Communion Gifts With A Modern Attitude ( Communion Gifts )

Like many of you I was shocked and entertained the other night by one particular programme on the tv, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. I was torn between respecting their old morals and being quite taken aback about the gender stereotypes they still employ. The thing I was most shocked by was the over the top wedding and communion outfits they all wore.

One of the  ultimate communion gifts a little girl is given in the gypsy community is the biggest most OTT dress money can buy. It’s actually a competition between each person to have the biggest and ‘best’ dress. The little girl on the show could barely walk and the dress was actually twice as heavy as she was. The other little girls from the class were in sedate little white dresses and then this little girl rocks up dressed like Bo Peep on steroids. In the travelling community, your communion dress is seen to be the practice dress for your wedding day. Your wedding dress will be bigger, bolder and brasher than people can ever imagine. The young lady who got married in the first episode had an enormous dress which prevented her from sitting down and walking properly and it reminded me of Katie Price’s wedding dress when she married Peter Andre.

One part of me thinks that people should have the right to have what they want for two of the most important days of their lives and the other part of me thinks that if you’re getting married in a church you should be respectful of religious values instead of turning it into a circus. For them it seems it’s become a glamour-fest rather than thinking about the sentiment of the days. Don’t get me wrong, it is about the two individuals and making a marriage work which they seem to do quite well. I think I’m just too traditional when it comes to my perceptions of what a wedding and communion should be.

Communion gifts have become more modern although not to the extent they have in the travelling community. Rather than the traditional gifts and keepsakes you might have received in the past, we are choosing to give personalised chocolate bars and more on trend pieces of jewellery. I’m all for moving with the times, but in a more sensitive and subtle way. Research enough and you can still get unusual gifts fitting for such occasions without them being too twee and old fashioned!