How to Plan a Baptism Party

While a baptism party may seem overwhelming, it's a lot simpler than you think.

When the time has come for your baby's baptism, you probably are planning on throwing a party. It's a fun time, but you might be worried you are forgetting something or might be unsure about how you should plan your event. Thankfully, planning your baby's baptism party isn't much different than planning a birthday party or something similar. However, it does have a little bit more to it. For example, you might invite relatives you haven't seen in years. Here is a simple checklist to make sure you have taken care of everything for your child's baptism party.

Plan the Baptism

Of course, there's no use in having a baptism party if there isn't a baptism. Before you start planning anything, plan the baptism with the church. Some churches only allow baptisms on certain weekends during the year, while some will do baptisms at any time. Sometimes, the family needs to take a class before the child can be baptized. Find out what your church offers and what its requirements are, and set up a date.

Come Up With Your Guest List

Determining your guest list early on will help make the rest of your planning process easier. You can figure out where you should have your party, what kind of food you would like to serve, and other accommodations that need to be made. Your guest list should include the child's godparents, your family members, close friends, and church members who know your child. There is no perfect number for a baptism party, so it's up to you to figure out how many people you should invite.

Choose Your Location

Figure out where you would like to have your party. You want it somewhere close to the church. In most cases, your home is the easiest solution. However, if you live in an apartment or simply think your guest list will be too large for your home to accommodate, then you might consider renting a larger space to make the event more comfortable.

Send Out Invitations

Once you have the time, date, and location decided, it's time to send out the invitations. Sending out invitations several weeks in advance will help out-of-towners make the proper arrangements, and it can help those who are local to you clear their schedule so they can attend. The sooner you send out your invitations, the more likely you will be to have a nice turnout for the party.

Determine Food

If you are going to host a party, your guests are probably expecting to be fed in some way. You need to decide what food you are going to offer. Here are some food choices:

• You could serve cake and ice cream and nothing else.
• If you want, you could include some appetizers for your guests to munch on.
• Serving a meal would be ideal if the time of your party falls during a meal time.

When you are determining how much food you want to serve, you need to consider your budget. In addition, think about the time of the party. If the party is at lunch or dinnertime, then you should probably serve a little more than cake and ice cream; the appetizers or full meal would be ideal at these times of day.

Take Off the Pressure

While a baptism party may seem overwhelming, it's a lot simpler than you think. Once you have done the steps mentioned above, you have planned nearly everything you need to. If you are low on funds or don't think you have the energy to do anything extravagant, keep it simple. No one is going to care how fancy the party is, only that they were able to attend the event celebrating your child.