Conference moira::parenting_v3

    Yes, I feel a gift is appropriate.  We usually give savings
    bonds for Christenings.
    
    Hope this helps!
    Linda

    My oldest daughter got a Bible for her baptism, which I believe she
    will cherish always.  It is decorated with lace and has her name in it.
    
    Kristen

    We just had the Christening for my twins.  In my family, we never do
    baby showers, so the Christening is what everyone waits for to give the
    baby a gift.  We got a few savings bonds, some money gifts, and a lot
    of things for the babies like clothing, a high chair, and the
    miscellaneous things you need but don't think to buy like their first
    feeding set (which it looks like I'm going to be using real soon).  
    
    Have you asked what the baby needs?  My mother asked us for a list of
    what we hadn't bought yet since my relatives were asking her.  I asked
    for some general things like winter clothes and sleepers, and some
    particular things like the Fisher Price High Chair that a few of my
    cousins pitched in and got for us.
    
    Cathy

    I, historically, have used Christening to "spoil" the child with really
    frivolous things, the silver rattle, silver training cup, a pretty
    porceline or silver picture frame, all these things could be engraved.
    In our case we received several bonds, many "special Occation" outfits,
    and his walker from his grandparents.  I've also seen several times
    this is the occations when something special is given, like a family
    heirloom afghan, or perhaps one that was just made to be handed down.
    
    The chain in the malls, like Things Remembered has tons of gift ideas.
    
    Hope this helped.
    Lyn

    Something special is what I usually give, then when it's used you'll be
    remembered.  Like a Beatrix Potter Music Box or Stuffed Animal; Beatrix
    Potter 3 pc dinner set or the Bunnykins dinner set.
    
    Julie
    

    This is only my personal opinion, but I prefer keep-sake type gifts for
    a baptism.  At my first childs baptism, one of my sisters gave her wall
    plaque (sp?) with a cross and a little girl kneeling in prayer.  My
    other sister gave her a silver cup with the date of the baptism and her
    monogram engraved on the cup.  My parents gave her a little statue. 
    She got other gifts too, of cloths and cash and such, but it was the
    keep-sakes that I still remember.  She is now 17.

My son was baptized a couple of months ago.  Everyone DID bring a gift.
We received mostly money.  We also received a couple of baby outfits, 
a baby necklace with cross (I don't think it's a very good idea to let a baby
or young child wear something like that around their neck, but I will save it
for him as a keepsake) and one of my favorite gifts was a "Precious Moments" 
book of children's prayers.  My other son (age 3) liked it and called it his 
and kept asking us to read it.

My sister had a large christening party when her son was baptized earlier this
year.  She received alot of baby clothes, a silver cup/fork/spoon set, money,
and a baby keepsake book which I loved but have never seen before.  It had
places to write in baby's "firsts", as well as place photos, locks of hair,
and stuff like that.

� �ori �

    Last year at my daughters christening a friend gave her a musical
    porcelain doll that is dressed in a christening gown and comes with
    a little cradle.  It is really beautiful.  I think you can get them
    at a Service Merchandise store or most places where porcelain dolls
    are sold.  

    
    	Like a number of other noters, I prefer the idea of a keepsake. For
    our two boys we got mint condition coins, minted in the year of the
    christening. I don't know where you'd get them in the US, but in the UK
    it's the Royal Mint.
    
    		Ian G. 

    Something engraveable, like a silver rattle or cup, is the traditional
    christening gift.  However, savings bonds/money are always
    appropriate, and these days, I think almost anything goes!  I'd ask
    the parents what the baby needs.  Since winter is approaching, maybe
    a snowsuit or bunting would be nice.  My nephew was dedicated in late
    fall, and as I recall, I gave him a snowsuit.  This was in 1977 (as
    if *that* mattered!).

	Thanks so much for all the great ideas!  I appreciate your help!

	Take care,
	Tara

    
    	Depending on the relationship of yours and the baby, I'll put
    	my 2 cents in on this. If you are close enough that gift buying 
    	is going to be an often thing (birthday, christmas, 1st
    	communion...) I'd vote for the starting of a Precious Moments
    	collection. (or other type of keepsakes) There is a Precious
    	Moments piece for every occasion which is really nice. My
    	collection was started as a wedding gift and I plan to pass it
    	down in the family as my children are born, and add pieces to
    	the collection for them.
    
    	I've never had the opportunity to start a collection for someone 
    	so my gifts have traditionally been savings bonds or clothing.
    	I also like the idea of the porcelin (sp?) doll. That would be
    	a nice start of a collection for a little girl.
    
    
    

    The nicest thing we got when Evan was christened was from his God
    mother.  It was a bible.  It is small and covered in white eyelet.  On
    the inside there is a little verse.  
    
    It says this is a keepsake for you to carry with you through your life. 
    If you are a little girl, you could carry this on your wedding day. If
    you are a little boy, you could give this to your wife to be as a very
    special gift. 
    
    I was so touched by this.  I thought that it would make a great gift to
    give to my son when is ready to get married.  He could pass it on to
    his own children.
    
    The other thing was...my brother (who is unmarried) was Evan's God
    father.  He gave Evan  a 14k gold band...he wore this when he was
    christened almost 32 years ago.  I actually cried.  My brother and I
    had never really been close until now.  
    
    And to make things even better....Evan just learned his name.  
    
    
    Hope it helps
    
    Lillian

    We've given American Eagle silver dollars for the last few
    christenings. With the price of silver so low, you can find them for $6
    or $7 each, and get 2 or more, depending on your gift budget.  These are  
    not proof coins, but regular uncirculated coins.  Many jewelry stores
    sell them. Be sure to get coins minted in the birth year. 
    

Michael was baptized this past July.  He received quite a bit of clothing 
and savings bonds as gifts as well as some money.  The money we used to start 
a savings account for Michael.  Michael's godmother, my sister-in-law and her 
husband, my brother gave him as part of their gift a Precious Moments 
Children's Bible, the Catholic edition.  The front section is for recording
his religious sacraments. 

He also, received acouple of Precious Moments' banks and a statue, which will 
probably be used until he reaches school age, then I'll end up putting them 
away due to lack of interest on his part.

Our oldest son Kevin received some baby silver pieces, bottle, spoon etc. These
are all stored away now and probably will be until he has children.

My husband is the godfather to our friends' little girl.  We gave Alexandra
a savings bond, a cross with a little girl praying on it to hang in her room
and a pearl.  One of the jewelry stores in Milford has a program where you
put aside a set of pearls. You then may purchase as many as you wish for a 
special occasion. The intent is by the time the girl is ready to graduate 
from high school, she should have all the pearls for a 18 to 20 inch necklace. 
The pearls are kept in a separate envelop at the store with Alex's name on it.
So anyone may purchase a pearl for Alex.  This Christmas we intend to give her 
another pearl as her XMAS gift.  

IMO - I like to give either a savings bond or money for a special event and
also like receiving these for the children.  College is going to be expensive
if they decide to go that we appreciate any gift that will help.  If we're 
close to the child then I try to give in addition to the  $$$ a gift that 
will be a nice keepsake depending on the event such as a christening a wall 
cross for the child's room or Bible or start the collection of the pearls.

Pat K.
      

    -.1> One of the jewelry stores in Milford has a program where you
       > put aside a set of pearls. You then may purchase as many as you 
       > wish for a special occasion. The intent is by the time the girl 
       > is ready to graduate from high school, she should have all the 
       > pearls for a 18 to 20 inch necklace.
    
    I like the idea a lot--my question is,
     
       > The pearls are kept in a separate envelope at the store
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    for 13 or 14 years?!  I was always told that pearls had to be WORN with
    a certain amount of frequency (like, once a month or so) because they
    need the oil from your skin to keep up their luster; supposedly they
    get irreversibly brittle and dull if left to sulk.
    
    Leslie
    

    
    More on the pearl rathole:  
    
    In order to get an 18 or 20 inch necklace by high school gradution,
    it seems like you'd need to give the child 3-4 pearls per year. 
    For what it's worth. 
    
    The godmother of one of our friend's daughter is doing a variation
    on this pearl thing.  She bought the girl a 14-kt gold necklace at
    birth and is adding "beads" - I think the hollow gold ones, maybe
    some pearls as well.  These can be strung on the necklace and worn
    as the child collects them as opposed to waiting 18 years!
    
    Carol

    The pearls may be purchased by anyone, so I do know that several
    members of the family plan on also giving the pearls to Alex.  Also,
    there are different sizes and coloring which will affect the price
    of the set you decide to purchase.  The set I chose will allow us
    to purchase several at Christmas and one at Easter and her birthday.
    Also, I was told that we should wait until we had at least 6 to 10
    then have them strung on with the rest.  This I will let her parents
    do at their leisure.
    
    As far as the wearing and oiling I'll have to check on that with
    the jewelery store. (Should of checked that before this.)  FWIW
    - I have a set of pearls (Xmas present from hubby) and I was told to
    keep them away from perfume and hair spray.  Also if worn quite
    a bit then have them restrung every several years.  An individual
    who worked for me had a strand break in the middle of a meeting.
    We were all on the floor collecting them for quite awhile. :(
    But I love wearing them!
    
    Pat K.
    
    
    
    I also like the idea of the gold bobbles on the chain.  I've seen
    this too with my husband's cousin.  They each have a chain which
    most have recently completed.

    Minor rathole alert - I'd hate for anyone to lose their pearls/stones
    unnecessarily, so....
    
    When you're having the pearls strung, please have them done by a
    professional, not necessarily someone who happens to work at a
    jewelry store.  
    
    If properly strung, there will be a knot between each pearl (or stone 
    or finding depending on what you're stringing).  That way if a strand 
    breaks you should only have to hunt for one or two, not the entire strand.  
    I don't believe this technique is used everywhere - it can be very time 
    consuming which costs the jeweler money.  I'm sure there are jewelers
    who would disagree, but if you're spending the money for good pearls
    or stones, you don't want to lose them!
    
    And yes, if you wear the necklace frequently (stones or pearls) it's 
    a good idea to have them re-strung every once in while.  Silk strands 
    are used and they can wear out.  I just re-strung my own lapis necklace 
    that I wear quite a bit (I make my own jewelry) and probably got it just 
    in time - the silk was starting to fray.
    
    Conni