Christening with 30 guests - is £300 budget realistic?

[AugustSeptemberOctober]

I think I can get catering for under £200, with £100 left for village hall hire and some decorations. The dress will be a gift from PIL. What else do I need to budget for, will I need to find some extra? Or should £300 cover it?

Do you need to give a donation to the church for the service?

Does that include drinks? Non alcoholic presumably. Cake?
You could definitely make @ buffet for £200

Depends a lot on where you live and what catering you're expecting. Some people spend £300 on a cake alone, or my sister did it at her house with everybody bringing along food to share and it cost her next nothing.

If you so want it to be a proper event, then it sounds on the low side for a church hall and £6 pounds a head where I live would cover sandwiches, squash and home made cake but not much more - so might be a bit tight.

And good point re donation to the church - it's optional but definitely should be done if you have the money for a party afterwards.

Why not ask about renting church hall?

We had a few people bring along sandwiches and sausage rolls and we put out crisps and cheese biscuits. I picked up enough cream cakes for two each person from a store and I paid to have the top tier of my wedding cake re iced and my friend made a romper suit and bonnet for DS. We had enough champagne for a toast only and lots of tea.

It’s possibly on the low side. For that I’d probably invite people back for tea and cake rather than a part where they’ll expect food.

And yes you should budget about £50 to church I would say

Catering - pick up sandwiches etc from Costco. I think they also do scones, if not bake and freeze a week before. Costco also do clotted cream. Buy a couple of big jars of jam, decant on the day to those little pots you get deserts in at posh supermarkets (ask on FB for them for free)
Serve tea and coffee only. See if you can find a couple of people locally to do the serving and sorting @ £10/hour - we had teenagers and they were brilliant.
Well under £300 including hall hire - ours is £20/hour.

We don't have to pay for a Sunday christening as the church is open anyway and it's kinda their aim! But a donation is the "right" thing to do if you can afford it.

Does the hall have a bar?

I got the buffet food for our wedding for £150 as a mixture of M&S and Tesco party buffets, for 80 people and there was loads left. You can get a stacked cheese cake for £30 from Tesco for example, trays of cakes etc.

(although the M&S food is nicer, it comes in fiddly and non environmentally friendly packaging, so I'd recommend Tesco tbh)

It's tight but doable if you don't have a lot of drinkers. Morrissons buffet food to order is really good and you can bulk it up with crisps etc.

@Janaih

It's tight but doable if you don't have a lot of drinkers. Morrissons buffet food to order is really good and you can bulk it up with crisps etc.

Guests wouldn’t expect drinks to be included for a christening - food yes but I think people will expect to buy their own drinks.

@MeredithGreyishblue

We don't have to pay for a Sunday christening as the church is open anyway and it's kinda their aim! But a donation is the "right" thing to do if you can afford it.

Does the hall have a bar?

You never have to pay for a christening, but given that you value the church enough to get your child christened into it, and that most are chronically short of cash, it's the right thing to do (not just the "right" thing to do) for anyone who has enough cash left to spare for an event

Oh yes if there is a bar then people will expect to buy their own, but not all village halls will have a bar? If there is then they might want a minimum spend.

@OverTheRubicon actually ours will do a Saturday if you pay for the heating costs - they charge to open the building not for the service.

I'm sorry my speech marks upset you so much. Was meant for emphasis not to rile you.

Check Morrison's supermarket for your buffet needs. They do trays of sandwiches etc to order and are very reasonable. A friend recently did this for a 50th birthday.

Just do a bring and share lunch you'll have loads of quiche but no one will go hungry

What time is the christening? Will there be guests travelling from a far? Do you want a Christening cake and is it coming from this budget? I guess it depends what you hope to serve but it does seem that it might be a little tight.

If you make your own buffet it's doable, but it's normal to give a donation to at least cover costs for the baptism eg the service sheets, extra heating especially if it's after the main service. The point of baptism is the service not a party. We charge £11.50 an hour for the church hall

A donation to the church.
We gave £50 to the priest and £50 to the organist.
What about drink? Wine/Soft drinks.
A Christening Cake

We have a donation of £80 to the church many years ago (we were told exactly how much by the priest, it wasn't optional)

Also the cake- I made my own, but with the right cake topers and tins it still works out to be quite expensive. I think DDs cost me £70 to make myself over a decade ago.

We then had a buffet in a pub, which was probably about £10 per head - FIL would have put some money behind the bar for us all.

Will you need any decorations? (No one needs decorations lol)

I would actually do the buffet myself. Invitations? I used vistaprint- if you order fat enough ahead they're very cheap - if just go go digital.

Can you have the buffet at your home?

I reckon that's doable. Couple of balloons and a cake. I wouldn't go fancy, supermarket job with a personalised topper maybe.

Churches (c of e) don't charge for baptisms but they really do rely on donations to keep the cogs turning. It costs a fortune to heat, light etc a church. And that's without having to pay the parish share.