I've been invited to a Catholic Christening

[PeppermintCreams]

It's my first Christening invite. I was raised CoE and all the ones I went to growing up were part of the usual Sunday services.

This one is at lunch time on a Saturday with a party after, so I'm not sure!

Clothes - do we dress for a family party, a wedding or smart casual? Could my partner and 4 year old wear smart jeans and shirt or would they need suits?

Present - should we get something? I'd rather get something functional like a toy?

Anything else we need to know? Thanks

Smart Casual. I would think smart jeans would be perfectly acceptable, but maybe with a jacket?
I've never brought a present to the christenings I've been to (catholic), I've brought a card, but tend to leave presents to the godparents to give.

Phones off, no bare shoulders in church etc. but apart from that, there isn't really anything you need to know in advance.

Sunday Best, not full-on wedding rig.

I'd put children in trousers (maybe coloured jeans, but not denim) and nice shirts. Adult male in suit, or blazer/chinos with tie.

Try a Noah's ark type toy, or a classic children's book - maybe a religious allegory like Narnia.

I'm a catholic. Had both mine christened during Sunday mass, but mamy people prefer seperate ceremony, especially if people are travelling far.

I'd say 'family party' and jeans with smart shirt for the child sounds perfect. I think maybe a wee bit smarter for the grown ups, but it really depends on the people at the christening, rather than the church itself as we had people in everything and anything at the dses christenings.

Present - yep, normal to give one. Both mine got a mixture of prayer books, etc, but they appreciated the toys the best, by a long shot! Gift vouchers can be good too - we got a few for Mothercare and actually used them for nappies as we were skint at the time.

Enjoy!

Present wise, I picked up some lovely baby books from the local Christian shop.

Short stories about being a good person, thanking God for food, health etc. My friend says her and her dd (9months) read them every night (I liked them because they weren't too 'religious' iyswim, were like normal bedtime stories so fairly short and weren't another money box, bracelet etc)

The Catholic service we went to was fairly short. Was specific to 3 baptisms going on at the same time so no normal service.

Dress wear ranged massively but there was a gypsy family getting their dd baptised and the mother looked like she was about to go clubbing in a neo-pink very short mini dress with lots of sequins!

I'm not Carholic but my brother married a catholic so we were at my nephew's Christening (prompting lots of questions why we hadn't done it too but we're baptist and our church only baptised adults!!!)

We had bought dn a Bible when he was born so didn't give a present. It was in a normal service so "smart casual" was fine. There was an immediate family meal after but no party as such.