Help - How Much to Donate for Baptism?

[Agingmumoftwins]

We are having our twins baptised, and using the church room for the get together afterwards. It's a separate service from the normal Sunday service, so vicar is going to some effort iyswim.

The vicar has just asked for a donation, as there's no standard fee for either the service or the room hire, how much is reasonable?

Is £50 ok or should we give more? I don't want to go over the top and look like the Rockefellers, but I also don't want to look mean.

There's no collection in the service, but baskets will be strategically placed for donations.

Thanks! Baptism is on Sunday.

Hi there

This is a tricky situation. When we had our children baptised (seperately) we gave £50 each time, but this was for the service only, not room hire.

You need to give what you think is reasonable, and what you can afford. The reason that it is a donation (rather than a fee) is to make sure that it does not penalise those of little means - the church wants to welcome all, not just those that can pay!

Thanks, it's helpful to know what other people have given. I think we need to give more than £50 as we're using the room as well as having the service.

I know what you mean about what we can afford, I don't want to leave us skint, but I do think we should pay enough to 'notice' what we've spent iyswim!

We have never paid anything for our baptisms, but we are church members.

The theological answer is that you pay as much as you can, to the point of it being painful.

Mark 12: 38-44