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Original poster

First Holy Communion dresses - aka little girls pretending to be brides - can I have your opinions please?

162 replies

2sugars · 01/02/2008 06:16

www.firstholycommunionday.co.uk/communiondresses/4517179846

Anna, April or Beatrix ((boak at names of dresses))

I really like April, but my mum thinks it's too grown up and looks like a ballgown. I think that's why I like it.

Any thoughts?

TIA

OP posts:
Buda · 01/02/2008 13:20

LOL at the dress taking away from the sacrament! When I made mine I was more interested (as were all my classmates) in how much money I would get! In Ireland the tradition is that you make your communion and then get paraded around all the relatives and friends and they give you money. I got 29 pounds! Which was a heck of a lot back in 1971!

When I made my confirmation I got 45 pounds!

Obv that is what stuck in my mind!

soapbox · 01/02/2008 13:21

Jocelyn on Mosschops link is lovely.

CaptainCod · 01/02/2008 13:22

ooh ey sPRETTY

and no veil pliz

MaryAnnSingleton · 01/02/2008 13:45

perhaps there should be a kind of uniform white frock that every girl wears, just simple - no vulgar fripperies,perhaps a circlet of flowers - am thinking of the postulants in the wonderful Nun's Story for my inspiration. Then they'd look pretty and pure and ready to receive the Blessed Sacrament without any of the fretting about whose dress/shoes etc are better.

Original poster
2sugars · 01/02/2008 13:48

Hermione, that sounds absolutely nothing like a RC FHC service, and as such shouldn't be compared. Are you a baptist?

Marieluisa, dd prefers the one called April. I can see I should have just stuck with what she wants.

And as for her being 8, if that argument is taken to its nth conclusion she would have no say in anything at all - what she wears, what she eats, where we go for days out, simply because she's 8.

Thanks for the links. Apart from one they all look frillier and fluffier than what I was after, though.

OP posts:
soapbox · 01/02/2008 13:49

No Jocelyn is much, much nicer than April

JodieG1 · 01/02/2008 13:54

When I had mine all the girls wore lovely white dresses and all the boys wore suits. It was normal then, have no idea about now but if one had turned up in normal clothes they would have looked very out of place.

It wasn't about the dress at all but it was nice to wear a lovely dress. Was all quite normal for us there.

frogs · 01/02/2008 14:00

Children's Salon have pretty communion dresses. Dd1 had the one called Francis, about a third of the way down. Lovely plain linen, very sweet (her choice).

soapbox · 01/02/2008 14:07

Francis, is also lovely on Frogs link - there are some other nice one's on that link too.

QuintessentialShadow · 01/02/2008 14:14

My sister (helped by my dh) had a dress tailored for her daughter by a seamstress in Poland. You dont get shops like this in Norway, as Norway is mainly Lutheran. Sadly. Most of the girls in my nieces class had picked theirs up on holiday in France or Spain, etc.

I love these dresses. Why shouldnt little girls wear dresses such as this?

GrapefruitMoon · 01/02/2008 14:17

frogs I was going to get that one for my dd if I couldn't find anything in the shops - luckily I managed to get a nice one in Debenhams. It probably cost less than anyone else's in the class but was one of the nicest (imo!)

Original poster
2sugars · 01/02/2008 14:38

Erm, I swear I don't know, QES. AFAIK they do - well, they did 1 1/2 years ago, anyway .....

OP posts:
hermionegrangerat34 · 01/02/2008 14:55

NO, not baptist! That was Church of England. It was pretty low key - the emphasis was very much on the communion not the children if you see what I mean. On the other hand, the children and all the congregation did take it very seriously and it was a big deal for the church having children being prepared for communion at 6/7 (quite a new thing in the CofE). We were taking it very seriously, but dressing up didn't occur to anyone.

I'm not against a big fuss and parade being made of it (and I don't mean that negatively!), but I meant what I said about feeling that all this puts a lot of pressure on the less well off to conform. I think the suggestion of a standard plain white slip style 'uniform' is a good one - makes a point and a lovely photo and the children feel special without being expensive and competitive.

Original poster
2sugars · 01/02/2008 15:11

But the fuss and parade is what the church make it - as a celebration. I thought I'd deliberately chosen a no-fuss/no-frills dress - and we're certainly not in competition with anyone. And I got slated.

I think that the RC Church would (quite rightly) never agree to a FHC 'uniform'.

OP posts:
Unfitmother · 01/02/2008 16:00

Rubbish!

The RC Church does not instigate the fancy dress parade these days, where have you been?
It's the parents

In my (RC) church the children wear what they (or their parents) like, some wear their jeans, most dress up smart and a few wear completley over the top dresses.

frogs · 01/02/2008 16:05

2sugars, lots of churches in Germany now do just exactly that -- the kids make their first communions in white robes (like altar servers robes) which they borrow from the church. I think most people wear the fancy dresses under it, but at least it makes the point that the church ceremony is not about ostentatious display.

Though personally I quite like the whole dressing up thing -- hermione, I think you're coming at it from a different angle. It's so traditional in catholicism that it's hard to imagine it any other way. And dressing up does highlight to the children what a special day it is.

Flllightattendant · 01/02/2008 16:11

My mum made mine. I liked the fact I got to choose the 'special material' (it was just broderie anglaise - very simple dress) but I still look back and think 'bloody hell!'

chipmonkey · 01/02/2008 17:31

OMG, everyone is giving 2sugars such a hard time!!!!!
FWIW 2 sugars, I love the April dress. Don't like the Anna one as the waistband of roses looks too much IMO!
I only have boys but have to say I did plan their communion outits way in advance, mainly because I work FT and knew that if I left it too late, I would end up running around like a blue-arsed fly looking for things at the last minute! Even as it was I left ds1's shoes too late and he nearly went in his trainers but for a very accommodating small shoe shop who ordered some in for me!
Of course the dress is not what it's all about but the tradition is there and I think it's lovely. I don't think anyone should feel that they have to spend a fortune on a dress and if I had a dd, I certainly wouldn't be doing the fake tan thing but a simple dress and a pretty head-dress look lovely!
Actually I think I would find a girl easier to pick for. I think with boys' suits it's a fine line between smartness and ponciness!
Agree with Buda re the money. I had one of those little drawstring satin-and-lace bags stuffed full of money, the princely sum of sixteen pounds!! For our confirmation we had to wear our school uniform to the church but most girls got an outfit to wear afterwards so probably defeated the whole purpose!

JodieG1 · 01/02/2008 17:35

Well I'm RC and in my old church every school year did the same regarding dresses and suits. Was completely normal then.

Emprexia · 01/02/2008 23:26

personally, just to answer the question.. i like the Anna dress.

However, i do have issues with children so young being confirmed, i dont believe that a 7/8 year old can ever understand exactly what they're pledging at confirmation.

B1977 · 01/02/2008 23:30

I will admit that my dress and veil went straight into the dressing up box afterwards!

Kaishay, FHC isn't confirmation BTW.

B1977 · 01/02/2008 23:34

I like "Anna" best

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 01/02/2008 23:37

Our Parish Priest, who is in general very young, and very laid back....lets it be known that if a child turns up looking like a bride and not a FC child he will have tiaras, bells and bows removed before the service.

We keep a stash of acceptable veils etc.,,,,,,in a cupboard in the Parish Hall, he only had to do it once. Et Viola no tarts or brides.................

QED

bookwormmum · 01/02/2008 23:38

I'm not Catholic so we don't have a First Communion as such and certainly not for children (it's bit more low-key in the CofE). I'm sure if I was RC though, getting the outfit would have been part of my preparations for the day in the same way I didn't take my dd to church on her Christening day in her pyjamas or demin dungarees . She even had little white leather pram shoes to wear with the family gown (even though they got kicked off pretty quickly during the service since they were far too big for her feet!). Some things are worth doing properly or dressing appropriately for and it doesn't have to detract from the religious part at all .

ROTFLMAO at the open-topped carriages and pageboys though .

Flibbertyjibbet · 01/02/2008 23:47

My 3 sisters and I had the same first communion dress which was made from my mother's wedding dress. As was our christening robe. Mum made her wedding dress herself then chopped it up to make our christening and communion outfits. Same for the veil it had been part of mums wedding veil. Can't get much cheaper than that!

I think short dresses, I don't get all this long dress stuff, thats how you know the difference between a communion dress and a wedding-dress-up dress isn't it?

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