Christening - BIG family, small budget!

renowen

Im currently putting into action plans for my Daughters (plural) christening that is hopefully happening in march/april

I arranged for my eldest to have hers last year (when she was 8 months) and it was going to be a joint christening with a friend of mines little girl, we were going to split cost of 'reception' afterwards so keeps costs down, but due to my cousin being in a car accident I decided to postpone as it didnt seem right.

I have now had ANOTHER little girl (yes we DO have a TV ) so now I want to get them both Christened.

Problem is I have a, erm, extended family shall we say (parents, step parents, grandparents 'honorary' grandparents etc etc :rolleyes: )but I only have a 2 bed flat so really need a small hall or large reception room to put them all! Just off the top of my head we are looking at about 30 people (and thats if I just invite the 'must be's'!)
Then theres the cake, food, decorations, drink .........
The hall I have an idea about (I know someone who is in charge of a scout hall reasonably near the church who will do me a deal ) and saved money on christening outfits (baby is going to wear the dress I wore when I was christened and I bought my older childs dress from e-bay for 18.99!)
But I would love any tips people have on how to save money on cake, food, decs etc

Many Thanks

skylight

Get relatives involved!

As you have so many, a Nan can do the cake, another can prepare sandwiches, parents etc - they can all do a little bit for food each.

Have you asked the local pub for a small function room rather than the scout hall?? Drinks are sorted then - they get their own!

Lagerlegs

are you a member of Costco ? they do lovely cakes for £10 you have to order them as they write what you want on the front.

if you hire a hall, buffet food's easy you can even buy most of it pre cooked, paper plates, etc all disposable.

LJM

yes a little church hall maybe our one charges £7 an hour,everyone get stuck in and bring a plate of food and could all muck in beforehand to decorate,more cosy than a huge expensive hall

BusyLizzie_3

And for decorations, how about balloons (pink maybe?!), lots of them! Very cheap and cheerful. Also, if you're any good at sewing (you don't need to be a whizz) you could make up bunting a bit like this http://www.urchin.co.uk/catalog/kids-parties/kids-birthday-party-decorations/p_66808.html from small pieces of fabric - that can look really great, strung from the ceiling, across windows etc. Not expensive either!

Good luck - sounds fun

Phil_rich

If you are close to a relative i.e. Mum or Dad then can you not hold it at their house. That is what we did as my partners parents live on a farm we had the reception in their garden. Altogether we had 74 people turn up and it cost us about £130 in food, drinks and decorations.

Was a great day but it was the end of july so the sunny weather did help.

Have a great day.

Phil

dee_mum_of_3

why not a pubs function room often free,people buy their own drinks or if ya feeling flush you can put some money behind the bar.........you can buy iced fruit cakes in tesco and decorate them with ornaments from a cake decorating shop,i did all this when we had our 3 boys baptised i used white flowers from the craft stall with 3 blue flowers mixed in to represent my 3 boys and a silver cross that was a £1 in the cake shop it looked lovely and several people i know have since followed suit -food neednt be extravagant sandwiches chicken legs peanuts and crisps all that sort of stuff

Mrs_Money_Penny

When I had my children christened I had all the relatives bring a plate of food. It was held in a pub where there was a bar so I didn't have to provide drinks. I just brought squash & coke for the children. I did buy some cheapish sparkling wine to toast my child. I provided desert by buying lots of gateaux etc I kept them in mine and a neighbours freezer. It was a lovely afternoon even if it was done on the cheap.

Frugal_Fox

You've had some great suggestions here.

I would go either down the route of the hall - and you get people to bring a plate of food, or ask a relative or guest with a bigger home if they would do you the honour of holding it for you and promise to tidy up afterwards! Using a pub as a venue is great as it solves the drinks issue.

When we 'did' our two we held the 'do' afterwards at a pub which did us a cracking sunday roast for £5.95 - we had about 30ish too - however I count the £150 well spent as there was no hassle with making food or the clearing up afterwards and those relatives that had driven 3 hours to be with us were well fed before their return journey! I made a sponge cake, but we also bought a plain fruit cake from a supermarket to which I added a 'Bible' which was made of icing from my local cake decorating shop. We got helium balloons for the tables & 2 special helium balloons for our two for the 'cake table' - we gave the standard helium balloons to the children that came, and I'd put a colouring book and crayons at every place setting for a child. We didn't go for starters as the roast was enough and neither pudding - afterall we had Christening cake!

Good luck and enjoy it!

full-time-mum

We held my DDs christening reception in the St John Ambulance rooms.

We decorated the walls with baby/family pictures. White paper table cloths on the table with strategically placed 'diamonds' made from cheap pink paper serviettes (try the £1 shop). I went to the market and picked up enough primulas in pots, one for each table which we stood on saucers in the centre of each table. It looked perfectly adequate.

Food was a buffet style with some sandwiches, crisps, sticks of carrot, cucumber etc, cherry tomatoes, cheese, quiche and the like. Most of the close relatives were happy to provide something and the cost wasn't bad at all.

As it was a morning service, tea and coffee went down far better than the boxes of wine we had provided.

full-time-mum

Morrisions currently have mini iced donuts at 4 for 49p on BOGOF. They often have good deals on this type of thing (cookies etc).

We had wine glasses from tesco, borrowed at no charge just pay for breakages - check though as the previous customers had snapped a stem off one of the glasses and carefully placed it back so as not to let on. We nearly had cut fingers.