This past January our oldest two daughters received their First Holy Communion at the Mass that took place just before their baby brother’s baptism. It was a beautiful day filled with blessings for our family!
Since then I have been getting quite a few emails asking for ideas for First Holy Communion gifts. I’ve tried emailing some of you back, but, as always, I am quite behind with answering emails and figured it’s about time I just finished up this post, which has been sitting in my drafts folder since January!
Below you will find some of the gifts we purchased for our daughters, a couple of the many gifts they received, and some additional ideas as well.
I ordered these beautiful handkerchiefs from Catholic Embroidery. I asked Mary to choose the design for me and they turned out lovely! (Underneath the embroidered design she embroidered the girls’ names as well, but I removed them from the picture, since I use nicknames for my children online. ) Catholic Embroidery also has other products that would be perfect First Holy Communion Gifts including Mass Bags and Rosary Cases!
We choose two little prayer books for each of the girls. Actually I have been saving these for years! The Jesus Make Me Worthy prayer book was originally published in 1960 and I was so happy to find some original new copies. I purchased a couple when the girls were babies to save for “someday” when they made their First Holy Communion! It has since been reprinted and you can find a copy here or here. Our boys received the re-printed black copy of Jesus Make Me Worthy for their First Holy Communions.
The second book, Divine Light, is also a pre-vatican II prayer book for children and is printed in Italy. This book includes morning and evening prayers; prayers to Our Lady and the angels; acts of faith, hope, and charity; fifteen mysteries of the Rosary; examination of conscience; simple Mass prayers for children; the Stations of the Cross; and more. You can find this sweet little book here.
The beautiful little First Communion bracelets that my girls wore on their special day, were a gift from a visitor here at Shower of Roses. They are just lovely!! Marianne, if you decide to open up an Etsy shop to sell these precious bracelets, let me know and I will be sure to share the link. 🙂
Ruth, at Loreto Rosaries, sells a beautiful First Holy Communion Rosary Bracelet (or perhaps the First Holy Communion Tenner for boys) that would also make a lovely gift and keepsake. I also really like this Freshwater Pearl Bracelet.
There are so many options to be found online for First Communion Rosaries. I kept searching, trying to pick out the perfect ones for my girls, and then ran out of time to place an order! I was so excited when I had an email from Barbara (Mary Devotions) asking if she could make a couple to send as a gift. She made a pink one for Twinkle Toes and a purple one for Chiquita. The girls just LOVE their new rosaries!
Aren’t these First Communion Felt Softies just the cutest!?! Erin at Saintly Silver was so helpful and was able to make and ship the dolls immediately, so that they would arrive in time. I loved being able to customize the dolls to look like our girls! So fun!!
I also ordered two of the beautiful Blessed Imelda dolls from the Family Cloister Learning Center. However, due to the short notice we had, they were not able to arrive on time and I ended up saving them for my girls’ Easter Baskets, along with the St. Therese doll for our little Rose. The St. Therese doll would make another great option for a First Communion gift paired with a print our of St. Therese’s First Communion Reflection.
Additional options would be the lovely painted wooden saint dolls from St. Luke’s Brush, Catholic Folk Toys, and St. Anne’s Pixies. Or you could always paint some of your own! St. Luke’s Brush also carries a beautiful painted Holy Eucharist Rosary Box that I would love to get for one of my boys.
.: First Communion Record :.
There are so many different Sacramental Records available! My favorite sources are Trademark Catholic Stationary and Saints Galore Catholic Publishing.
I happened to find this pretty little “My First Communion” Wall Plaque (here’s the same plaque for boys) made by Joseph’s Studios at our local bookstore. It is now hanging on the wall in the girls’ bedroom.
I’m in love with all the beautiful products made by Joseph’s Studios and had fun looking at some of the other First Communion Options online including the following:
- 7 Inch High First Communion Wall Cross By Josephs Studio
- 3.5 Inch By 5 Inch Photo Frame – First Communion
- First Communion Guardian Angel Picture Frames
- “My First Communion” Jesus Photo Frames
Take It To the Queen (First Confession) and The Weight of a Mass: A Tale of Faith (First Communion) would both make lovely gifts! Our children were also given this lovely new book from their grandparents this past Christmas: Friendship with Jesus: Pope Benedict XVI Talks to Children on Their First Holy Communion.
You can find other First Communion themed book suggestions in this post in addition to:
- Patron Saint of First Communicants: The Story of Blessed Imelda Lambertini
- Jesus with Us: The Gift of the Eucharist
- Know Your Mass
My children also really enjoy comic style books and these three are all great: The Life of Christ, The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Know Your Mass.
We have given Know Your Mass as a First Communion gift in the past. It was originally published in 1954 and is based on the Traditional Latin Mass. All parts of the Mass are covered, from the preparation for Mass, the altar, sacred vessels and vestments, liturgical actions, the sanctuary, and some liturgical history as well. My children just love these books and I have learned quite a bit from them as well!
CD’s also make great gifts! A few of our favorites are King of the Golden City, Volume 1: Blessed Imelda Lambertini & Saint Juan Diego and Altar Gang: Man to Mangia.
With some of the money that my girls were given we are considering ordering them each a First Holy Communion Bible. Our favorite is the white hardcover, gold-embossed Douay-Rheims First Communion Bible. This bible also contains pages of colorful images, child friendly stories on the lives of young saints, and prayers. It also comes in a gift box, making a perfect gift for First Holy Communicants.
(Another thing that Chiquita would like to order is a First Communion dress for her doll. Twinkle Toes received one from her godparents and she LOVES it!)
My oldest son prayed the beautiful novena shared by Margaret on the 9 days leading up to their First Holy Communion. UPDATE: Margaret has compiled all of the prayers into a printable! You can download it here: A Garden Fit for a King: A First Communion Novena.
For the girls I ordered this lovely little booklet from the FSSP bookstore. (They carry a boy version as well!) It is a small book, just 28 pages long, but is filled with beautiful traditional art, in addition to a daily prayer, for 12 days, asking Jesus to to help prepare the child’s heart for their First Holy Communion. It also contains a page for preparation for First Confession, as well as an examination of conscience. At the bottom of each page is a space for the child to write something they would like to offer to Jesus each day.
What wonderful ideas – I've been planning my daughter's First Communion this morning!
Awesome links, thank you.
I've already ordered 'Rose' a bracelet from Loreto Rosaries. I'll be making her rosary and ordered a few pieces from Ruth to use.
I will definately be ordering from Catholic Embriodery…there are just so many choices!
Rose is making her FHC on her 8th birthday, so I have my work cut out for me.
Great ideas!!! I love the dolls and the rosary's ! I still remember my first communion!
Very nice, Jessica. My oldest prepares for his First Communion next year. He (and I) are already very excited!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you so very much for sharing all of your ideas and the links. What lovely suggestions! I wish I had known about most of these when my oldest celebrated 1st Communion two years ago. In fact, I am going to order some of these items for her right now!
Blessings to you and yours,
RMann
Another idea of a book that we are using for Communion preparation and this children love is The Little Butterfly who Loved Jesus at http://www.preciouslifemissions.org/sacraments/index.htm. Wonderful book written by amazing pro-life advocates. I am keeping the rest in mind for my daughter's Communion next year!
Barb just made a rosary for my daughter's upcoming confirmation. 🙂 It turned out beautifully!
Wonderful list! I'd love for you to link this resourceful post to First Communion JOY linky – http://joyfilledfamily.blogspot.com/2011/05/first-communion-joy.html
Ad Jesum per Mariam, lena
Excellent suggestion! We already own that book, as well as all the rest in the series, and I am pretty sure it is linked in my original First Communion Preparation post. I'll have to check.
Thank you, Lena! I will go and add the link now.
Hi Jessica,
I am a huge fan of your blog and have been following it for quite some time. We try and implement a lot of your liturgical year ideas in our home when we can. You are such an inspiration, I really don't know how you can accomplish all that you do. I hope I'm not overstepping, but I was wondering if maybe sometime you could mention my girls' shop. We make Catholic Saint dolls, too. Thank you, and God bless you and your beautiful family! http://www.etsy.com/shop/11onmyown
You are awesome. Thank you for posting this!!
Great Ideas! I order from Catholic Embroidery all the time. Are those books Divine Light being reprinted? Or are they original?
Another beautiful book can be found here http://www.neumannpress.com/maspofgodpr.html/
A little pricey but the content is great and the books are made right here in the good ol' USA.
Hi Jessica! Here is the link to a printable copy of the First Communion Novena I posted: A Garden fit for a King.
It doesn’t have a title page but your readers can make one of their own with a picture of their child or a holy card or a drawing, etc. along with the date of his/her first holy communion.
Happy Easter!
Great post. Don't forget also our Hair Bows, Holy Communion, http://hairbows4life.com/catalog.htm
Have a Blessed Easter.
can you post boy gifts too please?
Thank you, Margaret! I somehow missed seeing that document on your blog! I will update my post with the link. 🙂
It is a little easier to find gifts for girls, and most of the pictures I've included are from our girls' First Communion, since it was most recent, but I did try and include ideas for boys throughout the post as well.
The Rosary cases would make an excellent option, the Jesus Make Me Worthy book in Black, the Divine Light Book with an image of Our Lord on the cover, a masculine rosary, the boy versions I linked to of the various wall plaques and frames, and most of the books would all make great gifts for a boy, including the boy version of the novena booklet.
I am not sure if our books are re-printed or original. I can't seem to find a publication date inside my girls' books.
I wasn't able to see which book you were linking to, the link didn't work for me, but we do have many of the beautiful books re-published by Neumann Press. I love them all!
would you have anything to replace the dolls? I guess that is where I was wondering…
Thank you for the wonderful ideas! Our Emma will make her First Communion on June 1 and in addition to the things her daddy will paint for her, I have been looking for a nice prayer book. The suggestions are beautiful! I also wanted to mention that Mary at Graceful Rosaries made us a sweet little necklace and bracelet for her to wear on her special day. She was wonderful to work with and customized it so it would be perfect! http://www.etsy.com/listing/95443165/first-communion-necklace-handmade
Jessica, I love your blog! I have been following you for about a year and always look forward to your posts. I was raised "believing" I am a Catholic, but my family very rarely went to church. So, for the past few years I have been actively trying to figure it all out. I want my children to have more of a foundation than I had. I was blessed to be led to your blog. You are very inspirational to me in many ways. My son is making his First Communion in a week and I was wondering if you could tell me why some boys wear the white ribbons on their arms. I don't want to get one just because everyone else is wearing them. Thank you so much!! Tanja
Thank you, Tanja!
You know, I really don't know much about the white ribbons/arm bands that some boys wear. I don't remember my brothers wearing them when we were children, though we do have friends that wore them, as well as one of our godsons. I am pretty sure that they are part of the traditional First Communion attire for boys – at least in some cultures – and that they symbolize purity.
You have inspired me to research them more. 🙂
Congratulations to you and your son!
These are great gifts for commemorating your children’s first communion. They will surely cherish it because these gifts show your support for their spiritual well-being. These will help them establish a good relationship with God, and succeed in fulfilling their duties as Christians.
Mannes Carman
This post i very awesome and nice gift ideas given i like to share it to their friends.
lovely gift ideas. I am going to use some of these for our next church event.
wow!! It's awesome. communion day is a special moment for every girl and she wants to look perfect in her communion day. so much stylish adorable-ness in one great post! Thank for sharing wonderful ideas!