Naming Your Baby - How to Get the Most out of Your Babynaming Ceremony

Home
>
Babies & Toddler
>
Naming Your Baby - How to Get the Most out of Your Babynaming Ceremony

Naming Your Baby - How to Get the Most out of Your Babynaming Ceremony

You've engaged a celebrant and you've picked the day. So how do you ensure that the naming ceremony for your baby goes smoothly and is memorable for friends and relatives alike? Focus on two things - preparation for the ceremony, and how things are organised on the day.

Preparation

Choose your child's godparents with care, talk to them about the promises they feel able to make, and ask them if they would feel comfortable about sharing with everyone at the ceremony some of their thoughts about your child and your family
Consider other members of the family and significant friends, whether present or not, and how you might recognise, include or honour them in the ceremony
Choose the venue with care, paying attention to shade, and sufficient space
On the invitations include the time guests should arrive and the time the ceremony will start. If you know any of your guests are chronic latecomers, invite them for at least 15 minutes before you expect them to arrive
If using candles in an outdoor ceremony ensure that the wicks are well protected from wind, breeze or drafts ? candles that sit well down in a glass container are ideal. Because the flame on votive candles extends above the container they are not suitable

On the Ceremony Day

Ensure the table for the signing is big enough to comfortably hold the register, certificates and anything else that will be used during the ceremony (candles, etc).
Delegate someone to photograph the ceremony and alert the celebrant as to whom that person is
Take the opportunity to have posed family photographs, and photographs of significant friends taken with the child either before or after the ceremony. Draw up a list beforehand and use it as a checklist so that no-one is missed
Provide seats for older or disabled guests
Make sure that any seating or shelter provided is close enough to where you and the celebrant will be standing to form an intimate grouping and ensure that everyone hears and sees the ceremony
Limit the amount of alcohol served before the ceremony

Attention to all these quite simple things will make the world of difference to how smoothly your celebration runs, and how much everyone, including you, enjoys the ceremony.

Jennifer Cram is an accredited General Civil Celebrant based in Brisbane Queensland Australia where she specialises in performing one of a kind Naming Ceremonies as Beautiful as your Baby and other ceremonies. For more information about her naming ceremonies visit her website http://www.jennifercram.com and/or her Baby Naming Blog.

Copyright © 2005 Jennifer Cram. You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Democrats criticize Obama's proposed tax cuts (AP)

AP - President-elect Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts ran into opposition Thursday from senators in his own party who said they wouldn't do much to stimulate the economy or create jobs. Senators from both parties agreed that Congress should do something to stimulate the economy. But Democratic senators emerging from a private meeting of the Senate Finance Committee criticized business and individual tax cuts in Obama's stimulus plan.

UN Security Council calls for immediate Gaza truce (AP)

AP - The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate" and "durable" cease-fire in Gaza in a resolution Thursday night even as fighting between Israel and Hamas raged Â— with early morning airstrikes killing seven Palestinians and pushing the death toll to about 760 in the near two-week conflict.

Key panel recommends impeaching Ill. governor (AP)

AP - A key panel unanimously recommended impeachment for Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday, setting up a vote that could make him the first governor to face such fate in Illinois' sordid political history. Blagojevich should lose his job for abusing power, mismanaging government and committing possible criminal acts, including federal allegations he tried to sell off a U.S. Senate seat, the special committee concluded.

Sloppy, choppy game leaves Florida as BCS champion (AP)

AP - The game defied expectations. Tim Tebow fulfilled them.

Job losses stack up as recession deepens (AP)

AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.

Oversight panel wants better answers from Treasury (AP)

AP - Less than a month after its first report, a congressional panel overseeing the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout is demanding more answers.

Critics' final answer: `Slumdog' wins 5 awards (AP)

AP - The critics have spoken, and "Slumdog Millionaire" is their final answer.

Petraeus: Afghan, Pakistan problems are really one (AP)

AP - U.S. policy to win in Afghanistan must recognize the poor nation's limitations and its neighborhood, especially its intertwined relationship with U.S. terrorism-fighting ally Pakistan, the top U.S. military commander in the region said Thursday.

Cheney: CIA did nothing illegal in interrogations (AP)

AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that he sees no reason for President George W. Bush to pre-emptively pardon anyone at the CIA involved in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists. "I don't have any reason to believe that anybody in the agency did anything illegal," he said.

Prosecutors: Madoff was ready to send out $173M (AP)

AP - Prosecutors said Thursday that investigators found 100 signed checks worth $173 million in Bernard Madoff's office desk that he was ready to send out to his closest family and friends at the time of his arrest last month in what is alleged to be largest financial fraud in history.

U.N. calls for immediate Gaza truce (Reuters)

Reuters - Israel pushed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday, ignoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire to the 14-day-old conflict.

World waits on jobs data as recession weighs (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. employers probably cut the most jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace and moves by policy makers took time to filter through to struggling companies.

Citi backs measure to help avoid foreclosures (Reuters)

Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.

Panel steps up criticism of Treasury over TARP: report (Reuters)

Reuters - A report being released on Friday alleges that the U.S. Treasury has failed to reveal its strategy for stabilizing the financial system, not answered questions asked by a government watchdog, and has done nothing to help struggling homeowners, the Wall Street Journal said.

Illinois panel recommends governor's impeachment (Reuters)

Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Obama team amending financial rescue package: report (Reuters)

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is urgently overhauling the $700 billion financial rescue package to broaden its scope beyond Wall Street, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Qaeda Pakistan leader believed dead: U.S. official (Reuters)

Reuters - Al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide are believed to be dead, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Thursday, in what appeared to be the latest results of a campaign targeting the militant group's leadership.

Accused swindler Madoff "warm and charming": report (Reuters)

Reuters - Some friends of accused swindler Bernard Madoff considered him a "warm and charming" man, and one of his alleged victims praised him just before his death in 2005, Fox Business Network reported on Thursday.

Gaza toll mounts as UN Security Council urges immediate truce (AFP)

AFP - Israel carried out new deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip on Friday as the UN Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire to end the two-week-old conflict in the Palestinian territory.

Progress in resolving gas row as Russia agrees to monitors (AFP)

AFP - Hopes for a quick resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe were rising Friday after Russia agreed on the terms for the deployment of monitors in Ukraine.

Naming Your Baby - How to Get the Most out of Your Babynaming Ceremony

Babies & Toddler Babies & Toddler