OK, I’m one of those SDMB atheists, and my wife’s not a whole lot more religious.
We were invited by our closest ‘couple’ friends to the baptism of their baby, Marnie (female).
What do we bring? About how much should we spend?
Our initial thought was to get the baby a monogrammed piggybank (cookie-jar-sized, custom painting), and then stuff a savings bond in there. The bank will run about $30, and we were thinking about a $100 bond.
Thoughts?
-Cem
That is a nice idea. It’s also getting to the time of year when you can buy “Baby’s First Christmas” tree ornaments. Some of them have a place to slip a photo in.
I think that’s a lovely idea.
Gifts we were given at our daughters’ baptisms:
Children’s Bible (from Uncle)
Christening picture frame (from Aunt)
Engraved brass plate (from Grandparents)
Many cards, often with money or bonds.
However, we only invited family each time - it was a small, personal celebration. I’m aware that these can be more like “welcome baby!” events.
I do not feel that a baptism is a gifting sort of occasion. The small things we got were nice mementos, but a card would certainly suffice as well.
I got each of my two nephews $50 a savings bond for their baptisms. The hard part is finding a baptism card that isn’t too religious. But it can be done.
I’m not trying to be snarky here, I’m just honestly curious - what’s the point of downplaying the religiousness of a baptism in the card? Is it because you (the giver) are uncomfortable expressing yourself with religious language and don’t want to feel hypocritical? It just seems odd, since it would be difficult to imagine a life event with more religious import than a baptism.
I think savings bonds are a good idea, as are piggy banks. Our chuch generally gives a new bible to the baptised person as part of the ceremony, so giving one as a gift might be a bit redundant. When my children were baptised, they received things like books of children’s bible stories and wall hangings with crosses and quotes from the baptismal liturgy.
Gifts probably aren’t necessary. That kind of thing is for a shower. But if you like the couple and will see the child at least from time to time, and actually *want * something small and personal is quite sufficient. All the small gifts mentioned so far, like a children’s Bible, picture frames, ornament, and what have you, would be plenty.
I had a birthday candle for as I grew up. It was tall, and marked with years on the side. One of those might be cool, with a card. It could be lit on the anniversary of the baptism rather than the birthday, although either would be nice.
Keep it small.
I would agree that a gift probably isn’t actually necessary, unless you have some very special relationship with the child or just want to give something. But AFAIK a baptism isn’t a huge ‘gift’ occasion.
We belong to a different denomination, but my daughter will be baptized next year and I’ll fall over with shock if anyone gives her anything bigger than a card or a bookmark. I’ve never given anyone anything for a baptism.
Do they christen babies like they do ships?
Christmas ornament is a great idea, especially tree-top angel. Bible and frame are probably already being done.
I like the idea in the OP (in my own family it’s Traditional for godparents to open the kid’s savings account), or the Christmas ornament; I think another option would be something for the parents. The kid is simply too little to understand “gifts” yet, and items with religious significance from an atheist are both a bit of an oxymoron and something which is often sort of “reserved” for people with specific roles in the child’s life (grandparents for example).
Well, usually you drink the cava during the meal after the christening, rather than break it against the baby.
Hm, my older sister and brother got stocks from our paternal grandparents, and I got the equivalent in money in a trust fund. My maternal grandfather gave all 3 of us money. No idea what happened to Beth Ann’s stuff [she died at the age of 6 from leukemia] but I used my trust fund to set me up with household goods and college education. In retrospect, if I could do it all over again I might consider investing the $10K I used for household goods in Apple or Microsoft, or some other computer based stock. I would still have spent the rest on education [it left me without college loans.]
I tend to like giving a small silver picture frame, a small purse sized custom photo album [I have a friend into scrapbooking and I get her to make them for me, she does killer work] and if it is a girl, a silver heart shaped locket that you can put photos in, if it is a boy a nice ID bracelet in silver for when they get older, engraved with their initials.
Each of my goddaughters got a locket and silver frame [I hadn’t met Lisa they were all born before I met her.] Their mom put a picture of her and their dad in the lockets, and the mom, dad, newborn baby picture in the frame so they would have it as they grew up. I found a frame at Things Remembered that had a small area that was engraved with their name and birth date.
This thread was bumped by a spammer. Since the OP has presumably dealt with the issue already, I’m going to lock it. If anyone wants to start a new thread, feel free.
twickster, moderator