And how many is standard? I was thinking me and husband (obviously) godparents and grandparents and my best friend. What did you do?
Parties have gotten smaller and simpler for each kid as we’ve baptized them sooner.
For my youngest we invited his godparents and their kids, the other kids’ godparents (no kids yet but they would have been invited), and grandparents. One thing that I think is nice to do is invite the celebrant, but don’t be surprised if he can’t come.
Some families invite their entire extended family.
I would suggest this: Let everyone in your extended family know when the Baptism is and which church. And then let them know that there will not be a reception afterwards (other than taking the Grandparents & God Parents out to brunch/lunch afterwards).
That way, any family member (or friends) who truly want to be there for religious reasons can and will not feel left out.
I personally felt slighted when my cousin didn’t invite anyone to his first daughter’s baptism because of limitations at their afterparty. I found out about it after the baptism and would have been more than happy to attend the Baptism only and not the reception.
God Bless
I don’t think anything is really standard. I mean obviously I’m not Catholic, but the principles of Episcopalian baptisms are very similar to Catholic baptism. We recently had baptisms at my parish a week ago and there were 3 infants baptized. The parties varied between a couple, their baby, and the two Godparents. To a couple, their baby, the Godparents, grandparents, a couple of uncles/aunts, their kids, and what appeared to be some family friends. Their party took up several pews when it was all said and done. I think what is “normal” is what you believe to be the best representation of who you’d like to share in your child joining Christ’s church.
I know for me and my daughter’s upcoming baptism next month we’re definitely inviting her Godparents, my sister (my brother and his wife who won’t be able to attend), my parents, my wife’s parents, my wife’s grandmother and my grandmother (neither of whom will be able to attend but will appreciate being remembered), and my wife’s cousin and family. Basically we’ve intended to keep it in the family.
Some are Christian, my parents are Catholic, my wife’s parents were “nones” long before it was popular to be so (as is my wife for that matter). My wife’s cousin’s family are openly hostile to Christianity, but I’m hoping seeing a baptism might soften their opinion. And my sister is agnostic. All except the cousin’s family have indicated they’ll attend or would like to attend if distance/health wasn’t a concern. But on the day I suspect our party will number at minimum 10.
We tell everyone in both families and our friends when the baptism is and that allows them to pray if they are unable to attend. Most can’t because they live too far away. We baptize at a regular Mass and have never had a party or reception afterwards.
We’ve had anywhere between 20 and 50 people depending on when our kids were born/baptized. Part of it is that our Godparents and close family friends have a bunch of kids and I am one of 5 kids.
Who we invite? Our parents, my brother and sisters (my wife is an only child), godparents and their children, 4 or 5 close family friends and their families. The last two baptisms only had my father in law since my parents live in different states and one of my sisters and a couple friends. We try to baptise within 10 days after they are born so the number that can attend is generally limited by who’s in town when the baby is born.
In our case, it was immediate family, godparents, plus uncles / aunts, their families, and those of our acquaintances or parish members who had invited us for their own kids’ baptisms. Ended up being quite a number (~60), but that’s quite par for the course over here. 
Mom and Dad only invited Godparents and Grandparents. They kept the size of the party down to what could be afforded at the restaurant.
The grandparents, my aunt and uncle who live in the area and are my godparents, and a few local friends.
We just had a baptism in June. We invited the Godparents (and their 6 kids), Grandparents, all baby’s aunts and uncles, one great aunt and uncle (who didn’t make it), one friend (who couldn’t make it and the celebrant.
I think who gets invited, depends greatly on family dynamics and how close one is. For some, it is only godparents and grandparents, but no aunts and uncles, but for others, not only aunts and uncles, but great aunts and uncles, friends and the whole caboodle.
We just had family and close friends, but customs vary. The Orthodox family that lived 2 houses down from us had mostly family at the Baptism, but afterward threw a huge party which included the neighborhood, a roast lamb on a spit, and plenty of Ouza. (No, they weren’t Greek).
We invited everyone under the sun. My parents, his parents and grandparents, our siblings, our aunts, uncles, cousins, parish acquaintances, and the whole choir. Of course, the Baptism was done during regular Mass, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Us too. I think we had 70 people. But, considering I had just given birth, people were more than happy to bring a dish. I don’t think we paid for anything to be honest. Grandparents got cake, and I asked the godmother (my sister) to coordinate who was bringing what so we had good variety. Nobody cared and everyone had a great time.
I imagine it’s different for everyone. I come from a large family with lots of aunts, uncles, cousins etc. When there’s a new baby everyone comes to the Baptism and we have a big party at home afterward. I imagine some people probably only invite a few people though.
Whoever wanted to come,if you get a really big crowd,and Catering is an issue ,
Tell them to bring a Plate
I think as many or as few as you want. We had close to 100 with our first born son. We had help with some of the costs, so it was easier to invite everyone. We even had some relatives from out of town. With our second we had about 70.
I’m not sure about Catholic baptisms but I’m not sure there would be a standard. My son was christened CofE and I invited about 75, I think we had around 50. This consisted of godparents, immediate family, extended family and close friends (many of whom are not Christian but still came which I appreciated). It was held during the normal Sunday family service so at the service there were other parishioners too.
Usually there aren’t that many people because we don’t know the date for sure until baby is born (we try to baptize ASAP). One time the godparents weren’t even there (out of town godparents) so we used proxies (my inlaws, who are local). It is after Sunday Mass usually (one son was baptized at a morning Mass when he was 2.5 days old), so we have had parishioner friends stay, and people that have asked us when the baptism will take place and have come for the baptism also. We usually at least have cake at home later, maybe with a meal as well.