100 day celebration for baby son

[Winter2028]

I am still pregnant so it's probably too early to think about this.

The 100 day celebration is a tradition fron my culture that dates back to the time when there was high infant mortality and it was an achievement for a baby to have lived for 100 days. Nevertheless the practice has persisted.

I am torn between;

1. EL & N bakery (can book 2 tables in the kensington branch under both our names which we did at our gender reveal which was just tea and cake with our friends). It can be the same concept (but we will invite family as well). However no baby changing facilities

1. Sit down lunch at a local cafe. Set menu of £32 per person (vegetarian gluten free options available which is v important for my MIL who keeps kosher but is fine with vegetarian). They allow you to bring in cake and wine.

Will invite round 10 people not including me and DH.

Any other suggestions would be welcome. Traditionally the full moon/100 day celebration was celebrated with a 7 course meal at a Chinese restaurant or hotel and guests would bring money or gold. My generation back home are now generally opting for a party in their condo function room (v elaborate with balloon backdrops, catering, tiered custom cakes and babies in party clothes) and I suppose some go to restaurants. I would like something more fresh and modern, and also caters for allergies/dietary preferences

I am in favour of doing it outside the home. If I did a full moon celebration (1 month) I could possibly do a picnic in the communal garden (would be summer then) and as my dh is a director of the residents management company we could probably persuade the other directors to let us erect a small marquee. But I prefer the 100 day celebration as baby would be a bit older but it would be too cold then for a garden party. I would like to go for an option with as little faff as possible and minimal disruption for baby (as its a celebration mainly for the adults!)

I have a friend whose SIL is Chinese so he told me about this tradition. I had never heard of it before and think it's amazing! Definitely outside the home. Less work for you, plus you can get dressed up.
Enjoy!

Wow sounds cool! Imo a sit down meal at a nice Chinese/pan asian restaurant with changing facilities sounds good, share the menu with mil so she can enquire about kosher or suss out the veg options

Would be more of an occasion than a cafe and more link to your culture

We just did the 100 day celebration for ours, it was quite low key and we all just went out for dim sum. Worked for us!

OP this sounds very exciting, have you had the ceremony yet?

Yes I did. We had it at a local club (kinda like an old working mens club but now it's just for he community) and so I rented the hall which was like an old pub with a bar. We had a cake with his name and decorations on it which said happy 100 days. We gave out red eggs to the guests. We also had sandwiches and other nibbles.

Some of my guests read up on the tradition and one friend actually modified a happy 100 years grandpa card for the occasion and gave small amounts of cash. I was touched that they knew the tradition of giving cash to babies.

Ah I love this tradition. So pleased you had such a lovely celebration x x