I’ve never been a big hostess. Partly because we’ve never had much space in our small New York City apartments and partly because I prefer getting together with a small group of friends and having more intimate conversation. However, since having our baby there are so many family members and friends that we want to celebrate life milestones with and being in New Jersey has given us access to more space.
We recently hosted our son’s baptism celebration and when I was looking for guides and resources to help in the planning, I didn’t find many. The purpose of this post is to provide you with inspiration and a check list for hosting a baptism celebration at home.
Gather inspiration & select venue
I started out where all good party planners do: on Pinterest. I searched for flowers and tablescapes and favors and went down the rabbit hole that is Pinterest to get clarity on my direction. I found myself gravitating towards blue and white themed garden parties, so I knew I wanted to host an outdoor party and was lucky enough that my parents have a beautiful backyard they let us use.
Create & send invitations
Once you know where you’re having your party (and the date and time that is dictated by the church) you can create your invitation list and the invitations themselves. Note: if you’re not hosting at home you may need to create your invitation list first so you can select a venue that can accommodate your number. I used Zazzle for the first time and was super happy with the selection and the ability to use a design across many products (as we’ll talk about later, I got a sign, stickers, and more from Zazzle all in the same theme). I did a trial of their premium membership and it was definitely worth it as I was placing a few orders in a short amount of time.
Make sure to include details like the address of the church, the start time, and the address of the party venue.
Reserve rentals
We needed a tent, chairs, and tables for our party because it was outside and for 40 people. Make sure you order your rentals early and call a few places to find the best rate and service.
Plan Menu
We knew we wanted to order the main course from our favorite local restaurant and we were mindful to pick both cold and warm dishes, as well as vegetarian options. We got two different salad, wraps, sandwiches, chicken and rice, and we added shrimp cocktail to the main spread as well. We made sure to place the order well in advance because we wanted it delivered during the lunch time rush.
For the appetizers we decided to do it ourselves and had cheese, crackers, chips, salsa, guac, and bruschetta. For dessert we ordered a cake (it was from Costco and it was excellent) and made fruit salad and brownies. We had a variety of sodas and water for beverages (make sure you have coolers and someone on point to get ice that day).
Procure decor & tableware
I use the word “procure” because I collected decor from a few places. First I focused on the tables, including where people were sitting as well as snack, drink, food, and gift tables. It was most affordable to buy table cloths for the dining tables and food tables rather than renting them. I really liked having a patterned table cloth for the food area and white table cloths with blue runners for the dining tables. I borrowed white table cloths for the gift table and snack table.
For appetizers I had these small blue plates and patterned cocktail napkins. For the main course I got these blue patterned plates that I loved, these dinner sized napkins, and disposable silverware. I also had plastic glasses for ice and beverages if anyone wanted those.
For decorations I had paper lanterns and a welcome sign. The favors (more on that in a few) also served as decor along with a glass card box and flowers.
Choose favors and gifts for godparents
For favors I got mini succulents and created a sticker to dress them up. I liked this idea because it looked great as decor and is an item I think people would appreciate and not just toss.
We also got gifts for our baby’s godparents and wrote them cards.
Select outfits (for baby and yourself!)
I loved picking out a sweet outfit for our baby and may have had even more fun picking an outfit for myself to coordinate with the party theme.
Day-of organization
Between the day before and the day-of there are a lot of little details to attend to. These include ironing the linens, picking out your platters and serving utensils, displaying your decor, picking up items like flowers and ice, cleaning your home, and hosting any out of town guests. Having family on hand to help is a huge plus!
Thank you notes
Your baby will likely receive many gifts and cards, and you’ll want to thank your guests for coming. You can order thank you notes ahead of time or consider creating custom thank you notes with photos from the day of the event. I will say while I had a good experience with Zazzle, I am fairly loyal to Shutterfly for any photo printing, so I decided to order my thank you notes from Shutterfly. The stationary itself matters less than the fact that you send it!
I’m not giving clean up its own category, but that’s another task that must be done. Someone shared with me that putting food away first, then washing dishes, then breaking down tables is the best order and I found that to be the case. Again, it’s a huge help to have family assist in this process – just be sure to fully enjoy your guests and let the party end naturally before jumping into cleaning up.
While I loved the way the party turned out, it was a lot more work than I realized it would be (and I had so much help – I can’t overemphasize this!). It’s made me even more appreciative of anyone who hosts and I can say with confidence that I will not be the mother to host large annual birthday parties. Sticking to formal celebrations for the sacraments (looking at you first communion which is seven years away) is the way I plan to go.
I hope this list is helpful and leaves you feeling excited (and not overwhelmed!) when you plan your own celebration.
Leave a Reply