Christenings are becoming more and more elaborate affairs and certainly in my country, Cyprus, they are becoming occasions which warrant great planning of themes, timing, venues, table settings and of course the traditional favours, cakes, outfits and beautiful gifts.
It is now also possible to customize many things, not only can you print personalized invitations, but the cake, the favours, table settings, decorations and presents can all be customized and tailored to the theme and of course include the child's name.
As a parent and recently a godmother, I have developed a great interest in personalized kids gifts and all items which allow you to customize and make the gift or occasion your own.
For a Greek Orthodox Christening, the godparent is charged with bringing everything the child needs for the baptism to the church, and the christening shops here in Cyprus have a wonderful array of personalized gifts and christening items.
For example, a wooden toy box which doubles as a bench can be personalized with the child's name in wooden letters on the front and decorated with your theme whether that be starfish, flowers or butterflies and of course the colours also matching your chosen designs.
Cake shops here offer a beautiful selection of christening cakes personalized with favourite cartoon characters, names, photos and small cupcakes for favours with the child's name and christening date in icing (in the colour of your theme of course!).
I personally chose a large round pink box for my goddaughter's christening. On it were beautiful lime green and fuschia pink butterflies and her name in cascading wooden hand painted letters, to match her room colours when she eventually takes the box home. Inside the box on the day of the christening were all the towels (wrapped in pink & green ribbons), her new beautiful christening dress and shoes, the pretty customized bottle containing olive oil for the christening and of course her christening cross. Her invitations also of course had the same theme and colours.
The tables at the beautiful mountain tavern where we had a celebratory lunch was decorated with small confetti strewn across of course in these colours; nowadays it is even possible to print your own confetti with names and not only colours.
My own daughter's christening, which was shortly after this, had a butterfly theme, so we had butterfly balloons personalized with her name and the date, a chocolate cake with butterflies on it, all with my chosen pink and lemon colour theme.
It is also Greek Orthodox tradition for a candle to be lit during the baptism and this candle is dressed with organza and in this case also had yellow butterflies & pink ribbons on it to tie in with the theme. Aside from the gifts from the godparent, those guests invited to the christening also have a vast array of beautiful personalized gifts to choose from - one of the sweetest things I received was a wooden handmade sign saying 'A Star is Born' with my daughter's name and date of birth on it.
A personalized keep sake box for baby's first tooth and baby first curl was also a delightful present, and a beautiful bedtime story book with the name of my daughter as the star of the story is now essential reading before lights out! These are wonderful personally touching presents which leave a warm feeling behind, as the person bearing this gift went to the trouble to make it that little bit more special.
After receiving these gifts, I chose to never immediately run to the toy store for future gifts but to seek out that something a little more unique to give not only for the birth of a baby, but for christenings, birthdays and even Christmas. I think it is very important to remember that a personalized kids' gift will be cherished for far longer than a regular toy. And with the very large variety of personalized items on offer nowadays, every taste and budget can be catered for.
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