Key takeaways
- Silver is the default rather than the best answer. Most of it goes in a drawer within a year.
- The gifts that survive are the ones the family uses, or the ones engraved with the child's name and the date.
- Godparents are generally expected to spend more than other guests, commonly £30 to £100, though nobody says so out loud.
- Anyone can pay into a Junior ISA once a parent has opened one, up to £9,000 across everyone in a tax year.
- Anything engraved with the date turns an ordinary object into a keepsake, which is why books and boxes outlast bangles.
If you have spent an hour looking at christening gifts, you have mostly been looking at silver. Bangles, egg cups, money boxes, keepsake spoons. It is the default because it is traditional, not because it is what families end up treasuring, and a great deal of it goes into a drawer and stays there.
The christening gifts that survive fall into three groups: things marked with the day, things the family actually uses, and money. Everything below is one of those, starting with the one that manages to be all three.
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Start with a personalised book
A book with the child in it is the rare christening gift that gets used weekly rather than admired annually, and it survives the loft because nobody throws away a book with their own name on the cover. Two years on, it is also one of the few possessions a toddler never has to share.
Two things separate the ones that get kept from the ones that get outgrown. The first is whether the child appears in the illustrations rather than only in the text. The second is whether the book is about something. A first-year keepsake book, inscribed with the christening date, does the job a silver bangle is supposed to do and gets read as well.
Ours is £34.99 in hardcover and £28.99 in softcover, and you see the finished book before you pay.
What godparents are expected to spend
Nobody says this out loud, so here it is plainly. Godparents are generally expected to give more than other guests. In practice that tends to mean somewhere around £30 to £100, while other guests often give £15 to £30.
There is no rule and nobody is counting. If you are close to the family and short of money, your presence on the day genuinely matters more, and anyone who thinks otherwise is not worth worrying about.
What the tradition actually asks for
The traditional godparent gift is not silver. It is a book.
Which is why a personalised keepsake book sits inside the tradition rather than against it. A book with the child's name on the cover and the christening date written inside it is the same gift the role has always called for, in the version that gets read.
Historically that book was a bible, or a book of bible stories. If the family is practising, a well-made children's bible is a genuinely good gift and the vicar will have a view on which one. If they are not, a book with your godchild's name in it does the same job without the doctrine.
The rest of the tradition is jewellery a small child cannot wear. A St Christopher, a silver cross, a name bracelet. Given now, worn fifteen years later if at all, and in the drawer with the bangle in between.
The role explains the shape of all of it. The Church of England describes a godparent as one of the most important people at a christening, there to talk with a child about the bigger questions of life, to model what the family believes and to pray for them. It also expects at least three of them, two of the same sex as the child and at least one of the opposite sex, with three or four usual and no official maximum.
That last part is a buying fact as much as a theological one. Three or four people are choosing a present for the same baby on the same day, and none of them knows what the others have picked.
A keepsake box that holds the day
A wooden or silver-plated box, engraved with the name and the date, is the most useful version of the traditional gift. It holds the cards, the order of service, the outfit tag, the hospital bracelet if the family kept it.
John Lewis keeps a christening range with engraving on much of it, which is the least effortful way to buy something marked with the day rather than merely nice.
It works because it does not compete with the day. It stores it.
A contribution to a Junior ISA
Unromantic, enormously useful, and increasingly what families quietly hope for.
Junior ISAs are the one place where the rules genuinely help: a parent or guardian has to open the account, but once it exists, anyone can pay into it, godparents included, up to £9,000 across all contributors in a tax year.
Two practical notes. Tell the registered contact what you have paid in, because when several people are contributing nobody knows the running total and the allowance is shared. And pair it with something small the child can hold on the day, so there is a physical present to open.
Something for the garden
A tree or a rose planted for the christening is an unusual gift that ages beautifully, particularly for a family who own their home and intend to stay.
Buy it bare-root and dormant if the christening falls between November and March, which is both cheaper and better for the plant, and include the planting instructions. The RHS guidance on choosing and planting trees is the sensible starting point if you are not a gardener yourself. It is worth checking the family has somewhere to put it before committing.
Jewellery that is not a bangle
If you want to give jewellery, a piece meant to be worn later works better than a bangle meant to be worn now. A locket, a signet ring, a pair of earrings kept until the child asks for pierced ears.
Have it engraved with the date. Unengraved jewellery becomes just jewellery, and the personalised ranges are usually no dearer than the plain ones.
Things to think twice about
Silver that needs polishing. New parents will not polish it. Nobody polishes it.
Outfits in the current size. The christening outfit is the one thing the family has definitely already sorted.
Anything requiring assembly given to a family with a newborn. Construction sets make a wonderful birthday gift for a five-year-old, and a burden for someone six weeks into no sleep.
Two of the same thing. Ask the parents or the other godparents what has already been bought. Duplicate keepsake boxes are a very common outcome.
Choosing by colour, and why not to
Search results split christening gifts into girl and boy, and there is no real difference behind it. It is a retail convention that makes the gift look of its moment and ages badly.
Personalise to the individual child instead. A name and a date will still be right in twenty years, which is roughly the point at which any of this gets looked at again.
The short version
Buy something engraved with the name and the date, or something the family will actually use, or put money in the account. Silver is fine if the family likes silver. It is not the thing that gets kept simply because it is what the shops put in front of you first.
Frequently asked questions
What is an appropriate christening gift?
Something intended to last, and ideally something marked with the child's name or the date. Silver is traditional, but a personalised book, a keepsake box or a Junior ISA contribution are all entirely appropriate and more likely to be used.
How much should you spend on a christening gift?
Godparents usually spend more than other guests, commonly somewhere between £30 and £100, while other guests often give £15 to £30. There is no rule, and nobody will comment either way.
Do you have to give a christening gift at all?
If you have been invited, a small gift is customary but not compulsory. A card and your presence are genuinely enough, particularly for a family member who is already helping on the day.
What do godparents traditionally give at a christening?
A book, before anything else. A personalised keepsake book with the child's name and the christening date inside it is the modern version of what the role has always asked for, which was a bible or a book of bible stories. The rest of the tradition is jewellery a young child cannot wear yet: a St Christopher, a silver cross, a name bracelet. The Church of England expects at least three godparents, so assume three or four people are buying for the same baby and ask what has already been chosen.
What is a good christening gift for a girl or a boy?
The same things. The gendered split in christening gifts is a retail convention rather than a real difference, and personalising a gift to the individual child ages far better than choosing by colour.
