i came across this site
catholicdoors.com/prayers/blessings.htm and it has blessing prayers and then the question came up in my mind can you bless stuff without a priest or is the priest absolutely necessary and there can be no exceptions
The official liturgical book is Book of Blessings, (Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1875-8). This is the approved edition for the U.S.A. The Latin edition is: De Benedictionibus, Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 1993, ISBN 880118994.
From the General Introduction of the Book of Blessings:
“18. … Other laymen and laywomen, in virtue of the universal priesthood, a dignity they possess because of their baptism and confirmation, may celebrate certain blessings, as indicated in the respective orders of blessings, by use of the rites and formularies designated for a lay minister. … But whenever a priest or a deacon is present, the office of presiding should be left to him.”
As I have posted before, blessings of objects that can be done by a layperson:
Chapter 11: new home (n. 661)
Chapter 21: “the various means of transportation” (n. 854) objects mentioned are: bridge, highway, street, railway, airport, motor vehicle, airplane, boat and ship.
Chapter 22: “boats and fishing gear” (a USA blessing, n. 880)
Chapter 23: “technical installations or equipment” (chapter 23, n. 901) objects mentioned: “any kind of technical equipment”, “a central energy source or power house”, “a reservoir or water system”.
Chapter 24: “tools or other equipment for work” (n. 921).
Chapter 25: animals (n. 943).
Chapter 26: fields and flocks (n. 968)
Chapter 27: “seeds at planting time” (a USA blessing, n. 988)
Chapter 30: meals. “1030. Christians, whether alone or with companions at table, say grace before and after meals to thank God for his goodness …”. The First Plan has, before the meal:
“The one presiding then signs himself with the sign of the cross (a priest or deacon also makes the sign of the cross over the food) and says:
Bless + us, O Lord, and these your gifts …” (n. 1033).
Chapter 46: a scapular. “1488. The blessing and conferral of a scapular should, if at all possible, be carried out in a communal celebration. Whenever the conferral is a way of receiving members of the faithful into a confraternity of a religious order or institute, this reception must be carried out by a member of that institute or else by a minister deputed by the competent authority of the institute.” Objects mentioned: scapular, habit.
Chapter 47: an advent wreath (a USA blessing, n. 1516).
Chapter 48: a Christmas manger or nativity scene (a USA blessing, n. 1546).
Chapter 49: a Christmas tree (a USA blessing, n. 1575).
Chapter 50: “homes during the Christmas and Easter seasons” (a USA blessing, n. 1600).
Chapter 53: food on Saint Joseph’s table (a USA blessing, n. 1681).
Chapter 54: “food for the first meal of Easter” (a USA blessing, n. 1706).
Chapter 57: a gravestone or monument at a cemetery “(November 2), Memorial Day, or on the Anniversary of Death or Burial” (a USA blessing, n. 1737).
(I have not completed going through the book yet and may add more chapters later.)
An example of something that a lay person cannot bless is water, to make it Holy Water. From Chapter 41: “1390 But when the blessing of water takes place outside Mass, the rite given here may be used by a priest or deacon”.
