Occasions
How Much Do You Give at a Christening?
In short: Around £10 to £25 as a guest of the parents, £25 to £50 as a close friend, and more as close family or a godparent, where £50 to £100 is common. None of this is measured by any UK survey, so treat it as convention. A christening gift usually ends up in a savings account rather than being spent, which is worth knowing before you choose.
You have been invited to a christening and there is nothing on the invitation about gifts, because there almost never is.
So you are working from nothing. Christenings do not have the shared script that birthdays and weddings have, they happen rarely enough that most people have no recent example to go on, and the invitation has told you the time of the service and the name of the pub afterwards.
Is a christening a gift occasion at all?
Partly, and less than people fear.
A christening is a religious service first. Attending is the gift in a way that is not true of a birthday party, and nobody is counting envelopes at the door. Plenty of guests bring a card and nothing else, particularly if they were invited as a friend of the parents rather than as family.
Where a gift is expected, it is usually expected from a smaller group than the guest list. Godparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are the people the tradition actually points at. Everyone else is welcome to give and welcome not to.
The short answer, by who you are
No published UK survey covers christening giving, so there is no figure to quote and anyone quoting one has made it up. What follows is convention.
| Who you are | What people usually give |
|---|---|
| A friend or colleague of the parents | £10 to £25, or a card and nothing else |
| A close friend of the family | £25 to £50 |
| An aunt, uncle or cousin | £30 to £50, family depending |
| A grandparent | Whatever the family does, often considerably more |
| A godparent | £50 to £100 is common, usually alongside a keepsake |
Read that as a shape rather than a scale. A close family that has always given £20 across the board is not being ungenerous, and a guest putting £10 in a card at a service they were kindly invited to has done nothing wrong.
Why money mostly replaced the silver
The traditional christening gift was an object meant to last.
Silver was the classic, whether a napkin ring, a christening spoon or a small photograph frame, alongside jewellery, a bible or a keepsake box. The idea was that the child would still have it in forty years, which some of them do.
Most of that has given way to money, for a practical reason. Silver spoons live in a drawer. A christening produces a small child who does not yet need anything and parents who are spending more than they have ever spent, and money is the version of the gift that is still useful in a decade.
Keepsakes have not vanished, and one thoughtful object usually beats a fifth envelope. Godparents in particular still tend to give something that lasts alongside whatever they put in the card.
Where the money usually goes
This is the difference between a christening and a birthday, and it should change what you give.
Cash given at a christening is rarely spent that month. It goes into a savings account, a Junior ISA or a Premium Bond, and the child meets it when they are eighteen. That makes the gift a contribution to something long term rather than a present, which is why amounts at a christening tend to run higher than at a birthday for the same relationship.
It also means a voucher is usually the weakest of the three options. A gift card for a toy shop cannot go into a savings account, expires, and solves a problem the family does not have.
If you want the money to reach the savings pot rather than the weekly shop, a line in the card is enough. “For the savings account, whenever you get round to it” is not presumptuous. It is helpful.
What about a naming ceremony?
The same conventions apply, with the religious element removed.
A naming ceremony is the non-religious equivalent, and families choose one for all sorts of reasons. The gift expectations are identical, the amounts are the same, and the only real difference is that anything explicitly religious is the wrong choice. A bible is out. A keepsake, savings or money in a card all work exactly as they would at a christening.
Some naming ceremonies appoint guide parents, supporting adults or a similar role in place of godparents. If you have been asked to be one, treat it as the godparent row of the table.
Our guide to naming ceremonies covers how the day itself runs, and our christening invitation wording guide covers the hosting side.
If several people want to give together
For anything worth having, pooling beats separate envelopes.
The gifts that genuinely help at this stage are the expensive ones, and no single guest wants to buy a cot or a substantial chunk of a savings pot alone. Where a group of family or friends wants to give something more than a card each, one combined amount towards one thing does more than six separate £25s spread across six ideas.
If the family has set up a pot, contribute to that and give what suits you. A shared pot keeps individual amounts private, so a group can give together without anybody’s contribution being visible next to anybody else’s, which is the part that otherwise makes group giving uncomfortable.
If you would rather not give money
A card is a complete answer, and a keepsake is a lovely one.
Books are consistently good, particularly an inscribed one, because the inscription is the bit that survives. A photograph frame, a piece of jewellery to be grown into, or something made rather than bought all sit squarely in the tradition. Anything with the date on it will be looked at again.
What you should skip is a toy. The child is a few months old, the parents are drowning in things that light up, and it is the one category the occasion is not really about.
Common questions
How much money do you give at a christening?
Around £10 to £25 as a guest of the parents, £25 to £50 as a close friend, and more as close family. Godparents commonly give £50 to £100. There is no published UK figure for any of it, so treat every number as convention.
Do you have to give a gift at a christening?
No. A christening is a service rather than a gift occasion, and plenty of guests bring only a card. Gifts are traditionally expected from godparents, grandparents and close family rather than from everyone invited.
How much should a godparent give at a christening?
£50 to £100 is common, often alongside a keepsake meant to last. The role carries more weight than the amount, and families vary enormously, so what your family has established matters more than any general figure.
Is money or a keepsake better as a christening gift?
Money is more useful, since it usually goes into a savings account the child meets at eighteen. A keepsake lasts and gets looked at again. Godparents often give both, and one thoughtful object beats a fifth envelope.
What do you give at a naming ceremony?
The same as at a christening, minus anything religious. Money, a keepsake or a contribution to savings all work. If you have been asked to be a guide parent or equivalent, treat the role as you would a godparent.
Should you give a gift voucher at a christening?
Usually not. Christening money tends to go into savings rather than being spent, and a voucher cannot. It also expires. Cash in a card or a contribution to a savings pot is more useful to the family.
Organising the day? Create a free christening invitation and collect towards one savings gift, with amounts kept private, at planiit.io.