Baptism do's and don'ts for women?

[Normandy]

The missionaries basically just told me to wear my hair up, and white under garments.

What about fingernail/toenail polish?

Should my hair scrunchie be white?

Are the jumpsuits see through?

Should I bring my own towel?

What should I wear to the church? Also what about my husband and our children?

Another family is planning the whole thing for me. Is a thank you card appropriate? Is there anyone else I should give thank you cards to?

[Guest]

The missionaries basically just told me to wear my hair up, and white under garments.

What about fingernail/toenail polish?

Should my hair scrunchie be white?

Are the jumpsuits see through?

Should I bring my own towel?

What should I wear to the church? Also what about my husband and our children?

Another family is planning the whole thing for me. Is a thank you card appropriate? Is there anyone else I should give thank you cards to?

There really isn't a guideline for fingernail/toenail polish that I'm aware of, though you might be comfortable with something conservative.

I don't think what is in your hair matters. Pulling it back is a good idea, though, to help make sure you are fully immersed.

The jumpsuits are a very thick cotton. They will probably be a little bit see-through, but with white undergarments and how quickly you go up the steps and into the changing room, it's really not a concern.

Towels have been provided in any baptism I've seen. In our stake there is a couple called to see to the jumpsuits and towels, and help the baptize-ees know what to do as far as those go.

Church dress is appropriate, though no one will be turned away for wearing more or less formal than that. :)

I think a thank you card to the family would be a nice gesture. I bet the missionaries involved in your conversion and/or baptism would love a note, too. Neither are required, of course!

Congratulations! Do you have a date set?

[Jennarator]

We always brought our own towels. In fact my step son's mom for got one for,him and he had to share with his grandfather, who baptized him. Be safe, bring one!! To all chrurch building have them. None I have ever seen have them, not growing up, not on my mission and not with any of my kids that were baptized all in different stakes, some in different states, too.

[Jane_Doe]

The missionaries basically just told me to wear my hair up, and white under garments.

There isn't really a 'dress code' to getting baptized. The advice the missionaries gave is mostly practical: hair is easier to manage in a ponytail. While the jumpsuits aren't really see through, it's always best not to wear pokka-doted under clothes when you're getting soaked in public .

Rest of everything's up to you. Bring a towel if you want to, no one cares what color your hair scrunchie is.

A baptism is a special event, and people do typically where "Sunday best" type outfits, but it's not mandated.

Thank you cards are always nice :).

[Leah]

Don't forget to bring a set of underwear!

One of my missionaries forgot his set of garments. The sister at the piano got to play a few extra hymns while he made a fast trip back home, :)

[Leah]

We always brought our own towels. In fact my step son's mom for got one for,him and he had to share with his grandfather, who baptized him. Be safe, bring one!! To all chrurch building have them. None I have ever seen have them, not growing up, not on my mission and not with any of my kids that were baptized all in different stakes, some in different states, too.

I am surprised. Our stake center had ample towels for all.

[Normandy]

Haha! I'll be sure to take a change of clothes.

I do have a date set for this week! It's coming up very soon.

Thanks for all the great advice!

[bytebear]

I kinda like the idea of a white scrunchy. I think a bright green one would be distracting, honestly, and I know that you must also wear white socks and shoes and even the soles need to be white when going to the temple. So white white white. :)

[Quin]

I just brought everything I'd bring to the gym or pool.

Brush, gel (curly curly curly hair), makeup, complete change of clothes.

It only takes me about 2 minutes to finger gel through, tie up, and reapply makeup (really, we're not talking photoshoot: concealer, mascara, lipgloss, done). Which let me feel half human afterward.

The hardest thing for me was finding white knickers.

I don't know if it was the season, or WHAT... But man oh man... Was it a pain.

I ALSO made my missionaries put on ear fashionista hats and approve the dress I was going to wear afterwards. Good thing... As no one had mentioned the shoulder thing, and all I had were sundresses (summertime, spaghetti straps or wide, shoulders are ooooh la la NOPE. Drats. Okay.)

So, word to the wise, cap sleeves at least.

Q

[Normandy]

Quin, it's too cold here for even cap sleeves! I'll be wearing a sweater for certain. Thanks for the tip though. That's something I'm going to have to get used to since I've always been a tank-top in the summer type of girl. :)

[mnn727]

I am surprised. Our stake center had ample towels for all.

No towels supplied in any Ward I've lived in. I certainly wouldn't count on any so Bring your own.

Bring a complete set of Church clothes for after the baptism and anything you need to 'get ready'

[Wingnut]

even the soles need to be white when going to the temple.

Soles can be white, tan, or light gray.

No towels supplied in any Ward I've lived in. I certainly wouldn't count on any so Bring your own.

We've had them in my building, but no one washes them....ew.

[beefche]

Bring your own towels. Bring dry underwear. Bring something to put the wet clothes/towels in to carry home. Bring your own hairdryer (if needed).

Wear your hair/makeup very simple as you don't have alot of time afterwards to do an elaborate refresh job.

[Dravin]

What should I wear to the church? Also what about my husband and our children?

Is this a general "what do I wear to Church?" question or is it more specific to the baptism? The most practical thing is to wear the clothing to the Church that you'll be wearing after the baptism. I think you'll find most members attending a baptism will be Sunday dress (that is my limited experience) to the more formal side of business casual. If this is a general Sunday dress question, read on:

If you positively want to ensure you don't misstep concerning Sunday dress you can always follow the missionary guidelines. The guidelines are more conservative than really required, but you can be quite confident that if you are following them you are a-ok on the whole Sunday dress thing.

Link to Sister Missionary guidelines (you can probably ignore the section on jackets unless you feel like wearing one): https://missionary.lds.org/dress-grooming/sister/?lang=eng

As far as your husband and male children, once again the most conservative so you don't have to worry in the least about a misstep, is a white shirt, non-cartoon tie, and slacks that are tan, grey, blue, or black. A suit is fairly common but not required. On really young children for which a tie just doesn't work or would be impractical I see a lot of polos and slacks. If they're really, really, young I tend to just see an absence of cartoon prints.

I'm giving the most conservative forms of Sunday dress because I think it is easy to feel self-conscious when a new member, this post should not be taken as a warning that if you aren't wearing the most conservative interpretation of Sunday dress you shouldn't even bother showing up. If you really want to get into the details of what would be appropriate from your current closet I'm sure you could get some help from the board folks if you asked (though really, that kind of advice works best with a real live person looking into your closet and/or looking at you wearing the clothing in question).

Edited October 29, 2013 by Dravin

[Normandy]

Thanks for the detailed clothing answer. I did mean for the baptism only, but I've also been curious about regular Sunday attire.

Most of my clothes are sleeved, casual. Dresses and skirts are at or below the knee. I had to go to our local thrift to and actually buy skirts -- I've never worn them before (and I don't work outside of the home) so I had nothing appropriate for church and I feel like what I do have is probably really outdated, but oh well. I've always dress pretty conservative so that was not a big issue for me.

My children don't own any suits, ties or slacks. We've been wearing school uniform-type clothing for our older children since we have it on hand. Our younger ones wear khakis and collard shirts, or "casual Easter Sunday" attire. haha!

I feel out of place with the way we dress, but this is our best and I don't have the money to spend on anything more at the moment. I'm sure God understands this even if some members of the ward have made comments to about it. :/

I went today and bought white under garments and a white scrunchie. I'll take my own towel. And a friend said to take pictures before hand, so I'll do that too. I'm feeling very excited now.

[JaniceKearns]

Its better to carry all the stuffs before hand with us to avoid any hindrance in baptism be it towels or clothes. Or a talk with the church before the event can also help to dissolve such issue.

Edited November 9, 2013 by JaniceKearns

[Quin]

While I hear there are awesome LDS suit stores in LDS areas.... Also know for later if you want the boys in them

- JCPenny has sales where little boy's suits sell for $25-$50 (including shirt & tie)

My oldest has quirkily loooooved suits and ties since his first wedding (at age 2).

And we didn't live in an area where kids suits are purchased often, much less then donated or sold to thrift shops. So whenever JCP had a kids suiting sale, I'd go buy 2 sets.... And then if he outgrew the old and skipped the next size up I bought, JCP will take an exchange for the right size. Which would hold us on until the next sale.

Similarly, while many church members hold onto kid suits for the next in line, those who are done with kids or getting girls, will often pass them down to other members. I list our put grown suits on the Ward Facebook page.

In the meantime... It sounds like what you've got is FINE.

Several of our born-Mormon playmates wear the same things you've described until age 12 & they start passing the sacrament, and others who aren't passing often come in school-uniform type clothes.

LOL... I didn't know about the skirt-dress after converting trend UNTIL they had the "Wear pants to church day"! In our ward about 1/3 of the women are generally in slacks/trousers or a pantsuit.

STILL Laughing... I don't know who said it a bit ago about a Mormon Picture Parody awhile back (Vort, MOE, JAG?) about a "Shocking lack of ties"... But one will often find guys with almost a tie fetish. Dozens to HUNDREDS of the suckers. Because suits are boring, and ties express personality, and at Church is one of the few places people GET the tie fixation thang. My son trades ties like baseball cards with missionaries (in particular) and other members. Kids who don't have ties the Fashionista crowd is usually happy to outfit given half a chance. It's hilarious to watch. No. Not the green, the blue one with binary saying 'I hate ties' in 00100110101 ... Cause he's a prankster. I've got the same one in red, blue looks weird on me. It'll make your blue eyes pop. The girls love that. B) Too cool for school. Studmuffin.

((I can't even type at without cringing. I'm old. ))

Q