have you had a non-religious baby naming ceremony?

[newgirl]

I am interested in doing a 'do' for my dd but i don't want to have a christening. we had a civil wedding. i have looked at the humanist society website which is great, but i was wondering if anyone has done something similar and had any ideas? something nice that i can invite friends and family too, but without the cringe factor!

We used LifeRites who were very good. They helped us design our own ceremony (I'm pagan and my dh is a christian - so we didn't want to commit our ds to anything, but didn't want to lose the aspect of welcoming and promising to do certain things for him as he grew) and also officiated on the day. They can factor in any religious ideas or be completely secular - they will provide an officiant closest to your needs.

It was a fantastic day, and loads of people came up to us afterwards and said how much they'd enjoyed it and hardly any had heard of a naming ceremony before. It was so personal - we had grandparents, sponsors and us write our own personal promises - some serious, some frivolous. We had 3 readings (all poems that meant something to us and about childhood). I really can't recommend it enough.

Don't want to make you depressed, but we had a Humanist funeral for my dad. It was great (if that's the right word!), very personal and tasteful. People still talk about how much they preferred it to all the formulaic ones they've been to. It was important to us to remain true to ourselves and our dad as he had never been christened and had been brought up as a "committed atheist" and brought us up the same.
I think a naming ceremony would be lovely. The Humanist Soc man who came to see us was very nice and did a great job.

We had a non christening party for ds, and it was fab. It was highly personal, and I did worry that people would think it was an ego trip, but the comment we received most was that it was great to go to something which was all about welcoming our baby and about our new family, rather than just being an excuse for the grown ups to have a p*ss up.

The bit we found most difficult was knowing what to call it - in the end we didn't call it anything, and invited people to "help us to celebrate the arrival of ..." But we got loads of christening cards!

Ours was actually in a church (because of our individual circumstances), but we were really careful in making sure that everyone (including aetheist dp) would feel 100% comfortable in joining in. Where there were particularly cringeworthy bits that we wanted to avoid, such as bits about us as parents, we got round it by making quiet time for people to think about it, rather than having to say all that nauseating stuff! We chose some great sing-along hymns, which lots of people commented on enjoying!

I'm really excited for you - we had such a great time planning it and the day was great.

We had a "welcome to the world" party for my dd, which was a wonderful and very memorable event. She is 4½ now and loves to look at the photos. We hired a space in a local community centre. We had about an hour's visiting and chatting time at the beginning, then we did the ceremony, then we invited everyone to have something to eat. The food had been cooked by dp, dp's mum and a couple of friends.

We made up the ceremony ourselves, there wasn't anybody officiating. First dp welcomed everyone, explained what we were planning to do and then read an inspirational speech by Nelson Mandela about realizing your potential. A close friend who had helped us at home when dd was born said a few words reflecting on the birth and the effect dd's arrival had on her. Then I talked about the name, how we came to choose it and what it means to us. Then dp's dad gave a humorous talk about the history of the name and famous people who have the same name.

I had a humanist wedding (after the legal bit at Chelsea register office) and it was simply wonderful with a great celebrant who was just charming and sincere and looked a bit like Norman Wisdom. Then we had a naming ceremony for ds on his first birthday which was great, but the celebrant was a bit more po-faced sadly. Still, it was nice to do something 'official' but not religious. We just did it in the garden and then had birthday tea and cake and champagne. We had two readings - my stepdaughter did one, which she loved doing as focussed the attention on her not just on ds.

we had a humanist naming ceremony complete with all our friends and family, brief speech welcoming ds, promises to behave from us and his sponsors and a screaming fit (from ds). The humanists will do something to suit you and what you want. Our celebrant (Caroline - wonderful) suggested readings etc and the best bit - ended her speech with a rousing "To XXX" at which point he squealed and giggled! It was fabulous and I'd really recommend it.

i am in the midst of organising a naming ceremony for my dd to be held on her first b'day (2nd Nov)i separated from p when i was 5mths pregnant so when contemplating a 'do' for my dd i decided to have it on her 1st birthday to signify how we have survived to this magical point.i am holding it in my home with a little speech about why i picked her name and what it means then i will make my promises to her and read a little poetry,her sponsers who are great friends of mine will then be introduced and they will do the same.Afterwardsi am going to pass round a little book for everyone to write a wish in for her then we will go to the garden and each release a pink ballon for my dd.i cant wait for the day to come round and will fill you in on how it went.
LOOBIE

OH and then party of course!!

We had a Naming Ceremony done by the Registry Office. Some councils allow them so it would be worth checking out.

It was pretty formal and there was a set ceremony but we had a choice of promises to make as did the 'supporting adults'. There were options too to talk about why we had chosen DS's name and what it meant to us - something that was personal to us as he has a place name as a middle name. We had a few tears while we chose our promises in the run up - and it was good to sit down and really think about what DS meant to us.

I felt it had to have some status as people travelled a long way for it, plus we wanted to celebrate DS's arrival. It was in a licensed premises - same as the wedding venues - and we had a great time. It was personal, relaxed and meaningful.

Can't wait to do it again for the bump!

what fantastic ideas! i would never have thought of such things. especially about saying why we chose the name. and you are right gem13 about giving it some meaning if people are traveling. Georgina - would you mind if you told me what your readings were? I have found the one in the Prophet, but thats it! ALso sparks, where would i find the speech from nelson mandela?

loobie - your ideas sound wonderful and i think you have a very lucky little dd to have such a thoughtful mum.

Here is a link to the quotation. It comes from Mandela's inaugural speech, apparently.

Hi newgirl - do it! Choose one of the great ideas here, or one of your own then make sure you fix a date for it.
We weren't sure how to go about holding a welcome ceremony for DD and had a lot of opposition from our parents - who felt anything other than a christening would be micky mouse - v old school of thought! Unfortunately we dithered, and dithered, and then it seemed to be too late... love Loobies idea of doing it on 1st birthday - its inspired me to find a suitable date to do ours now! Thanks for the inspiration guys!

newgirl - sorry was away on holiday and didn't see this ... our readings were: From 'The Prophet' - Kahlil Gibran (the "our children are not our children" bit), 'The Paint Box' - E.V.Rieu, and 'There's Money in Mother & Father' - Morris Bishop.

have now read Mandela speech - wow and off to do a search for your poems Georgina - thanks!

The day is almost here,our naming ceremony is being held tomorrow,i am at the moment chanting everything is under control and i will not stress,but reaaly i can wait, i will put the photoshere the password is allyjay.

In the photo gallery i will have them in probably by monday night teatimeish.

Really really good luck.

Have a lovely day. It is such a special occasion.

Ok the day is over one word sums it up WONDERFUL. It was such a beautiful day, some people didint turn up but just as well as i dont think i'd have fitted another body into my house on sunday.Katie was beautiful and enjoyed the day so much,she loved being the centre of attention as always. I have put the photo's on the website below posted 1st november at 7.46pm by myself,the password is allyjay.Ex p hardly spoke to her and paid her very little attention in general which was hard but everyone else made up for it.She got a lovely mixture of clothes,toys and keepsakes and loads of toys.There was just a nice wind to carry away our balloons though katie hung on to hers,all in all the day was amazing and i would thoroughly recommend it to any one looking for something diferent as it really can include anything you like.Hope you all enjoy the photos.

we had one for DS at the same time that we got married. it was in the registry office - we had our wedding ceremony followed by the naming ceremony. fantastic day!!

Loobie the link doesn't work. Glad you had such a lovely day!

trynow

password is allyjay

hi

i am holding naming ceremony for my 2 chn any ideas for poems or songs?