Our first baby is due in spring and we'd like to have some sort of 'do' to welcome him/her into the world and introduce baby to all the friends and family. We also want our closest friends to be 'godparents' to the child. However, we're not religious so this will be a secular thing.
Does anyone know what these are called - I've come across 'mentor' 'second-parent' 'guide' and 'special friend' all of which sound a bit odd. Anyone done this before and know the correct terminology??
Sorrry if this has been done before, I've been having trouble gettign the search facility to work.

There are similar threads, one was on General Discussions though so have a look there if you get chance.
We felt the same as you but couldn't find anything to suit us. So we had a chat with the church and the friends we wanted as godparents and we reached something which suited everyone.
I know there's someone on the forum who does naming ceremonys. Thjat wasn't what we wanted, it didn't feel as if it held enough weight to us, however, she's a well known forummer who would most likely come highly recommended.

Hi,

I am not sure where you live but we had a naming ceremony at Wadsley church. We had what we called godparents but I can't remember what the church called them (they weren't officially classed as godparents). The vicar was lovely & gave us the choice of 2 ceremonys. The traditional religious one or the naming ceremony which we chose. We sang hyms & things & as it was a joint do with my sister we both read out something we had written rather than something from the bible.

It was done as part of the oridinary Sunday service & it was really nice. They have a band playing & they really jazz the hyms up. We all enjoyed it. There is a play room where you can take the kids if they are bored or being a bit grizzly & you can still hear the service as its piped in.

It was very informal & they have tea & coffee afterwards - everyone made us feel very welcome.

Lisa xx

Our first baby is due in spring and we'd like to have some sort of 'do' to welcome him/her into the world and introduce baby to all the friends and family. We also want our closest friends to be 'godparents' to the child. However, we're not religious so this will be a secular thing.
Does anyone know what these are called - I've come across 'mentor' 'second-parent' 'guide' and 'special friend' all of which sound a bit odd. Anyone done this before and know the correct terminology??
Sorrry if this has been done before, I've been having trouble gettign the search facility to work.

We had a joint thanks giving with Lubybell at Wadsley Church and it was excellent I think most coe churches offer this as many parents feel thay cnnot make the full committment to god.

I have looked at the order of services at is the same as a normall christening the only thing different is they do not do the cross on the babys head in a thnxs givin.

We still had god parents who stood at the front and did the usual. Lubybell also decided to break from the norm and have 3 god mothers and no god fathers as it was a thanx giving and nobody said anything.

If you are wanting a religious Christening can you get away with having all female god mummies or are there more rules you have to follow

Thanks for your replies folks. I want to steer clear of a church service completely, as we've never been churchgoers so it would be a bit hypocritical. LIke the idea of some sort of naming ceremony though, so will have a look at that thread.