How to Prepare for a Stress-Free Christening
Preparing for your child’s christening is an exciting time but caring for a baby and planning a family event is not always easy. Don’t get bogged down with tedious details that cause you stress and follow some of these helpful hints for throwing a wonderful christening party:
- Choose a venue
Your first decision will be where you’re hosting your event. You might be tempted to save money and invite guests to your home after the baptism but bear in mind that, unless you have lots of help from family and friends, you’ll end up preparing the house, catering and cleaning up afterwards. Choosing an alternative venue might cost a little extra but you’ll be free to enjoy the day more if you’re not responsible for everything.
- Size
Are you planning on a small intimate gathering or inviting all family and friends from both sides? This will affect your catering choices and what kind of venue you’ll need. There is no right or wrong, just go with your instinct over how you see the day.
- Guests
This leads on to who you want or need to invite to your celebration. Nearest and dearest will obviously make the list but how far to extend the invitations is entirely up to you and your budget. If you are covering the cost of catering then this might affect how many guests you’re able to invite. It’s considered polite to invite the vicar who performed the ceremony. They may or may not join you but they will appreciate the gesture.
- Plan ahead
Nobody likes rushing around at the last minute, the day before or even the morning of the event. Whether it be icing the cake or ironing outfits, try to be prepared ahead of time as much as you can so you only need to relax and enjoy the celebrations on the day. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare or if you need to plan last minute then scale down the celebrations so there is much less to get ready.
- Gifts
Guests might ask if there are any items that you need for baby so have a few ideas to hand if there are items that you’d find useful. Don’t have a huge list though as it’s so nice to receive those traditional christening gifts which can be treasured for a lifetime. For Ireland Christening Gifts, visit https://www.gifts4baby.ie/christening-gifts-Ireland
- Ask for help
Don’t feel you have to do everything on your own as most family and friends will be delighted to help in welcoming your little bundle of joy into the fold. You can’t be expected to cope with everything, especially when having a baby to look after. The baptism day will be busy so enlist the help of as many people as you can. If your budget allows, hire outside caterers and a cakemaker or if you fancy making your own cake then allow yourself enough time to do it calmly or get a friend to help you.
