The arrival of a new baby is cause for great celebration and enthusiastic friends and family are anxious to visit the new parents and glimpse (if not actually hold) the new addition. Whether cultural or religious, welcoming the baby often involves traditional ceremonial acknowledgement.
Image by Donal Mountain via Flickr
For Christians, this means Christenings or Baptisms; for Muslims, it’s Shahadah; for Hindis, it’s Jatakarma; for Buddhists, it can be Triple Gem (Theravada, Sri Lanka) Khwan (Theravada, Thailand), Dun and Dagang (Mahayana) – Tibetan Buddhists give new parents Hada scarves and make pancakes. Still, it is almost instinctual to offer the new mum and dad some kind of present, if only for the baby’s welcome.
It’s estimated that two billion people around the world identify themselves as Christians, who proudly shepherd their babies into their flock, through Baptisms and Christenings. Before you venture over to the best website for baby prezzies and buy baby gifts online from Baby Gift Box, it’s helpful to understand the tradition.
While the general concept of Baptism – inducting a child into the Christian church – is similar throughout the varied churches, there are subtle differences and meanings (not that this necessarily has bearing on the gift you choose to offer, but it does give context). Did you know that it’s likely baptism has roots in the Jewish purification water-immersion ritual Tvilah?
Types of Christening
- Aspersion: sprinkling water on head
- Affusion: pouring water on head
- Immersion: dipping some or whole body into water
- Complete Immersion/Submersion: just what it sounds like
Baptism is a symbolic burial and resurrection, as well as a supernatural transformation (think: Noah and Israelites crossing the Red Sea with Moses), a literal and symbolic cleansing. Some Christian groups see it as salvation and sacrament.
Christian Groups Who Practice Infant Baptism
(and services you might be invited to attend)
- Catholics
- Eastern & Oriental Orthodox
- Anglicans
- Lutherans
- Presbyterians
- Methodists
- Nazarenes (some)
- The United Church of Christ (UCC)
- Moravians
- Metropolitan Community Church
- Wesleyans
- Episcopalians
- Reformers
Don’t fret if you’re not the same religion or know little of the family’s religious tradition – being invited to a christening is an honour and you should accept it as one. Please don’t show up just for the after party – it means a lot for the family for their loved ones to come to the actual ceremony. Dress appropriately. This does not mean you should look like you’re going to prom, but dress well and respectfully. A good barometer would be to wear what you wear to a Sunday church service. If you do not know what that means, look it up!
The most traditional baptism gift is a silver spoon (and yes, this is where the expression “born with a…” comes from), but other gifts considered traditional include silver cups, spoons, eating utensils, and porridge bowls.
Image by Steven Tom via Flickr
Now that you have some context, you can focus on the fun part, and that’s choosing a gift for the precious bundle. As mentioned above, it behoves you to choose not only practical items, but ones that are appropriate and relevant to an event as important as a Christening. A search of the Internet is likely to lead you to buy baby gifts online from Baby Gift Box, because you’ll get truly quality items (believe us, your family and friends, as new parents, will now pay super close attention to these things) with meaning and importance.
