How to add Ceremony to any Celebration

The importance of ceremonial aspects of events shouldn’t be underestimated. They include opening and closing speeches, music, playing of national anthems, the reciting of special words, presentation of awards and flowers, flag raising, present giving and blowing out of candles.

While it’s not absolutely necessary to add ceremony to your party or event, it does give it meaning and clarification. 

One great way to make sure that your event has a beautiful and meaningful ceremony is to engage a Celebrant from The Celebrants Network... in fact, why not come together with family members or other guests and make your Celebrant your gift.



So, how do you add ceremony to personal events?  I’m glad you asked!

Birthday
We’re so used to having or going to birthday parties where you play games and eat as much sugar as you little body can handle.  Then as grown ups the party turns into drinking as much as you can and buying a present that we didn’t put much thought into.  So how are we actually celebrating the birthday person? 



Ideas

What about a "This is your life" theme? Invite friends and family to share a story or express their feelings;  create a book of memories that the guests have contributed to with photos and tales of the person you are honouring; ask all the guests to write an ode to the birthday girl/boy celebrating what they love about them.  Work together with other guests to hire a celebrant to present an awesome ceremony that befits your friend.

Graduation
This is such a transitional time in a person’s life.  They have just worked through 6 or 12 or 16+ years of study to be where they are now standing with certificate/diploma/degree/PhD in hand.  Each step of the way should be celebrated for the hard slog already done and to help motivate for the next steps ahead. 

 

Ideas

Why not organise a visual gallery of the students' work?  Perhaps a ceremony whereby graduating students are paired with younger students interested in the same field as mentors? You could have teachers, parents and other educators let students know what a great effort they’ve put in whilst giving the students the opportunity to share how proud they are of themselves, and to thank their educators.

Anniversary
Anniversaries pass every year, sometimes unnoticed, but each year is a milestone in your relationship and it is a great time to reaffirm your feelings for each other.  Maybe this doesn’t need to be a big fanfare every year and maybe for you a private, reflective ceremony is all you need…. but then again - why not celebrate in style every year with a ceremony that says “Hey - look what we did! Again!”



Ideas  

Relive your marriage ceremony - repeating your original vows or creating new ones each year as you grow as a couple - also a great excuse for a catch up with your bridal party; Celebrate something different about you as a couple each year - first year: honour your shared love of writing with a poetry infused ceremony; Second year: Celebrate your love of travel with a destination ceremony, you get the idea…

(just a little tip:  I know some lovely celebrants at The Celebrants Network who would jump at the chance to perform your ceremony in Fiji!)

Promotion
When you receive a promotion at work, there is sometimes a ceremony and presentation with bosses and work colleagues which is a great acknowledgement of your hard work and achievement, but there is nothing stopping you from having your own ceremonial event because it is a reason to celebrate.  



Ideas

Perhaps before you crack the bottle of champas, you could make a speech thanking and giving your own awards to the people who helped you get where are today.  Gracious, thoughtful and appreciated.

New home
You’ve saved, you’ve scrimped and you’ve gone without, but now you have the keys to your brand new pad. You’ve organised a housewarming and you can’t wait to crack open a beer and celebrate with your mates….. but stop for a second to think about what you have achieved - that deserves more than just knocking the top off a cold one.  Your efforts should be recognised, your sacrifices, applauded. 

 

Ideas

Have a small ceremony to stamp the moment that you did this thing and it will make it all the more memorable; You could thank the people who helped you get there;  Have a special blessing put over the house; Light a candle symbolising your future at that address and even use the candle to start the BBQ - #new beginnings!