This coming March 31, my youngest kiddo will be turning 1 year old. We decided to make the celebration 2in1 (birthday and christening) and we also made it later than her birthdate for we just had our house transfer ,you know, the budget , the effort and all the things we need to settle and organize for the occasion. And that's why again , i came up with my own check list so i would know which is done , and needs to be done.
The Budget
This one's a big thing, me and my partner needs to talk about how much money do we have and how much would we spend for the occasion. Well, we don't have much, so most likely i would like the finances to just range from maybe ₱10,000 - 15000. This would include the payment for the church, the venue and food , the invitation , needed stuffs for christening and all other needed expenses.
The Date
Me and my partner had been discussing this for long . Originally , it should be the exact birthdate and christening at the same time , but again, since we had just trasferred house , we considered the time of preparation, that we only have few days left before March 31. So just earlier today, we've been to church and scheduled the christening on 14th of April, that's going to be a Saturday. We did consider the availability of the visitors too.
The Place
So this includes the location of church , and the reception. Of course it will be here in the place where we just transferred, good thing the church is just inside the village , then the reception , we're still deciding if we'll just cook food here in the house or we'll make a reservation in a fastfood . My husband wants the celebration to just be here in the house , i like the idea, but i dont like it too because the house is not that big , also we dont have enough things to use like for cooking , tables and chairs, we really lack resources. So i told him it would be better to have a reservation in a fast food restaurant, all will be prepared by them , and we have no mess to clean up after.
The Sponsors(Godparents)
This was actually the very first thing i made, the list of Freia's godparents . I actually had to think of who else i can get for her because when i had my firat child, my son Zeph, I almost made all my childhood , elem, highschool and college friends his god parents , Then for my second , my daughter Alex , since i was already working that time her godparents are mostly my co-workers and friends too , ive been wirh them for 5 years . So there, now on the list of Freia's i mostly got my cousins,my partner's cousins and some of our other close common friends.
Invites
Of course after date and olace was settled , we need to inform all godparents , families and all other visitors about the necesaary information about the occasion , so they'll know when to wrap their gifts and where to bring it. LOL. Nah, seriously , this part is also fun on my part because i was able to catch up and havea talk to all people i have to invite . Haven't got much time on chitchatting since i started to become fulltime mom and now a steemian as well.
Souvenirs
I always love to plan for souvenirs, since it's my daughter's birthday and christening everything pink is what's on my mind , pink souvenirs, with baby design , or just simple as pink candle . I also have though of a little bracelet rosary , or a normal sized-pink rosary. Or a pink pacifier will do too , since Freia is rwally in love with her pacifier. But then again , since I don't have enough tine left, i think souvenirs will be included on the package that we'll reservw in a fastfood chain
Church Requirements
Before the church will put you on the official list of scheduled christening , you have to submit some important things . This includes the child's birth certificate; the list of Godparents , marriage certificate if parents are married; candles and white cloth , and the payment . So we were advised to have these submitted on first week of April so it will be officially listed.
Baby dress
As a Filipino tradition , it is said that baby girls should wear a white long dress during the christening . And since we are tight in budget , we'll do the same rhing we did with Alex's , we just borrowed the white long dress from my sister's sister-in-law, which happened to be one of Freia's godparent.
Headcount and Attendace Confirmation
Above all that, sometumes, this one's the hardest part, after you're done with the invites , sometines there are ones who would say yes, there would aldo be those who eould say no, then later on, if you'll come and check again , their decision changes , that's why after probably a week , i'll get back to all of those whom i invited and ask them again just to make sure of their attendance , so headcount will be all good.
There you go, my own checklist, not sure if i got it all there. Feel free to comment and tell me your suggestions if i missed anything. I hope we could get through this successfully , very happy and full of fun.But we wish this to be as simple as it can for we don't have too much , and the most important reason we are planning this is for the celebration of life and to welcome my daughter to the christian world.
