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Naming Days are becoming more and more popular as a wonderful and relaxed alternative to traditional Christening, especially for couples who don’t want to make the occasion all about religion.

However, the lovely thing here is, that if you do want to include religious elements such as readings or blessings, then we can absolutely do that. It can be a nice touch perhaps for grandparents or great-grandparents who hold the tradition of a Christening close to their hearts - slot in a poem with a gentle religious message so that everyone is comfortable, or ask them to make their own blessing.

So the main aim of these days is to welcome the “new arrival” but also to celebrate all that is family!  Family can have multiple meanings to different people and so however your family is made up and whoever it is that you want to be involved in your child’s day and their life journey – let’s celebrate that.

You can adapt your Naming Day content to be suitable for other precious celebratory events such as adoptions and blended families and I always encourage including some cultural or family traditions, whatever beliefs or quirks your family has and whatever fits in with your style as a family – let’s tell everyone what your world is about and what family means to you.

God Parents or Guide Parents?  Either! Just because you’re opting overall for a non-religious event, you can still have God Parents – many families choose to keep this tradition. 

So much like weddings, there are no rules regarding content for a Naming Day and that’s probably a good thing as you can’t predict what might happen when babies are involved can you?  I’ve seen baby “Ellie” dressed in her finery, sitting on Dad’s lap and vomiting into his beer, I’ve seen baby “George” try to feed his socks to the family’s golden retriever and have had a bowl of Wotsits thrown at me by Baby “shall remain nameless”.   It just adds to the experience!

So we’ll throw in whatever you like, there are so many cute and meaningful elements to include from your own favourite childhood readings, personalised godparent vows, sing-a-longs or perhaps a little mini-ceremony such as a Sand Unity or a Wish Tree.

They are the MOST joyous of occasions and my excitement hits a new height whenever I get asked to do one and I stay on a high for the rest of the day. There’s a very personal reason for this too, which I’ve (bravely) shared on the video link above "Why Naming Days mean so much to me" from March this year.  I told you I was an open book 😊.