Thank you so much!!  I needed this!

I would love to know what to get boys besides the basics.  He got a bible when he was baptized.  He received the rosary and a very nice box to put it in also.  Girls are easier - jewelry!

Michelle, both of my sons like the medals that they received of their patron saints.  They are pinned to the special banners they created for First Communion.  Another good idea might be some sort of keepsake box for storing special items.  I hope others will share - I agree that it’s hard buying for boys.

Both my ds and dd have gotten First Communion picture frames.  They both have a picture from that day in their frames and they are each on a shelf in their rooms. 

They have also both received First Communion plaques which were nice.

Hope this helps!

Also for boys:  patron saint statues or icons, wall or stand-up crucifixes, religious books, gold crucifix to wear over or under clothes, holy card trading cards, religious themed video-games or board games.  Check out http://www.catholicchild.com.

Oh such a great question. I was just thinking about blogging about these wonderful finds! Maybe you’ve heard about The Weight of a Mass? A story written by Josephine Nobisso. I highly recommend it as a wonderful book to give to a first communicant- boy or girl! I ordered that and Take it to the Queen and the author autographed them both for me! Visit gingerbreadbooks dot com to order them. SO many great titles.
She also got them out to me VERY QUICKLY!

gorgeous illustrations and the story will enliven you to consider how much one mass truly weighs in your own life!!

How about The Squire and the Scroll for boys?

Another great book that is terrific for any sacramental occasion is The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day by Meredith Gould.  This book might be one of the whole family, as it shares tips and suggestions for celebrating Catholic family life together all year long.  And Ian, I second your recommendation for The Squire and the Scroll!

CJ already had his patron St. medal from his Great Grandma at birth with a cross from her. Jim made him a rosary (Rosary Army) and My mom is getting him a Bible.  He wants to spend the day at Mt St May’s in Emmitsburg MD that afternoon to do the Rosary Walk and Stations. He wants to light a candle at the Grotto for his Classmate that pass earlier this year and will be with the class in spirit.  After mass we will have a luncheon before we head to Emmittsburg.  Hoping to see Fr Leo.

I haven’t given a First Communion gift before, but I intend to give my little cousin a subscription to Magnificat Kids, which looks like a great way to keep kids engaged in the mass each week. Just a suggestion for anyone else who’s stumped.

Magnifikid is a great gift idea!

My husband’s God daughter received her first communion this past weekend. He gave her an icon (from monasteryicons.com) of the Last Supper. I thought that was extremely creative for my husband and pretty unique.

My son made his first holy communion last weekend, and among all of the nice religious gifts from family and friends, our neighbor gave him a Lego Indiana Jones video game for the Wii.  I couldn’t believe it. 

One of the nicest and most unusual gifts he received was from my parents.  Our diocesan Serra Club has an Adopt-A-Priest program, where you send in $15 to enroll and they assign a priest to you to pray for especially.  They send you a pin depicting a black and white priest’s collar, and on the back of it is the engraved initials of the priest you’ve adopted, along with his date of ordination.  They also give you a card that you can send to your priest to let him know you’ve spiritually adopted him.  Although I think the gift is a little bit beyond my son’s grasp on an individual basis, I think we will be able to do it as a family.  They gave him a icon-looking crucifix, too.

There are some nice illustrated Bibles available to give to first communicants.  Something we got our son was a saints’ book.  Both my son and my daughter got Mass books, which both have liked very well and actually use. 

One comment on MagnifiKid—I loved it for my kids, but it is pretty expensive.

This weekend we will be celebrating our son’s First Communion and our newborn daughter’s baptism. I always try and get a patron saint statue for my nieces and nephews and friends’ kids, and I plan on getting one for Michael. does anyone know where to look online for an inexpensive statue place..the ones around us cost a lot and well right now is hard to spend 50 dollars on a statue…thanks

I want to agree with the Magnifikid suggestion. It is well, well worth the money. We’ve been getting it for a while. My son made his First Communion last weekend and he made me make sure to bring it so that he would remember to say the prayer after communion that’s written in it. To me, just that is worth the money - that he is making his own steps in his faith without parental prodding or actually prodding his parent.

Also, the weight of the mass is also good.

And if you don’t have Amy Wellborn’s books on Saints and Heroes those make wonderful gifts- especially if you can make them before bed reading as a family.

I’m not a fan of kitchy things but my son liked the gift from in-laws - a statue of a boy playing baseball with Jesus and there are beanie baby-type bears for each sacrament that my kids like. The First Communion one is white with a symbol of bread and grapes on it. My daughter likes to call him “Pope Bear” - he kind of “oversees” the First Penance, Confirmation bears.

Don’t forget to post your First Communion memories at First Communion Stories!

My fourth daughter will be making her First Holy Communion this Sunday.  I do have a rosary for her.  That seems to be what I have bought all of my girls. 

My oldest daughter received a neat little lamp (uses a nightlight lightbulb) from my in-laws who are no longer Catholic.  It has beautiful colors on it.  The note that they wrote to her reminded her that Jesus is the Light of the world.

My second daughter received a Sunday missal so that she could follow along with Mass.  I thought this was a great gift, because I remember being a little disappointed that the missal I received for my FHC, didn’t have the readings.

This isn’t a memory, but maybe taking a look at the readings for the Sunday would help for a gift.  This Sunday is the Good Shepherd reading.  There ought to be some good ideas with that.

“For the Children” by John Paul II.  This lovely book includes his First Holy Communion picture.  It is available in English and Spanish.
http://www.amazon.com/Children-Words-Love-Inspiration-Holiness/dp/0439149029/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241043515&sr=1-7

My daughter received her First Communion last weekend, and I found a couple of things for her on etsy.com (a handcrafters website, more or less). I bought a hand-stamped silver necklace with her name and the date on it; I also found a sweet little felt Mary doll by a Catholic crafter. If you do a search on etsy.com for First Communion, these items and many more will come up. Another idea is personalcreations.com—they have a Webkinz lamb that you can order with a custom ribbon with the child’s name and date of their First Communion. She received the book, Jesus Speaks to Me On My First Communion and really enjoyed it.

For my Godson’s First Communion last weekend, I gave him a personalized rosary from Rosaries with Names, which I saw advertised in F&F;magazine. It was beautiful and unique! It was custom-made with letter beads that said, “Jesus loves C… 4-25-2009.”

My daughter’s First Communion is in a week and a half.  I got her a pink rosary that I’m pretty sure she’s going to love because not only is it beautiful, it’s also pink.  She wore out her missal that the RE program gave the second graders so my parents brought her hard-covered one. Her other grandmother is giving her a crucifix necklace.
We sit near a boy at Mass frequently who has a Magnifikid subscription.  From what I have seen over his shoulder I think it’s something that is well worth the subscription cost.  I plan on subscribing to it before our church stops the children’s liturgy for the summer.

My son’s First Communion was last weekend. 

His favorite gifts were a personalized Picture Bible (he liked the gold-edged pages) and two books with saints lives. 

One was a daily reader, with information on the feast days of saints throughout the year.  It was fun to page through to see who was the “Saint of the Day” for everyone’s birthday.  The other book had a picture and one-page story for 100 Catholic saints.  Both contained the stories of saints we’d never heard of before. 

He loved the gifts, and I loved that they encourage him to continue learning about his faith.  For us, First Communion is the starting point of a very important journey.  “Guidebooks” are a great way to encourage him on that path.

- Julia at Midwest Moms

In Ireland a lot of people simply give money on the ocassion of First Holy Communion. My nephew recieved only one religious gift, a cross, from me. His parents did not even get him a prayer book, or missal, or even a rosary. Must say I was shocked at that!

To celebrate my son’s first holy communion, I brought him on pilgrimage. Using all the money he recieved. (Thus avoiding, what am I going to buy with my communion money senario, that exists where I come from, awful I know!)

He had never been on a plane before, or stayed in a hotel, he really loved the whole experience. We could never afford to all go away as a family. And it was really nice for us to spend time together.

Plus he got to mass everyday, and said loads of rosaries. Hopefully we will be able to do this with the other kids.

Hello Lisa Hendey, Really very nice and awesome information you share here on Communion season. Really very nice information and you gift is looking so beautiful and nice and thanks for your information.