Baby Ceremonies

Welcoming Ceremonies

After waiting for what seemed to be forever, your precious baby has finally arrived! This is a wonderful opportunity to bring together family and friends to welcome and celebrate the birth of the newest addition to your family.

Whether you and your partner want to blend religious traditions for a Baby Blessing or Baby Naming, or you want to host a non-religious Baby Welcoming Ceremony, I can create a beautiful, personalized ceremony that takes into account you and your partner’s beliefs, desires, and preferences. Together, we will create a memorable celebration of the birth of your child for you and your guests.

Baby Blessings and Welcomings

ADOPTION WELCOMING CEREMONIES

An Adoption Welcoming Ceremony is a beautiful way to celebrate the adoption of your child or to embrace stepchildren into a newly-formed family. Because many religions only have welcoming ceremonies for newborns, families with adopted children can often feel left out.

I feel that the arrival of adopted children and stepchildren is just as joyful and important as a baby’s birth. The focus of an Adoption Welcoming Ceremony is to welcome the child into the family, to bind them emotionally to the new family, and to express love and gratitude for this child and your supportive family and friends. After all, it takes a village to raise a child!

If the adopted child is a baby, perhaps a simple Baby Naming Ceremony may be appropriate. We will review the different options together to include only the elements you and your spouse really wish to have.

If the child is older, Welcoming Ceremonies can still be deeply moving because the child (or children) may be old enough to actively participate. As this new family relationship begins, we will work together to create a custom-written ceremony that celebrates the taking of the family name and focuses on the joy and love this new addition has given all of you. View some Ceremony Enhancement ideas below.

They are the perfect visual declaration to welcome children and stepchildren into your new, blended family.

Whatever the case may be for your unique family, I will create a ceremony that focuses on each person’s expression of love and commitment, and we will celebrate your new family coming together as one.

CEREMONY ENHANCEMENTS FOR BABY

Candle-Lighting Ceremony

The candle flame symbolically represents the child’s new life, and lighting a candle for the child further represents the promises we make to remain illuminated for this child for all time. This is great way to include the “special someone(s)” in your child’s life. One or two larger candles and one additional slim candle per couple are needed. There are two ways to do this:

With 2 larger candles. The parents’ candle is the first to be lit by the smaller of the two candles in the center of the altar. The parents then light the candle of the couple next to them, and so on, until every candle is lit. Then the Godparents or Grandparents light the larger center candle.
With 1 larger candle. All the candles are already lit and on the altar. The special people (Godparents, Grandparents) and the parents take a candle per couple, and together they light the center candle.

Sharing of Wine — (breaking of bread can be used in conjunction)

Used in many cultures since antiquity to commemorate special occasions and rites of passage, the cup of wine is blessed with all the best wishes we feel in our hearts, and the parents, and whomever else, drink from it.

Wishing/Blessing Stones — (can be done with sea shells instead!)

Stones are a great way to include everyone present at the ceremony! Smooth stones and fine-tipped permanent markers are handed to everyone who attends. They are to create a phrase or word that captures what they wish the baby will be blessed with.

During the ceremony, each person holds the stone in his/her hand, and together we bless the stones with our intentions, and then each participant adds his/her stone into an apothecary glass jar. However, the parents and special someone(s) place theirs into the bowl of water, with which I use to bless the child. Thus everyone is involved, energetically connected and part of the Baby Blessing, and you get to keep this lovely keepsake in the baby’s bedroom!

Tree Planting Ceremony

This is a perfect way to commemorate your child’s birth and include other members of the family. This Ceremony Enhancement represents the nurturing and tender-loving care required for your child to grow. Love is the root from which all things spring forth, and the hope is that, not only will your child’s growth mirror that of the tree, but your relationship and love for one another and for your child will mature and blossom just as the tree you planted. It will serve as a visual reminder of your commitment to your child because, just as the tree will need daily, constant care, a healthy child requires constant nurturing and nourishment. This is a wonderful way to include other family members! Vessels of soil are given to Parents, Godparents, Grandparents, and/or siblings to surround the sapling in its container.

Presenting of Gifts

The parents, grandparents and/or Godparents can give the child a gift during the ceremony for all to witness. Parents can also give tokens of appreciation to the presenters of gifts.

Closing Ceremony Enhancement Options:

Bubbles
Sea Shell Toss
Balloon Release
Sprinkling of Petals
Holding Up High
Ringing a Bell

The Ceremony Enhancement will be adapted to the meaning you wish for it to convey, so let’s discuss some options together.

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