Baby Naming Ceremony - the alternative to relgious ceremonies

Nowadays many people do not want religious ceremonies to mark their rights of passage - they're looking for an alternative. And so, they know they don't want to christen the baby into any particular religion, but yet they want to do SOMETHING to mark his or her arrival. It is quintessentially human to mark life's milestones; however religions have usurped that role and disempowered us from doing it ourselves. Therefore people had to either undergo a religious ritual which meant nothing to them, or forgo any ceremony at all.

There is a answer though - to organise your own baby-naming service. This can be as secular or as spiritual as you require, and you can hire a celebrant/officiant to do it for you, or you can do it yourself. Of course, doing it all yourself means that you save money as that is free. However, there is good reason to hire, and that is that he or she will know more about creating a special baby-naming ceremony than you do, and also will leave you free to enjoy the ceremony instead of being in charge of it.

Of course, when arranging a baby naming ceremony, there are no rules. You can do it in whichever way you choose. However, here are several ideas as to what you can do. You can craft an order of events, indicating who is going to do and say what, and when. This could, for example, include statements of gratitude for the baby's existence, and also the parents could promise officially, in front of everybody, to mind, and care for, and love that baby throughout his or her life. You could also include statements by other adults who the parents choose to be the secular eqivalent of godparents, with their vows and wishes for the baby. And what about including special presents for the baby - a piece of jewellery to keep throughout his/her life, maybe.

And of course, after the ceremony you can have a party with the guests. It is another quintessential part of being human to eat and drink together in celebration, and this would be a perfect ending to your baby naming ceremony.

So, what's the best way of choosing the right celebrant? There are no official standards or training for celebrants after all. You will need to use your own judgement. Ask them how much prior experience they have. Also, get them to tell you what training and qualifications they have that they bring to the table as celebrants, so to speak. Check out testimonials from previous clients, either on their website, or in person. Ask them to share with you what sort of ideas they will propose for your baby naming ceremony. And most importantly of all - ask yourself if this person makes you feel comfortable. If you get good answers to all these questions, then you're onto a winner, and all set for creating the perfect baby naming ceremony.