Five homemade baptism gifts that encourage faith at home

We give baptism packs to the families of the children we baptise. The packs include:

• A Teddy Horsley story called ‘Water’
• A Mothers’ Union magazine
• A congratulations card
• A small leaflet highlighting what fathers can do to support their children spiritually
• A card for the parents to give to those who are the child’s godparents
• A hand knitted teddy bear for the child in question

At a recent Candlemas Eucharist, we asked God’s blessing on all of the bears we will give away in the pack this year.

Feel free to use, adapt, correct the prayer:-

Almighty God, Creator and Lover of all.
We give you thanks for those whose care and skill have made these bears.
May your blessing rest on them.
May those newly baptized children who receive them
know the love and care of you their Heavenly Father,
whom they cannot see,
through us, your family here.
Through Jesus Christ who became a child like us,
and grew and lived and died and rose
and reigns forever. Amen

Our children’s chapel kids make these as a gift for babies or children being baptised in our church, and present them to the family on the day – it’s a good way of reinforcing the idea that the child being baptised can grow into a child who comes to church!

You will need two paper plates per dove, scissors, pens, hole punch, double sided sticky tape (or glue, if you prefer), small bits of paper, a length of wool (about 12-18 inches if fine) per dove. You might also like to pre-print the wording on a sticker or piece of paper – see photo. Leave a dotted line for the name of the child to be written in by hand.

1. Draw on a paper plate the outline of a dove, so that the tips of the wings and the tail benefit from the crimping round the edge of the plate, but the head and the belly are entirely on the flat bit of the plate. You can cut this out and use this to make a template on your flat piece of card – this can make it easier to replicate the dove shape on the other plate, or if you need to make more than one of them!
2. Make another dove, but this time using the template the other way round (or, if you want to look at it that way, by drawing on the back of the plate rather than on the front). Either way, you want to end up being able to stick the pair of doves back to back, with the wings and tail fanning out, as in the picture. Try it, and you’ll hopefully see what I mean.
3. Use double sided tape to stick each pair of doves together. You will need one small strip at the bottom of the belly, one between the body and tail, and one at the neck. Don’t stick the back or the wings together.
4. Gently bend the wings apart. Use the hole punch to make a hole at the top of the wing, as close as you can to the balance point (the balance point on mine was towards the back of the top of the wing). Tie each end of the wool through one of the holes, so you have a loop to hang up the dove.
5. Stick on a piece of paper, or a sticker, with the wording on it, and write the name of the child being baptized on the dotted line.
6. You should end up with a sort of ‘pocket’ between the wings of the dove. Children may write or draw blessings / hopes / prayers (as many as they like) on the papers, and then post them into the back of the dove, in the gap between the wings. Things like love, wisdom, happiness, family, health etc may be suggested. These words can be made into a prayer for the child being baptized as the dove is presented to them.

The doves are pretty home-made looking, but many new parents bringing babies for baptism aren’t already inundated with children’s craft projects, so it may still feel special.

The baptism service has provision for the “clothing” of the newly baptised person. I wrap a child in a white shawl at this point, either one which is special to the family, or they may borrow one of our own which we have made ourselves and embroidered with symbols of baptism. I explain that it is a symbol of the child being wrapped in the love of God. After the words set in the CW liturgy (You have been clothed with Christ) I add: As many as are baptised into Christ have put on Christ, (Galatians 3.27).

I also add some words from Julian of Norwich, “As the body is clad in the cloth, and the flesh in the skin, and the heart in the whole, so are we, soul and body, clad in the goodness of God, and enclosed.”

It is always a very moving part of the service, and the parents especially seem to appreciate it. It is not just they who are protecting and caring for their child, but also God. Intriguingly it seems to be just as powerful when used with older children and adults – we all need to be wrapped up now and then!

We have started giving children a hand-knitted bear at their baptism. We decided to invite all our baptism families from the last five years (before we started giving out bears) to a Teddy Bears’ Picnic where they were presented with their Baptism Bear.

We also used a brief, informal liturgy to renew the promises made at baptism. It was a fun way to reconnect with people, and got a good response.

Full details and photos are on my blog.

I present to every child with a personalised baptism candle with their name, date of baptism, the name of the church, and the blessing that I use in the service. I buy pillar candles from Ikea for about £1.60 each, and then print the details onto clear address labels, which you can buy from Staples, etc. I print them for six children at a time (12 labels per sheet, one front and back of the candle) using a Word template that I created. Total cost is about £2 per candle. I’ve received very positive feedback from families.

NB I obviously give very stern warnings to the parents not to burn the candle down without removing the labels!