Ok to not dress up too much for a Christening?

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Help me out here. We're not church-goers but going to a Christening soon for a family member - first one we've been to. There'll be a reception after but likely to be relatively informal. Is smart-casual ok, or do people dress up for Christenings like they do for weddings? Would jeans be ok, so long as they were relatively smart?

pudcat in the church I attend the minister doesn't wear robes. Even at Easter. He usually wears smarting jeans or chinos and a shirt. He does wear a dog collar though.

In our Church, there's a 9.30 service and an 11am service. The 9.30 service is more formal and it tends to have an older demographic. Not many people wear jeans for that. The 11am service is more family orientated and nearly everyone is in jeans/casual clothes.

However the christenings are always at the 09.30 service because it's not very well attended so there's more space for the Christening party. We used to have Christenings at the 11am service but our church can only seat 130 people and quite often a Christening party of 20+ extra people led to people having to stand through the service.

ferntwist: Robes are usually long and white, with gold tunics on top for Easter Day in the Church of England and Catholic. What kind of church was it?

Do you think that the vicar or priest is naked under the vestments?

I haven't seen a priest wear a soutane since I was a child. If you look very, very carefully, you could probably see some mufti peeping slyly from underneath the vestments.

“I’ve been a Christian for twenty odd years and I’ve never been to a church where the vicar has worn robes (except at friends’ weddings). It’s entirely normal for vicars to wear jeans or smart trousers with a shirt.”

Does it depend on whether the church is high church or low church? The vicar at our church always wears robes (I think it is considered high church, although I’m not sure exactly what that means). She usually wears a long skirt under them. Obviously she wears jeans and normally everyday clothes when she is off duty.

“Clothes are just bits of material to cover a body. I can't understand why people get so het up about them, it's ridiculous”

We might as well wear sack cloth and ashes if everyone took your point of view. I totally understand your need for something practical. I also tend to opt for comfortable and practical over style, but I still like to make an effort with my appearance. It would be a kindness for people who have to look at me

I've been to alot of Christenings in my time and all have been quite dressy affairs with the odd person wearing more casual clothes. I'm shocked that everyone was wearing jeans, especially the parents of the child. I live in a city though so maybe it's a different expectation in the countryside.

In our Church, there's a 9.30 service and an 11am service. The 9.30 service is more formal and it tends to have an older demographic. Not many people wear jeans for that. The 11am service is more family orientated and nearly everyone is in jeans/casual clothes.

Ah, ours is the exact opposite - the 9.30 is a more casual 'all ages' service but the 11.15 is sung Eucharist and tends to attract an older crowd. That said, we all have coffee together in the middle and there's still plenty of jeans for the 11.15.

We chose to have a super casual christening for our son as it suited us. As Christians we were part of the congregation anyway and I saw it as him just joining the family. Not a smart occasion at all. But if someone else sees it as a posh occasion for their child they may feel you’ve not made any effort. So comfortable and smart would be fine. Nice jeans and dressy top maybe?
I am a casual person and feel ridiculous dressed up so even as godmother I had leggings and a jersey dress and ballet flats which to me felt dressed up. But was similar to what my godsons everyday look is. She didn’t mind as she knew that was dressed up for me!

I think jeans and trainers is not appropriate for a christening.

Hi! I'd ask, as it will totally depend type of church and on where in the country too.
I was god mother to a friends dd in Shropshire and no one was remotely dressed up, lots of jeans and tops and a fair amount of tweed whereas when I was godmother to my best friends ds in Liverpool everyone was dressed up.

No jeans I would say a dress for a woman and for a man shirt and trousers

Hope you had a good time at the christening

I wore jeans last Sept to a wedding, (yes i know slightly different) black skinny satin high waisted type, i needed something that looked smart and was ultra comfortable before i made my final decision i checked with the bride on her opinion and would have gone with whatever she said.

She told me she wanted me there and i could wear whatever i was comfortable in. I should add as a side piece of info I'm a wheelchair user so comfort was/is important.

On the day i looked smart, i brightened up the rest of my outfit but most of all i was comfortable which enabled me to enjoy the wedding more.

I dressed up the rest of the outfit and the chair and relaxed. I was there cos i was wanted not for how i would look in the pictures.

Is maybe the difference here between those having a "christening" and those having a "baptism"? In our church we have an annual baptism/confirmation service for members of the congregation, with a pool for full immersion baptism. It's mostly adults and older children, although occasionally they will baptize a baby (by dipping their legs, not full immersion!!). Babies are usually blessed and welcomed to the church and make their own decision about baptism when they are old enough.

This service is extremely informal, people just wear everyday church clothes, even the bishop was in chinos for the first part - he did put his robes on once he had dried off. There's an atmosphere of great joy and celebration, we have a shared lunch afterwards and photos are taken but fancy clothes are not really part of it.

In contrast, occasionally we have a baptism or christening for a local family, who don't attend the church, wanting to baptize their baby. This seems to be a much grander affair with invitations and gifts, the christening party wearing fancy clothes, lots of photos afterwards, then going on to a reception. However the actual significance of being baptised seems to be glossed over in these occasions, it seems to be more of a celebration and a party to welcome the baby into their family.

Just reading all the replies here it goes to show how people see events so differently. I usually wear jeans to mass and I would most definitely wear dressed up skinny jeans to a christening. In fact there was a mum having her baby christened after mass recently wearing jeans and she looked amazing. I only remember it as I commented to myself how nice she looked. It would look very weird here if someone wore a hat to a christening it's just not the done thing. OP I hope you had a lovely day.

nanny I think it varies by belief, for our chrich, non denom Christian, we have believers baptism so it only happens when you have decided for yourself, not babies or young children, it’s full immersion and everyone just wears what they normally where to church as it’s normally 20+ people getting baptised that night. No party afterwards as such. People might go out to dinner with their family or friends but still just wearing jeans :)

When it’s babies in our local catholic chapel, that lots of family and friends go to, it’s a full on affair. It’s a whole day thing, service in the morning, party in the afternoon and everyone is quite dressed up.