Polish Names day traditions? Presents? Food?

I would only like to point out that these businesses are just covering all their bases, as the typical phrase they use is "urodziny, imieniny dla dzieci", plus a host of other party occasions. I have brought up 2 kids in Poland (one is now early teens, the other late teens) and if you asked THEM what they think about having a name day party, they would pull a face at best. I should know, I had to organize all those birthdayparties through the years and think of gifts to buy for their friends' birthdays.

Name days are good for those who do not wish to disclose their age any more - and for those who are casting around for a reason to hold a party ;-)

But seriously - I have never personally heard of a nameday party held for a child. For my Dad, for auntie Flora, for my colleague at work, yes - but never for a child or teenager. Someone might say to a child "best nameday wishes" in passing, but that's about it. Birthdays are the big thing.

me neither, i agree with you totally, name days are just for the older bunch, not the younger generation. so z_darius googled imieniny and found all that rubbish, but really it's just a personal preference, i am sure many people simply can't be bothered to celebrate a day that is so unimportant. for an aunty, for a parent - fair enough, but not for a kid/young person. i lived in Poland, went to school there and i never even heard of someone giving away invites to their name day party, it's just stupid and so old fashioned. you usually get the person some flowers and a card (yes before you google it z_darius you can buy happy name day cards in Poland, but you will find their design is pretty simple and the variety of them is rather poor). i even remember when i was a kid and it was my Nan's name day, my mom told me and i asked her if we were gonna get her a gift, and she said nah, don't worry about that, it's not her birthday. birthdays are the big thing in Poland and imieniny will never come any close to that.

I've just asked two of my children: When is your Name Day ?

The answer: I don't know.

Mums and dads might dish out sweets etc on their child's Name Day. But that's about it.

Name Days are for older folk like me. But in my case it's at Christmas time, so I gain nowt.

I have to agree with JustysiaS and Magdalena. Name Days are not for kids.

there's always Dzień Dziecka ;)

i am aware that it's my and my Dad's name day at Andrzejki, and sadly it's also on my birthday lol, but i just don't celebrate it cos i see no point. i definitely get no extra credit for it, never have.

Sure thing.
That doesn't mean that nae day is no longer celebrated in Poland. If by "older" JustysiaS meant people over 40 then is nearly 1/2 of Poland's population.

i never said it was not celebrated, i just said it was old fashioned and not everybody wants to celebrate their name day these days. geez.

Can we say that some people celebrate it and some don't?

Of course, you are right and Santa Claus Day. Yes, children have no worries when it comes to special days.

I remember the days when one or two (then) student friends, who had special days in advent, had to wait till the new year to celebrate. Thankfully those days seem to be long gone.

Andrzejki can be a fun night, but we usually forget about it. It's coming up soon so I'd better say happy birthday, in case I forget that too. Happy birthday.

Andrzejki is my name day lol, my birthday was in September ;)


yay Mikolajki. but sadly santa claus seems to have forgotten about me since i've been in uk lol