Christening Gifts To Treasure

A Christening is always a delightful family occasion as the little one is welcomed into the family, the church and the community. It has long been a tradition for guests and, of course, godparents, to offer a gift to mark the occasion. 

Photo used under Creative Commons from JanetR3

Traditionally, certain gifts were popular choices for Christenings and some of these are still very much favoured today, albeit with a modern twist.

• Caudle cups - or two handled mugs - were used many years ago by parents of newborns; the cups would be filled with an oatmeal gruel flavoured with Madeira wine and served "medicinally" to the parents fro three days after the birth. These cups were handed down through the generations and may the origin of today's Christening mugs.

• The giving of silver apostle spoons is thought to date back to Tudor times; depending on the wealth of the family, a baby might receive the full set of twelve, the four gospel spoons or just a single spoon. This is probably where the phrase "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" came from. Whilst apostle spoons are less popular today, it is still traditional to give silver.

• Silver has always been a valuable metal, so giving silver to a newborn was seen as a start to setting up a nest egg for a baby. The Victorians adapted many useful items to silver gifts and from this time we see silver eggcups, napkin rings, cutlery, cups and rattles.

Recently we've been working to put together a really super Christening Gift section on the website, so we took the popular traditions and added a contemporary twist. We think Christening gifts should be something to last a lifetime and maybe even pass on to future generations, so we have chosen only tasteful and well made items that will stand the test of time.

Keeping with the silver tradition, we have just added a lovely sterling silver cross necklace, which comes in a stylish white box, personalised with a silver brass nameplate - it makes a beautiful keepsake.

 In the same presentation box we also have this sweet baby's christening bangle:

 China plates and mugs are always welcome choices and we found some real beauties! Based on the traditional caudle cups are two cute designs. We have these lovely bone china mugs with a pink or blue stork motif that you can personalise with a name and message.

We also found this adorable range, featuring blue trains for little boys and pink prams for girls.

In this design we also found a new take on the classic Christening plate. Now your guests can sign the plate with the permanent marker provided and, leave to dry for 24 hours and you have a permanent souvenir of the day. How cool is that!

We liked this design so much that we couldn't resist adding one more piece, a pair of sweet china moneyboxes. They'll look so cute in the nursery and are a great way to start off the little one's savings fund!

 One of the sweetest china gifts we found was this pair of personalised breakfast sets, each with a mug, bowl and plate. The child's name is spelled out in a cute animal alphabet to make a lovely keepsake!

You can never give a child too many cuddly toys! This sweet teddy bear wears a T shirt with the youngster's name and Christening date - he's just certain to become an old friend!

Of course the focal point of the Christening is the religious ceremony and often one of the godparents will choose to offer a Bible. We have lots of Bibles to choose from, but these three are  special Christening editions of the King James Version, an enduring and treasured gift that will follow the little one through life.

Something personal for the nursery always goes down well. For something a bit unusual how about a sweet cushion with the little one's name on it?

Of course, there will be many souvenirs from the Christening that the family will want to keep safe: invitations, the order of service, the shawl, the Bible and all the lovely cards and gifts. We have lots of gorgeous keepsake boxes but these are just ideal. First up is a specially designed large Christening Keepsake box with a pretty christening gown design.

Another popular choice is this beautiful Jewelled Cross Keepsake Box covered in pure, white linen and decorated with a silvery jewelled cross motif.

Our exclusive Leather and Lined range also has an adorable keepsake box and matching photo album that will house all your Christening memories beautifully! These are covered in white linen and embellished with a pretty white leather panel that reads 'Our Little Angel' in pale pink foil, with a tiny jewelled heart - so sweet!

The Christening Day will give you with loads of photo opportunities for the youngster's first public appearance and a Christening photo album will make a fab gift for the proud parents. There are loads of super baby photo albums on our site but these three are my favourites for Christenings: our Large Christening Photo Album has a cute silver embroidery of a teddy, star and pram on white linen background.

 Then there is this pretty linen album with its Christening Feet embroidered motif:

The other album I really like is our handmade Cute Booties Album, covered in textured paper and finished with a delicate pair of babies bootees. This album has slip-in transparent sleeves too so it's super-easy to use!

So if there is a Christening coming up among your friends or family, or you have the honour of being chosen as a godparent, do take a look at our fabulous range of Christening gifts and we can also help out with a selection of pretty Christening Cards to go with your gift. Happy shopping!

NEW!! Our beautiful new set of linen covered Christening Day photo albums, guest book and keepsake box has just arrived! They are just adorable! Click here to take a look!