Communion Gift - Elmhurst,IL

I need to come up with a gift as well. Some people give money and that is their choice but I just don't see why I should give money to my niece because she is being confirmed. The gift I give will have to do with her confirmation. I will give her something special from me and hopefully she will hold on to it for many years. The easy way out would be getting her the pillow pet she really wants but I'll save that for an occasion like her birthday coming up.

Bible, rosary, prayer book, cross for his room, little statue or metal of his patron saint...

What I usually give, and what we enjoyed getting for our daughter, are books with a religious nature. Kids books, not just bibles, etc. There are lots of cute ones with nice lessons in them. I think usually parents or grandparents give things like crucifixes, rosaries, plaques, and those are nice keepsakes. If just gets tough if you get SO many of them! A nice variety of those, money, and books would be great.

I'm not sure I'd buy him gifts other than something spiritually meaningful. This is about his faith. In my faith we don't do first communions, we baptize when we're old enough to make a decision about it - so it's sort of like a confirmation. When my daughter chose to get baptized she was about 12 or so and we gave her a "grown-up" leather bound Bible and I wrote her a letter that I hope she's kept about how proud I am of her, etc. We had a few close family/friends over aafterwards for an early Sunday dinner and they did give her token monetary gifts - in the range of $20 - $50 depending on how close they were to her (my sister gave her $50, my friends gave her $20).

My now 11 yr old son wants to now get baptized, but I'm still trying to determine if he really want to do it because he wants to make his family's faith his own - or because he wants some cash gifts. I'm not going to plan it until I feel more certain of his motive. ;o)

It's not about the gifts and money.

we get savings bonds for these events in the childrens lives. And while yes it is not "exciting" this is not a birthday party. The children will greatly appreciate the savings bonds when they are older. you can always include a small bible or book of bible stories. I know some people do birthday type gifts for these occasions but we just never have. I attended one where they family all gave the child a sega genesis and games. I just thought it was weird.

They sell many communion gift sets at Catholic bookstores or you can even go online.

I remember receiving a gift set with a purse, rosary, mass book, scapula, and pin way back when. I had considered getting my daughter the same but then realized that the mass book will have the wrong responses in a few short months. Therefore, I went with a nicer, more expensive rosary.

Just keep in mind that while your child is celebrating a special day, it's not a "special day" like his birthday with a pile of toys and "fun stuff". Most people will give him money to use for his future and some family members will give him jewelry.

When my neighbor's son made his First Communion, they allowed him to have a small portion of his $$ to buy something fun. Sounds really funny, but he bought a set of Egyptian cotton sheets b/c he loves his parents' and his mother would never buy him a set. We thought he'd buy sports equipment b/c he's "that kid" so it was kind of a surprise, but that's what he wanted!

I would suggest not opening gifts until after guests have left (most of them will be cards and you will be doing the opening). Make sure that your son writes thank-you notes. Put the bulk of it in his savings account and give him a little bit to buy something that he would enjoy!

In this situation, I think gifts for girls are easier as jewelry is always an option.

That being said, how about a commemorative coin set such as a silver eagle, presidential dollar coin set or a proof set from the year he was born?

There are lots of fun websites for kids too! Here is one from the US Mint.
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/

Gifts that my child received for his baptism ( sorry, not communion) which I thought were really cool, was a childrens book full of bible stories. Very colorful illustrations, and fun to read. Another gift, was pictures that a family member took. We were very busy that day, and he took the time to take pictures of the whole event and put them on a disk for us. Maybe gift an album to the grandparents or sister? I like the charlottes web idea. :) At times, alot of guests end up giving the same type of gift and in my opinion, a fun gift outside of the loop is always nice :)

I agree that gifts should be religiously based. Why not a nice rosary? He can bring it with him and hold it up to be blessed during the Communion mass. I saw many boys holding rosary's up during my daughter's Communion mass last May. We just got our daughter a crucifix necklace and a rosary. The rest of our relatives gave her money.