Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

As I have expressed before, I really am not "into" this baptism thing and I am really only doing it for Sadie and to please family members. I DO like the idea of the baptism as it welcomes her to the church blah blah but I am not a religious person and especially since she is an IVF baby, it annoys me that the way she was conceived would not technically be "accepted."

Annnyyywaayyyy....

I am having the party in my parent's big gorgeous back yard. I need to get my BUTT IN GEAR with this.

I need ideas on food (hereos, catered trays, BBQ?) and help with invitations. I would do I photoinvite but I dont have the patience to make one, so maybe someone can recommned a wesbite?

I also need some ideas on activities to maybe make it more "fun".

Thanks in advance!

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

I'm planning on doing a backyard christening in the near future too

As far as food goes do you have a favorite restauraunt? Most places offer catering and they will come and deliver everything and set it up for you. Personally about the BBQ unless you can hire someoe to take care of the cooking I say it's worth it if not I've seen a lot of DH's real upset about missing the party lol.

How many people do you plan on having? How many kids I can recommend a good entertainment compnany for children.

As far as invitations I couldn't be bothered with my DS's so I went to a local Cedarhurst Paper and had them print out the invitations for me. All I did was pick out the invite, told them what I wanted printed, asked for 25 of them and picked them up three days later. If you want to purchase them online Tiny Prints.com has some really nice invites.

Are you planning on getting a tent? I can warn you about one company and recommend another.

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

I am not sure where you live but if you are near a BJ's they make great heros. Also their cake is really good too. Plus you cant beat the pricing.

As for trays of food I would think a chicken and pasta dish would be a good start. Add a mixed salad and breads as well. This is just a start for you.

Check Costco out for the invites. You can drop your pics into their templates and again the pricing is right!

Good luck!

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

Just curious...did the church say that to you about technically not being accepted? I mean I know what their views are all the way up the chain but still just curious if your church asked you how your dc was conceived and all that.

My DS was not born via IVF but I did go throught some rounds of it myself (all failed) but If I had a baby through IVF and the church where I wanted the baby babtised said anything at all I would have been

My cousin who lives in Rome went through IVF and I know that they had made her only use two eggs to implant and the rest she couldn't freeze by law. So if she wanted more kids in the future she would have to do the whole process all over again, unbelievable!

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

we are in Ct, but rented a tent, chairs, and tables....

ordered invites from tinyprints.com
love them!!!

we will have food catered and made by some people who offered...

we will have a kid's activity table with stuff from dollar store and oriental trading

we hired a jazz musician to play for two hours...

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

We went to the deli that caters all our familys partys and got heros and trays of hot food.

We set up a tent and tables and chairs in our backyard. I bought flowers and clay pots and made those the centerpieces. No ballons or anything, just the flowers.

We had no entertaiment for the kids, I didn't think it was that type of party.

We printed our own inivtes, just went to pick quick and got the blank ones.

Message edited 4/20/2009 11:58:58 AM.

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

We had DD babtism party in our backyard last August.

I had a tent and got table and chairs from a DJ company. I used mums as centerpieces and anyone who wanted to take one home could.

I order the food from Joe's Catering in Holbrook and dessert from Uncle Guiseppie's (fruit bowl and Cannolis) in Smithtown.

I had two friends of my stepdaughter (age 17) come over to help serve. I paid them $50 each to make sure that everyone had drinks, the food was well stocked and the everything was cleaned up. This was such a help and well worth the $100 bucks. I got to actually spend time with my family and once everyone left, the clean-up was minimal.

I am having her first birthday party in May and will probably do the same thing but will do BBQ instead of the catered food. I don't know if I will rent a tent but I will definately need more tables and chairs.

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

Thanks for all the ideas everyone!

As far as tables and chairs..I do not need to rent them. My dad has access to however many we will need.

I havent decided if I am going to go the tent route yet...but if it rains I may be in trouble.

Those of you that have done this. did you do favors and centerpieces as well?/


To the poster that asked about the church: No they did not ask and I did not tell them but it annoys me that the catholic church would look down upon it when I wanted her more than anything....

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

I ordered my son's baptism invites from peartreegreetings.com, they were very reasonable. I haven't received them yet but will let you know how they are

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

I know someone who make a mean eggplant parm and ziti. This person also makes the ice cream cone cupcakes for the kids!

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

I made up my own favors with old baby food jars, some candy, a ribbon and labels. You can do it yourself easily!!

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

We used an AWESOME caterer! I want to have another event to use her again. I'll look up her info when I get home. The food was AWESOME!

I had the best time bc I didn't have to worry about anything. they cooked, served and cleaned up.

I ordered tables, linens and chairs and used a couple tents my parents already had. I bought the watering cans for CP's from Michael's, put the ribbon on them and took them to LA Blossom to fill. She dropped them off the morning of.

I didn't do favors. I got invites from WeddingPaperDivas.com bc I wanted lavendar and couldn't find them on any baby sites.

I got the cake from Dortoni's in Levittown.









This was inside the house:






Thank you notes

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

Posted by MrsFlatbread

I know someone who make a mean eggplant parm and ziti. This person also makes the ice cream cone cupcakes for the kids!

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

We had Cafe Amici in Selden cater DS's 1st bday. They are reasonable and their food is AMAZING. They also have heros. You can also hire a waitress for like $25 an hour (forgot the name of the place but it's in Bohemia I think).

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

Ilove those pics looks so pretty.
I would just try to do it as low cost as possible!

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

For Landon's Christening:
we had the party in our backyard (August)
We own a tent, and good thing we had one because it started to rain just after cake!
For invitations, I got basic ones that your write on from the local card shop. We booked his Christening at the last minute so there was no time for photo or fancy invites. I did a photo thank you card though, with a photo of him from that day( basic shutterfly thank you card).
For favors I did hershey candy bars with personalized labels, I made them myself.
Centerpieces were balloons.
My MIL got the cake (not sure where from). The food we had catered from Cafe Amici (in Selden, Home Depot shopping center). We used them a lot. We had tons of food... salad, hero, penne ala vodka, 2 chicken dishes, meatballs, eggplant, etc.
No entertainment for the kids but I did buy some bubbles and coloring books/crayons for them and we also set up our kiddie pool (it was hot - august).
For music I made an easy listening type playlist on our ipod.

Re: Backyard christening party...ideas and help needed

invitations...i am using sweetpeagreetings.com they are gorgous and cheaper than others