Print the word your church already uses. If the parish email, the bulletin and the order of service say baptism, the invitation says baptism. If they say christening, a christening invitation uses that word. Families type both phrases when they mean the same morning at church. The card only needs the one the church already put in writing.
Families use both words for the same gathering
When someone writes to me about a christening invitation, they often mean a baptism. A grandmother says christening because that is the word her own mother used. The church office says baptism because that is the word on the form. A cousin in another city says christening too. They are all describing one service, and often a meal afterwards.
I design one piece of paper for that gathering. I set the type. The theology belongs to the parish. The vocabulary around the day shifts by household and by parish. The day itself stays one morning, in one church, with one child at the centre.
Christening is the word some families bring to the table. On my side it is the same work as baptism: names, a church, a time, and the people hosting. The baptism invitations collection is that work, under whichever heading the parish already uses.
If you grew up with one word and married into the other, put the church’s language on the card. Let the family conversation happen at the table, not in the heading. Guests who love you will recognise the morning. Guests new to the parish will match the word they see on the noticeboard when they walk in.
A verse is optional. A photograph is optional. A pale floral for a daughter and a navy rule for a son are optional. The noun in the heading has to be a word the usher and the priest will recognise. That is the argument for copying the church rather than copying a relative.
I see both phrases in the same week, sometimes in the same email. People search baptism and christening invitations when they are trying to find the right designer. On the card, one noun is enough. Two nouns in one heading reads like nobody decided.
The paper has a small job. It tells a guest where to stand, and when. The word that does that job is the word already hanging in the church porch.
Use the word the church already uses
The cleanest way to choose is to copy a line the parish has already written. Open the last email from the church office. Read the sentence that confirms the date. Use that noun, spelled that way, on the front of the card.
If the booking form says Holy Baptism, I set Holy Baptism. If a priest wrote christening in the same thread, I ask which line is the official one. Then I follow that. One noun, used the same way on the heading, on the details, and on any matching piece.
Mixing both words on one invitation reads like a committee. “The baptism and christening of” is how people search. It is a poor heading. The heading is the child’s name, then the occasion in the church’s words, then the invitation to be there.
A christening ceremony, in the way families mean it when they write to me, is the church service at which the child is received. The parish will tell you what they call that hour and what happens in it. I design the paper that gets people to the door.
Godparents, sponsors and witnesses belong in the wording the parish already uses for them. Send me the title the church will read aloud, and the names as they will be read in the service. If those names are still being decided, I leave that line off until they are fixed. A guessed godparent is a reprint.
Who sits in the pews is a question for the parish office and for your own table. Ask the church if they have a sense of numbers for the nave. Then write your lunch list as a separate thing. I will set whatever names you send. I will not invent a custom guest list for you.
I work nationally. Files are digital, so a postcode does not change the work or the price. San Diego County clients can meet in person on anything over $285. Everyone else sends the same things by email: the date, the occasion, colours or a general vibe, and one photo of something they love. The occasion field is where you paste the church’s word. Most projects never need a call. The form and a couple of emails is usually plenty.
Baby christening invitations go quiet and clear when that heading is settled before I open the file. A compromise heading asks the guest to decide. Decide first.
What a christening invitation still has to carry
A short invitation is a set of facts a guest can act on. That is true for baptism invitations and for a christening invitation alike. A verse, a photograph or a line of poetry can sit around those facts. A guest who has to text you for the street name got a pretty card. They still need the facts.
- The child’s full name belongs on the front, spelled as the church will record it.
- The date and time of the service belong in type a guest can read at a glance.
- The church name and street address belong on the card, even for local family.
- The hosts’ names belong under the invitation line.
- A gathering afterwards needs its own place and time.
For phrasing that already sounds like a card, use the baptism invitation wording guide. Take the shape, then swap in the church’s noun. “You are invited to the baptism of” becomes “You are invited to the christening of” when that is the word in the diary. The rest of the sentence can stay.
A good line on this kind of card is a calm one. Name the child. Name the occasion. Ask people to come. Leave the sermon for the service. If you want a verse, pick one your priest already uses, so the paper and the liturgy agree.
Reply details belong where a guest can read them without a squint. A phone number or an email is enough for a small family list. I do not host RSVPs and I do not manage a guest list. You collect the answers.
What I send you is a print-ready PDF at 300dpi with bleed and crop marks, a version sized for text messages, and a version sized for Instagram and Facebook stories, in one shared folder with no app to install. You send the files to whichever printer you like. For most invitations I suggest 110lb cover stock with an uncoated finish. I do not print, mail, ship or address anything.
A custom invitation designed from nothing is $285, with two rounds of revisions. A collection design personalised by hand with your details is $65. Printing, postage, envelopes and card stock sit outside that figure. The quote you get is the price you pay.
An announcement is a different piece
An invitation asks someone to come. An announcement tells someone it happened, or that it will happen, without asking them to travel.
If the church holds a small congregation and the family is large, the people in the pews get an invitation. The wider circle can get an announcement after the day, or a quieter note with a photograph. That is a different piece of paper with a different job.
I already wrote out that split in baptism invitation or baptism announcement. The short version is this. Print “join us” on a card meant for people who can join you. Print the news, without a request, on a card meant for people who are being told.
Christening invitations and baptism invitations make the same mistake when they try to be both. The church list needs a time and a door. The family list that is only being told the news needs a sentence in the past tense, or a future sentence with no request to attend.
Announcements are their own service when that is the honest piece. The files are still digital. The type can match the invitation if you want the two to sit in a drawer together later. Matching is a kindness to the people who keep paper. It is a choice.
A photograph on an announcement can do work a photograph on an invitation does not always do. After the day, you have the child in the gown, the church steps, the people who stood up. Before the day, you may only have a portrait from last month. Either is fine. Put the facts in type first, then decide if the picture earns its space.
Some families send the invitation, hold the morning, then post an announcement with a photograph the next week. Some send only the announcement because the service is already a small circle. Both are honest. The paper should tell the truth about whether you are being asked to come.
Files for a church list and a family list
Two lists is a common reason a card stalls. The parish may limit how many people sit in the nave. The lunch may be at a house that holds a dozen. The cousins in another state are loved and are not being asked to fly. None of that is a rule I can quote. It is a room, a table, and a decision you already know.
I can keep the same look across two files when you send both sets of details with the brief. One file names the church, the time of the service, and the people who should be in the pews. The other names the lunch, or names only the news. The child’s name, the colours and the type stay put, so the two cards feel like one morning.
You print the run you need of each. Because I do not print, you can use a local shop for a short church list and an online printer if the family list is long. Ask the printer for a paper proof before the full run. What you see on a phone is not what 110lb uncoated cover will do in daylight.
If a name moves, send me the change as one list rather than a drip of single tweaks. A round of revisions means everything you want changed, at once. Custom invitation work includes two rounds. A full suite includes three.
Two to three weeks is comfortable for most things. A week is doable. Two days is a rush. A christening invitation is a short card, so the design is not the long part. Confirming the church’s word, the godparent names, and which list is which: that is the long part. Do that on paper before you ask me to set type.
The files are yours outright, forever, with no licence and no per-use fee. You can reprint as many times as you like. Delivered files are flat, so you cannot edit them on your side. If you need a version built to be updated, that is a template set at $395. For one morning at church, two finished PDFs in a folder is usually the kinder path.
The word on the card is a courtesy to the people who will stand up in that church. They already know what to call the morning. Agree with them in print, then let the day be about the child.