A naming ceremony is just a formal way to acknowledge your new baby in front of close friends and family, and share some hopes and dreams and even say a little blessing.
A Naming Ceremony is a non-religious celebration of a new baby. Close friends and family can share their hopes and dreams for the new child, and special poems and songs can be shared.
Naming Ceremonies have become increasingly popular as parents look a non-religious way to celebrate the miracle of their new child. Some parents are not active in church, share different faiths, or do not want religion to be placed upon their child, and so they choose a secular Naming Ceremony instead.
The ceremony can be as formal or relaxed as you wish. It may be ceremonial or festive or a combination of both. You can do it once you have settled into life with Baby or you may wait till the baby’s first birthday and have a combined gathering.
Planning the Ceremony
Firstly decide on the way you want your day to run. Will it be formal? Will you have it at home or someplace else? Will you have a theme? How old will your baby be?
The answers to these questions will direct you to plan your special day.
Choosing a venue – whether its your own lovely garden, the beach or a local church, the venue will help dictate the feel of the day, so if you want something more formal, leave home for the ceremony. If you’re after a casual event, your mothers new courtyard and garden may be perfect!
Remember that the venue dictates your numbers, and you’ll also need to think about food – sit down meal or nibbles? Are there hot drink facilties? Toilets?
Choosing a Time – its your baby’s day so pick a time that suits best – maybe after the afternoon nap or first thing in the morning. Choose a date that ensures all the closest people you want can make it. Many people opt to have the celebrations around the first birthday so that the two events can be coordinated (especially handy for out-of-towners!).
Creating Invites – Use your computer! Google sites to find some fantastic invite ideas and then create your own! This way you can use photos of your baby and make the invites really special. Print onto coloured card. Alternatively, you can get your local printers to drum some up for you, or find a standard pad of invites from your local stationary shop.
Claire and Peter would like to invite you to
The naming ceremony of their daughter Selena Jane Paul
Saturday 24 October, 1-3pm
At the Catholic Church, Fenton Road,
Followed by First Birthday celebrations at their home
You may also need to include more information on the back of the card (see further for ideas)
Planning the Ceremony – Choose a celebrant to guide your ceremony – maybe your father in law or maybe a Justice of the Peace (see the Yellow Pages). Maybe the celebrant who married you, or maybe even you or your partner.
Choose a simple plan for the ceremony. Here are some ideas you may wish to include:
- Godparents – perhaps have them light a candle or read a verse, or their own words. Explain what it is you expect of them and tell how delighted you are that you know your baby will be supported by these people.
- Candles – consider a candle to represent Baby, and maybe one either side for each parent (don’t forget siblings either!)
- Readings – special poems or verses that may mean something to the family. Google the internet for more ideas on baby readings, or make up your own! Even if you are opting out of the religious way, there is no reason why you cant include a prayer or blessing!
- Songs – special songs or prayers you can sing, or listen to on CD
- Photos – media presentations of the first months of your baby’s life.
- Naming – explain the meaning of the childs name. Maybe pronounce the baby to the world –‘ We welcome Selena Jane Paul to the world’
The aim of the ceremony is to be a celebration of you and your partner coming together to create this baby. This baby is a new life and you wish to present her to the world – let this guide you in making the perfect ceremony for your new family!
Conclude the ceremony by thanking everyone for coming and asking them to join you for refreshments (or the birthday party) afterwards!
Other ideas:
Celebrate the occasion by planting a tree – this is especially easy if you have the ceremony at home.
Have a memory book available so your guests can write their meesgaes of love and hope for your baby. Afterwards, you can include gift cards and photos.
Create a time capsule for your Baby. Include items from the birth (bracelet, newspapers etc) and the message book (above). In your invite, explain your intentions to your guests and invite them to include photos or letters.
Consider releasing a helium balloon as a representation of your new life as a family – maybe one for each family member?
Have a stack of fabric available and ask people to record their name/messages on that. You can make these up into a keepsake quilt.
Make a cake and cut this after the ceremony. It could be iced in theme (i.e silver, or pink butterlflies or whatever you chose!).
If you have a close family, consider enclosing pre-printed bank depsoti slips for your baby’s bank account in the invite. This gives people the option of money over a gift (especially for grandparents!) although its not compulsory!
Consider a theme and reiterate this for your gifts – perhaps you would like a story-book theme, and as a gift, people can bring their favourite childhood books. Or socks, or a winter clothes party, or a nappy party!
Make up certificates on the home computer for the grandparents!
Having the follow-up at your place can make things easier and it means you aren’t restricted by having to go home! A BBQ tea, or a nibbly lunch are easy, especially if you ask a few family members to bring a salad or plate! Simple cheese platters, fruit and choclate dip, chips and mini muffins make for an impressive yet easy to prepare menu!
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR HOW YOUR CEREMONY WENT! COMMENT BELOW WITH YOUR IDEAS AND THOUGHTS TO SHARE WITH OTHER MUMS AND DADS!
© triversityPlus Ltd 2007
barleyandserene said,
July 29, 2009 at 11:10 pm
A Naming Ceremony is a special way to acknowledge a new baby without the religious overtones of a christening or baptism.
We held our ceremony on a Saturday morning, quite early as our baby is best then. We followed it with a first birthday party.
We had some lovely feedback from our family and friends, who concluded the ceremony was special, short and sweet, not too religious. They thanked us for letting them share with us, such a special event.
The following are some of our ideas. I have changed a couple of details to preserve some anonymity!
Invitations
Invitations were sent to special friends and close family. People who have spent time with the baby in his first year (like the facilitators at play centre, coffee group, the midwife) were also invited.
Our special invite was created on the computer using a template from a website. We included two favourite photos of our baby on the invite.
‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ invite you to the
Naming Ceremony and First Birthday of their son
Baby’s Full Name
On Saturday 19 May, 2007, 9-11am
Salvation Army Chapel
RSVP by May 12, 2007
The church was chosen as it also had kitchen and bathroom facilities for afterwards. A finish time was placed on the invite, so the baby had the chance to be put to bed afterwards.
The invites were printed in full colour on cream coloured cardstock, and placed into matching envelopes. These are available from good stationers, in a range of colours.
The back of the invites invited guests to bring mementos, pictures and letters for inclusion in a time capsule.
We are putting together a time capsule for our
Baby
To be sealed on his birthday.
If you would like to include something special, such as photos, poems, letters, cards or anything else, please sign who is it from and bring it to the church.
Please also sign our message book on the day.
We look forward to sharing this special day with you.
A special note was also included in some invites with the baby’s name and bank account details, as the parents anticipated gifts of money from the grandparents.
The Ceremony
Mother and Father sat down with the celebrant to plan the ceremony. As much as the parents wanted to bless their baby, they didn’t want huge religious overtones in the ceremony. Much of the ceremony they planned themselves.
An order was decided.
The parents chose to include as much of their family as possible into the ceremony, since the strength of their family was important and they valued how much the family did for them.
Instead of choosing godparents, the grandparents would all fill this role.
After much discussion, the ceremony came together. It was decided as a good idea to write a few notes to ensure a good flow on the day.
The readings were picked and passed to the readers to practice. Prayers were taken of the internet, some blessings and readings were written by the baby’s mother. Both mother and father wrote their own speeches. The celebrant wrote her piece and this was all put together to create the ceremony.
Although songs or hymns can be used, the family decided to play a couple of childrens songs of a DVD that their baby enjoyed. They also put together a media slide show of favourite photos to share.
We’ve come together to celebrate Baby today.
For almost a year he has been an influence on all of your lives in some way or another.
For Mum and Dad it has been a year of firsts as Baby has reached each milestone.
There are many years of firsts to come.
Today I challenge each of you here as family and friends to support Dad and Mum in their parenting by example, by friendship and building on positive relationships.
For Baby to reach his fullest potential that I believe God has for him, he needs us all to give to him and each other our best of ourselves.
Laughter, tears, noise, mess but guaranteed fun is ahead.
Keep your relationship strong Dad and Mum, as it is upon this that your family will stand together and be able to stand strong in the challenges that will come.
Learn together to laugh with Baby and decide early the battles you will choose to make as the big ones to stand your ground on – before he gets there!!
Every blessing now and always upon you both and Kaden.
Mum and Dad would like to light a candle to represent Baby today. The candle is a symbol of love and the adventures to come.
(light candle)
Dad and Mum would like to invite their parents to also light candles, to represent their role in Baby’s life.
(light candle)
Choosing a name for a child is special, and there are many considerations. Aunty A will now explain a little meaning behind Baby’s name.
Name Reading – background on the origin of the name
I now invite Baby’s uncle B, to read a blessing.
Footprints
Photos are a precious way to capture memories, and the family would like to present a media presentation of a few favourites.
Presentation
Baby’s Aunty C, will now tell you a bit more about Baby’s star sign and how this relates to his personality.
Gemini
Today, we celebrate Baby as a new addition to the family, and his first birthday. Uncle D has a birthday poem to share.
Happy Birthday reading
Mum and Dad would like to share a special song that is a part of their lives with Baby.
Mum and Dad song and speech
Blessing and signing of certificates
We would like to thank you for sharing Baby’s first year with us. We have enjoyed it so much and we look forward to embracing it all over again in a couple of months.
Thank you for coming and celebrating with us today. Please come and share some nibbles and play in the balloons, and sing happy birthday to our baby boy!
The Readings
We had several readings, one that was a blessing, one of the meaning of baby’s name, another on his star sign, and finally a poem. These were read by the family.
Mother and Father each wrote and read their own stories.
Food
Catering will depend on the group, but for our small ceremony, we prepared:
Hot savouries
Muffins
Sandwiches
Cheese and vege platter
Fruit and chocolate platter
And of course, the birthday cake.
Consider safety – if there will be a number of small children around, don’t serve popcorn or nuts. I also chose food that I didn’t mind if people fed my baby (I’m usually very particular about what he eats!).
Use plastic plates (we threw ours through the dishwasher after) and pretty paper serviettes, serve tea and coffee, and punch, and keep it simple!
Or, go all out and have the champagne and range of beverages!
The family helped out with preparing the food but you could also consider a caterer.
Other Ideas
A table was set up, and on it was a cream-coloured calico bear and a vivid – guests were asked to sign this.
A message book was also laid out, and all the guests left notes of well-wishes and love, and what they hoped for the baby. The time capsule was set up for guests to include their momentos.
A rug was set up on the floor, with loads of balloons. This made an ideal place for the pressies to be placed and opened.
We took a bag of quiet toys to entertain the babies during the ceremony.
We did simple decorations with a ‘Happy Birthday’ banner and balloons and streamers.
We bought a large candle for the Baby and smaller taper candles for the grandparents to light. Don’t forget the matches! We put the taper candles in the time capsule, and we intend to light the big candle for Baby every year on his birthday.