Anyone who's had a christening......

[Laur_250]

Some help please!

We are going to have Reggie christened this year and so have got to go to the vicars house next week to talk to him. I am quite scared as we are not religious at all, silly why we're having a christening then I know but OH was christened and so want Reg to be. So I am dreading the things he will want to know and what he will expect us to know?? Some questions......

Does anyone know what he asks us?

And do you know if it's a requiement that we are both christened?

And that we have to attend church before at all?

Is it always done on a Sunday?

He keeps calling it 'baptised' is christened not the correct term these days?!

Any tips/ideas of what to do after for the party? What did you do?

I'm sure there's more I need to know so any answers would be appreciated! xx

 

[helsekia]

i can only give you answers on my experience hun but ill answer what i can we had our local church of england church.

Does anyone know what he asks us?we were just asked did we have a date in mind,did we have godparents sorted,were the godparents christened,how many people would be attending and did we have a preference to song.

And do you know if it's a requiement that we are both christened?we were asked if we had been christened and if the godparents had been christened and if not then we would need to get done at the same time as caden or before.

And that we have to attend church before at all?we didnt have to attend church before at all,though we go sometimes anyway were ot regulars but the vicar knows us.

Is it always done on a Sunday?as far as i know yes

He keeps calling it 'baptised' is christened not the correct term these days?!i think baptism is the proper term.

Any tips/ideas of what to do after for the party? What did you do?we hired the church hall,made our own buffet,bought lots of paper plates and cups,blew up loads of balloons and put up decorations.i pre prepared everything i could and borrowed room in peoples fridges.we put a cd player in the corner of the hall and i did party games for the kids (pass the parcel,best dancer,musical statues)as we had lots of kids come.the party lasted 2 hours and we had no alcohol but invited just close family and friends to ours after to have a alcoholic drink.


i hope that helps if you need any more info just ask im sure theres loads of othersthat can help too

 

[Laur_250]

Thanks thats really helpful

I will have a think about the date and try to work out number of guests ready then. And it sounds like i will need to be christened too so will think about whether to do it before or at the same time Need to look around at venues to hire for after too. xx

 

[lea m]

Damn it!!!
I just typed a reply and it got ate by the PC monster!!!
My answers were basically the same as Helsekias though! lol
Im going to see the priest on Tuesday to arrange Lolas! I picked the 26th April!

 

[Laur_250]

Damn it!!!
I just typed a reply and it got ate by the PC monster!!!
My answers were basically the same as Helsekias though! lol
Im going to see the priest on Tuesday to arrange Lolas! I picked the 26th April!

God I hate when that happens!!

We're going friday to see ours so if they ask you any awkward questions on tuesday, come on here and warn me!!!! xx

 

[Iggle20]

Just from our experience and knowing what our Church (C of E) require etc:

Does anyone know what he asks us? - apart from below we were asked what dates, did we have a preference to hymns sung during that service, how many Godparents we were having, full childs name, date of birth...can't think what else.

And do you know if it's a requiement that we are both christened? No it's not required by both of you though they like 1 of you to have been. They do require Godparents to have been baptised though and like it if they have also been confirmed but that isn't necessary.

And that we have to attend church before at all? No, though it can be nice to attend so the others get to know you a little before, it's not nessary though

Is it always done on a Sunday? Yes

He keeps calling it 'baptised' is christened not the correct term these days?! They call it that because your LO will be recieving the sacrament of Baptism, if you read back into the bible it says that John was baptising people in the river, the word Christening came into play much later on over here and isn't used worldwide. Your LO will be having a baptism though it's commonly called a christening here.

Any tips/ideas of what to do after for the party? What did you do? Back to ours for a buffet type lunch, lots of banners, balloons, cake etc. Mini party I suppose!

 

[lea m]

Damn it!!!
I just typed a reply and it got ate by the PC monster!!!
My answers were basically the same as Helsekias though! lol
Im going to see the priest on Tuesday to arrange Lolas! I picked the 26th April!

God I hate when that happens!!

We're going friday to see ours so if they ask you any awkward questions on tuesday, come on here and warn me!!!! xx

I will!!

 

[Laur_250]

Just from our experience and knowing what our Church (C of E) require etc:

Does anyone know what he asks us? - apart from below we were asked what dates, did we have a preference to hymns sung during that service, how many Godparents we were having, full childs name, date of birth...can't think what else.

And do you know if it's a requiement that we are both christened? No it's not required by both of you though they like 1 of you to have been. They do require Godparents to have been baptised though and like it if they have also been confirmed but that isn't necessary.

And that we have to attend church before at all? No, though it can be nice to attend so the others get to know you a little before, it's not nessary though

Is it always done on a Sunday? Yes

He keeps calling it 'baptised' is christened not the correct term these days?! They call it that because your LO will be recieving the sacrament of Baptism, if you read back into the bible it says that John was baptising people in the river, the word Christening came into play much later on over here and isn't used worldwide. Your LO will be having a baptism though it's commonly called a christening here.

Any tips/ideas of what to do after for the party? What did you do? Back to ours for a buffet type lunch, lots of banners, balloons, cake etc. Mini party I suppose!

Great thank you! That sounds good as OH has definately been christened so it should be Ok that I'm not. And thanks for the info on the terms we use for it, I was just wondering if christenings and baptisms were different things so thats useful to know. xx

 

[lisa282]

Dont wanna be a killjoy, but our vicar must be a little more traditional than some. When we went to see him about getting Tyler christened, he was quoting things from the bible and asking us if we knew the meaning behind some stuff. Luckily for us, I was a regular church goer as a child and still go from time to time so answering the questions wasnt a problem for me, but poor OH looked moritified when he asked him about the symbolism of pooring water on baby's head! I cant think of examples right now to help you out, but it was basic knowledge about WHY people should be baptised and what it means for the faith etc, plus he asked us questions about the baptisms in the bible

We were also asked to attend church at least twice before the ceremony, but we only live over the road from it so it wasnt exactly a problem for us In fact I feel a little guilty that I havent been to church since then, because as I said it is literally on the other side of the road from our house - maybe 10 metres away?! - and I see the vicar almost everyday It is having major structural work done to it at the moment, so who knows when we will be able to get Eden christened, she will probably be able to walk to the font as this rate!

Anyway, as to your other questions, yes he asked if we were baptised and also the Godparents. If not, they would have had to be done at the same time. In fact they prefer them to be confirmed, where they are re-baptised as adults and can make their own promises, rather than having Godparents do it for them. In our case, everyone had been baptised but only me confirmed, but they were happy with this. The ceremony doesnt have to be on a sunday, but depending on your particular church, a lot of them now like to do it during regular church service. One because it is easier for the vicar/church and also because they like to welcome baby into the community and not just the family. You can request a private service but some churches will now charge for this. We had ours as a private service, as it was very close to the harvest festival and public services get really full then so they werent sure if there would be enough room for everyone in church, otherwise it would have been during a regular service.

After the ceremony we had a get-together at our house. It just made sense for us, it was close to the church so everybody could get there easily, we made loads of buffet-style food ourselves which not only saved loads of money but could monitor what the kids were eating etc. We couldnt really afford to have a party anywhere else, and this suited us fine. It also meant Tyler could go down for his naps as usual in his own bed, which helped loads with him being passed around from pillar to post all day, he was a bit grumpy to say the least! At least we didnt have far to go after a couple of drinkys too!!

Good luck hun, hope you all have a lovely day x

 

[Laur_250]

Thanks lisa, I thought it was the case that some vicars liked to know more about your faith, etc. Lets hope mine is understanding to the fact I'm a bit new to it all. xx

 

[sarafet]

hi we had aiden baptised in november at our local RC church.

Does anyone know what he asks us - Our priest asked if we were both baptised (yes,) and if the godparents were. (yes.) he explained the meanings and symbolism of the ceremony and asked us again if that was what we wanted for aiden. then during the ceremony he asked us a further 3 times if we still wanted to do it. he did this because he wanted us to be sure we defo wanted to do it because it shouldn't be a light hearted decision.

And do you know if it's a requiement that we are both christened? i'm not sure, i think itmay depend on your church.

And that we have to attend church before at all? i think it's just decency to attend if you are going to have your child baptised there.

Is it always done on a Sunday? at ours yes, and there are usually a couple of children getting done on the one day.

He keeps calling it 'baptised' is christened not the correct term these days?! baptised is the correct term.

Any tips/ideas of what to do after for the party? What did you do? we hired out the church hall and had all our family and friends over. we had a buffet and music. afterwards my friends, john and his friends etc, we all went to the pub and my mum took aiden home to put to bed

hope that helps

 

[Laur_250]

Thanks sarafet thats useful. xx