Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

We haven't had much time to figure out the baptism and now DD is 6 months old already! We registered with a church in the area a few weeks ago but they are making us wait 6 months before we can baptize her so we can't do it in April like we wanted to.

So since we live in FL and have family in NY who all want to come in for it we were thinking to combine it with her 1st birthday in August since everyone is coming down then anyway. Has anyone done this?

How should we do it? Have the baptism and 1st birthday party on separate days (sat & sun) or have the baptism in the morning and then the party after for that and her 1st birthday? Or maybe spreading them out is better... baptism in October? WDYT?

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

I would do it at the same time and then you can hopefully have most of your OOS family and friends come.

As for timing, we never baptized Christopher, so I don't know if it would be too much to do it all in one day, but I think it would be fine to do one Saturday and one Sunday...

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

I would definitely do it the same weekend. You can maybe have the baby baptized in the church in the morning and then have a big party in the afternoon for her 1st birthday and baptism. The only problem I see with this is if you want her to wear a special party dress for her 1st b-day then you will have to change her out of her baptism gown/dress. Many people change their baby after the baptism ceremony so it might not be a problem. Personally I kept my DD's baptism dress on during the whole party because I wanted to take pictures. You could just keep tje baptism dress on for a little at the party and then change her into her party dress.

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

I personally would not combine it. If you want to do it while your family is visiting in August I would do one day baptism, one day birthday. Maybe you can keep the baptism low key and just do a small lunch/dinner??

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Personally depending on how long your OOTers are going to be there, I'd probably do a low-key baptism ceremony in the morning and have a combined birthday in the afternoon/evening. I'd do it very big and lavish since it's 2 parties in one.

I'd take all your "formal" pics in the morning with DD in her christening gown so that she can wear a lovely birthday outfit for the party.

For the cake/dessert, maybe do a baptism cake and birthday cupcakes. The cake could be 1 flavor combo and the cupcakes could be a total different combo.

I think back to back parties on the same weekend could be a bit much.

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

I did this for DS in December. I had originally planned to have the christening during the summer so we could have the party in my parent's backyard but for numerous reasons it never happened. So we decided to do the Christening and 1st Birthday at the same time.

The church service was 10am Sunday morning and then we had lunch served in a semi-private room reserved at a steakhouse for 40 guests. It was the best thing ever!!!! After the church service we took pictures and then we changed DS's outfit so he could be more comfortable. I had a cake made by lily-cakes.com and she put both "God Bless" & "Happy 1st BIrthday" on the cake. I also had her make cupcakes and i used those as the favors. 1/2 of the cupcakes had crosses on them and the other half had # 1s on them.

This actually reminds me that I need to post my review and pics of the party.... I am 2 months late now

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

I agree with the PP who said 2 parties in 1 weekend will be a lot. I would do the ceremony in the morning and then the party later the same day. I really don't think it matters if you combine both events in 1 party. It will be fun regardless of the title put on the party. The one thing to keep in mind though is people will probably view it as 1 occasion, as far as gift-giving goes.

Just curious, why is the church making you wait 6 months? Maybe another parish in the area has availability sooner so you can do it in April like you wanted to?

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

I would def. do Birthday party on Sat and Baptism on Sun!

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Thanks for your opinions... both ideas sound good to me! It would be good to get it all done in one day, the baptism in the morning and then a big combined party in the afternoon... but I like the idea of having them separate too.

We originally weren't going to do a big party for the baptism anyway so we could do the 1st birthday party on saturday and the baptism on sunday with a small lunch after just with immediate family. Decisions decisions.........

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

I would do it the same time. Paxton's 1st birthday is March 4th and his baptism is March 14th. We will do a cake for immediate family on his actual birthday and then celebrate again when OOT family is here on the 14th.

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Are you planning on having a big party for both the baptism and birthday? My thought is if you are having a lot of people traveling, you are more than likely going to see them more than just 1 day, so I would say you could do it in 2 different days. Say you have the baptism at a restaurant and the first birthday at home, KWIM? (Sat. & Sun.) If you are planning on doing 2 large parties, than combining them would make more sense I guess.

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Maybe have the baptism and a small brunch after and then the birthday the next day...

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

there is no way I would have 2 parties back to back, have one big bash and call it a day

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

In a strange way I have the same situation with DD being a Christmas baby.

I would combine the two. You can make the AM the baptism part and the PM the b-day part. I had DD's baptism in late July and it was SWELTERING outside. I mean dripping humidity, beaming sunshine, the threat of showers--no way were we keeping her in that big old gown all day--we got our good shots of her and then changed her into a little white sundress. You can do something similar, but with a b-day dress. Also, we had a hot buffet--and it went practically untouched. People were too hot to eat!

You can also have two small cakes instead of a b-day or Christening cake--or a small cake and a cupcake tower'--you can make the decorations white and silver--which can be b-day or baptism. There are tons of possibilities!

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Posted by trish71407

Posted by CaMacho

We originally weren't going to do a big party for the baptism anyway so we could do the 1st birthday party on saturday and the baptism on sunday with a small lunch after just with immediate family. Decisions decisions.........

Didnt realize you posted this, this is what I was getting at in my previous post!

Re: Anyone do the Baptism and 1st Birthday party together? (even if you didn't I need your input!)

Posted by pinkandblue

there is no way I would have 2 parties back to back, have one big bash and call it a day