom children were named according to the Saints. And birthdays began to be celebrated only in the 19th century, and in the families of the nobility, not peasants.
– This tradition, like the custom of blowing out candles on cakes, came to us from Western Europe. Christenings have been celebrated in our country since ancient times. The tradition of this holiday dates back several centuries.
– We have been thinking for a long time about how to celebrate the christening of a child, and today we want to congratulate the happy parents according to the old Russian custom.
– The world (Anna) and (Sergei) have a baby. The eyes are clear, the lips are scarlet, the cheeks are like apples! They dipped the dear child in holy water, and swaddled him in white and white with a swaddling scroll. Alla has a ribbon on her neck and with a baptismal cross. Kind hands were put on with this kind song!
Then, according to the scenario for celebrating the child’s christening, competitions may be held.
In the “Favorite Fairy Tale” competition, godparents and other guests will take turns listing the names of the fairy tales they will tell the baby. The one who names the most fairy tales wins.
In the “Amulets” competition, guests will need to make amulets ribbons for the hero of the occasion. Each team is given a long, wide ribbon and a box of decorative pins. You will need to fasten the pins to the ribbons.
In the competition for grandmothers “What will I name my grandson”, you will need to say a kind word for the baby while taking a step. The grandmother who takes the most steps wins.
How to celebrate a child's baptism?
Play a miniature in which several people will take part. In this scene for a child's baptism, the baby's mother tells the godparents that she urgently needs to leave and asks: - Boil the milk, give the child something to drink, read him a book and put him to bed.
She leaves. Then the phone rings (ding-ding) and the baby cries. You need to answer the call, rock the baby and read a book to him. At this time, the milk begins to run away (the participant in the scene runs away, and the godfather must catch up with him). The baby is crying again and needs to be given milk and rocked. The phone rings again, etc.
Finally, the baby’s mother returns home, says that the godparents did a good job, and gives them instructions.
The godmother/godfather is allowed the following.
- To love and protect your goddaughter/godson like your own child.
- Instruct your godson/goddaughter in the Christian faith and pray for him.
- Surround your godson/goddaughter with warmth and attention, without demanding anything in return.
- Give gifts to your godson/goddaughter.
The following is prohibited to the godmother/godfather.
- Refuse to babysit the baby.
- Forgetting to wish him a happy birthday.
- Pamper your child with too expensive gifts or money.
- Set a bad example for your child.
What else can you arrange on the occasion of a child's christening?
It is believed that in honor of baptism there is no need to hold a magnificent feast with a lot of alcohol, but this does not mean that the holiday should be boring. You can offer guests non-alcoholic drinks. At the child's baptism table, the presenters can raise toasts to the baby and guests.
Don't offend anyone, please everyone... at least try
Each spouse has a certain circle of acquaintances, close contacts and friends. When the time comes to baptize a child, an exciting question hangs in the air: who will be chosen as godparents?
Believe me, on this basis, grievances, openly expressed or hidden, can arise. The scene from “Sleeping Beauty” with the fairy who was not invited to the holiday stands right before your eyes) Inviting as guests to the christening those friends who could have become the second parents of the child, but fate and choice passed them by - an elegant way to resolve possible tensions .
In this way, we seem to say: “Our dears, we remember and love you, but this is our choice.” At the same time, it is not at all necessary to arrange a hearty feast: a tea party with sweets and cake will be enough.
This is how we touched on the topic: how to set a festive table?
