Can anyone give me tips for a baptism on a budget?

Mrs_Ihenetu

I am due to have my son baptised at the end of the year and am looking for some money saving tips.

Where can i find my son gown or romper for under £50 (i don't like the little baby suits)?

Where can i find a pretty dress for under £30 (needs to be plus sized)?

Also, what sort of refreshments are expected to be served after a baptism?

Please give me your tips as they will be gratefully accepted.

paddingtondoo

Have you tried debenhams for your son? They have a couple of romper suits in their sale
http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category_10001_10001_18349_-1

cheapest starts from £10 odd.

You should be able to find a dress as xmas is coming up. Have you thought about bon marche? I sometimes sneak in there and find a bargain. I got a lovely dress for a friends wedding for £15.

shelene

Hi, lovely to hear your news of your babies baptism, we just had our 2nd son baptised 2 weeks ago!

Outfit - best on internet, we got a baby suit (all in cream) from ebay - buy it now cost £20.00 including delivery but they also do rompers ect if thats what you would like - these are brand new items. We got shoes and socks with embrodiery on from America (Catholic Clothing Company) based in America, got them deliveried in 3 days!

I got my dress from Debenhams Sale £20.00! and designer! a great bargain, the sales are still on, im a size 16-18 and fitted nice.

As for afterwards, this is different for every one, we hired a room so had a private room close to the church so it was walking distance for everyone. we put on a buffet, usual sandwiches, chicken drummers, gateux, crisps samosas etc, Iceland is great for buffets! Also prob need to think about balloons, decorations etc aswell, spent about £100 on food, the cake was expensive though!

Hope this helps, good luck :beer:

EMminently

How about serving tea/ coffee and biscuits / cake in the hall afterwards. I don't think people expect too much and you can make it clear on invites that there's tea/ coffee refreshments afterwards - then people know what to expect. Personally, i think doing tea/coffee nicely is better than doing a buffet on the cheap. To make a buffet nice and worthwhile, it seems you're looking at at least £100, like Shelene's lovely buffet above!

angbrads

check out matalan if you have one they sometimes have little christening gowns. I've seen real gorgeous ones. get onto dorothy perkins website and see their dresses at £30 and then get code off here for free delivery or check out evans website and then book your local cricket club or connie club and either do a buffet yourself, some sandwiches, some crisps, quiche..... or serve pastie and peas and people can buy their own drinks at the bar and make your own christening cake. oh then treat yourself to an appointment in haridressers that day with all the money you've saved! no probs!

poppet

Congratulations! I love christenings.

Personally, I would head straight to ebay for a gown or romper suit. There will be lots to choose from and if you go for something "nearly new", you'll pick it up for a song. Afterall the baby will only wear it once wont he.

Don't forget how cold it can be inside a church, especially at this time fo year, so I would go for something made of thicker fabric as opposed to a silk gown, and perhaps a nice shawl or blanket to wrap him in?

If you join photobx you could get 50 free prints of your son, a nice smiley close up of him and then use these photos to make the invitations. Photo on the front of folded card, wording on the inside.

Food can be done easily on a budget - the key is to plan ahead.

Good luck, hope you have a fab day.

Mrs_Ihenetu

I was thinking of getting my son this gown http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10001_18349_562476_-1 and the bonnet at the bottom of the page for my sons baptism outfit.

Do you think this outfit is appropriate? My husband thinks i should get an outfit that is exclusively for boys wheras i think i should get a unisex gown so that if i were to have children in the future they can also wear it.

He will have a cardigan on as well and i have nice thick shawl that i can use for covering his legs.

I am also going to ask people to bring a dish so i can keep down on food costs so i will probably just need to do a small bufet spread for the kiddies.

NemoToad

I'm not sure if you're planning on a big party but why not scale it down if you are? When my niece was christened recently my sister-in-law and brother just invited immediate family, so just the nieces grandparents, great grandad and aunts and uncles (admittedly there are a few of us as I'm from a family of 4 kids and my brothers wife is one of 5). My mum made the cake and we all chipped in with snacks for the buffet which we just had at their house after the ceremony. It was a really lovely day.

frogglet

As it will be cold a nice warming hotpot with potato wedges or boiled new potatoes and loads of bread, and pizza or hotdogs and crisps for the kids.
If you have a slow cooker or can borrow one it can all be done in advance. Bake your own cake and cover with icing and some sparkly sprinkles.