Christening Gifts?

[dex08]

We have been invited my DH's nephew's son's Christening next weekend and I am not Catholic so I don't know much about the gifting aspect of such an event. In the past, I know he has bought savings bonds for babies, however you can no longer purchase them without providing the child's SS#. We don't feel comfortable asking the parents of the child for this info and I don't think they would be comfortable giving it out either.

What would you recommend as a gift for a baby Christening of a relative other than a savings bond?

TIA!

 

[englishteacha]

My daughter was given a lovely music box that plays a hymn for her Christening. It's pretty and she LOVES the music!

 

[RunningthruDisney]

In the past we also did savings bonds; now we do a check.

 

[shoney]

I always give a check.

 

[princessesintraining]

Someof the gifts we have received for our girls are:
a bonnet that they were for their baptism and then it is put away for their wedding day to be used as a hankie. For the boy, the hanie is given to his bride to use. Their are a few stitches that are snipped to turn it into hankie. A nice rosary or cross necklace to be put away for 1st communion. My daughters got bibles that have an inscription from the gifter with the date of their baptism and a simple favorite scripture. For a girl, there is also a doll that they can use in church when they are young and that also becomes a hankie for their wedding day. Hope this helps!

 

[Marionnette]

Catholic tradition is to name the child after a patron saint (either the first or middle name will do). You could purchase a statue of the patron saint at a religious gift shop or online. We usually give that plus cash.

If we are not particularly close to the parents (i.e. they are friends but not family) we give cash without the gift.

 

[meliss8599]

For a recent upcoming christening, I will be giving Cash/check, a stuffed animal lamb that plays the "Now I lay me down to sleep..." prayer so the baby can hear and eventually learn a nighttime prayer (found online), and the book "God Gave Us You".

 

[Crystal824]

We are not Catholic but our daughter was baptized as an infant. She received mostly cash, which we used to open her 529. She also received a cute little lamb stuffed animal that said a nighttime prayer. I typically get babies one share of Disney stock for baptisms from Oneshare.com

 

[HerRoyalHighness]

We always do a check for baptism, along with First Communion and Confirmation.

There are SO many little expenses the child will encounter in college, that we just feel that money will all add up to be a bigger help down the road than a nick-nack.

HOWEVER...one of the neatest things both my daughters received was from a relative...crystal crosses. We had to put them in the closet for a while so they wouldn't break them when younger, but both have them out in their rooms now on a display shelf. So pretty. Mikasa makes some pretty ones.

 

[living la vida mickey]

I have purchased the Wedgwood Peter Rabbit Christening Set of Baby China from Crystal Classics for several Christenings. Here's the link:
http://search.crystalclassics.com/cgi-bin/ts.pl?index=40450;query=peter rabbit

 

[littlelulu33]

For family we get them a family zoo membership gift certificate and something about Noah's Ark We have been told that it was the best gift of the bunch.