Easter! - Page 2

[EmsMom]

I started filling the plastic eggs with snacks like Annie's bunny crackers and tiny chocolate cookies, with a small amount of candy thrown in for a well rounded Easter breakfast. I like to wrap the snack in something becasue I figure those eggs have a pretty high probablility of lead... My dd is now 12 and she STILL loves finding the eggs and pouring the snacks in little bowls.  WIll also put in some toys like punching balloons, etc.  I must admit it is a bit of labor but it keeps the cost and the sugar fairly low while still being a whole lot of fun...  We reuse the eggs year to year as well. 

[Smithie]

We're Jewish, but the kids have monogrammed Easter baskets from Pottery Barn, because I always wanted one and bobdarnit my kids are going to have everything I always wanted. ;-) I tell my kids the Passover Rabbit visits Jewish children so they won't feel left out on Easter. They know I'm joking, but it's sort of a kid-friendly way of expressing "you are an American, this is American cultural holiday, you are free to enjoy it without guilt" 

I'm fine with a lot of $$ ($50 per kid) being spent on Easter baskets between me and MIL. My kids love them. This year they've asked for Mario plush toys, which cost the earth, but MIL and I bought some anyway. It's the candy excess that flips me out, and I try really hard to have maximum toys and minimum candy in the baskets. 

[NiteNicole]

Originally Posted by Smithie 

We're Jewish, but the kids have monogrammed Easter baskets from Pottery Barn, because I always wanted one and bobdarnit my kids are going to have everything I always wanted. ;-) I tell my kids the Passover Rabbit visits Jewish children so they won't feel left out on Easter. They know I'm joking, but it's sort of a kid-friendly way of expressing "you are an American, this is American cultural holiday, you are free to enjoy it without guilt" 

 

I kind of love you a little bit.

[Chicky2]

Uber Jumbo Scrooge Here....

We reuse baskets.  I reuse the grass stuff.  I reuse eggs if I can still find them around the house, lol.  I buy a bag of jelly beans, a bag of robin eggs, and that's it.  We dye TONS of real eggs (we have lots of chickens!), fill the plastic eggs w/about 2 pieces of candy each.  My kids are more excited about the deviled eggs later.  :o)  Half their candy will still be in their baskets 2 wks later.  Well, except for the littlest one.  NO self control for her!

Our kids just love the egg hunt, but I really think they enjoy the egg dyeing more.  Oh, and I make a bunny cake for dessert later that day just like the one my great-grandmother always made.  :o)  We usually have a nice ham (from a pig we butcher in early Spring), asparagus because it's the first thing popping up in the garden, sweet potatoes, and maybe home made rolls.  Nice and simple. 

ETA...I forgot that we always blow out several new eggs to decoupage for our egg tree.  We just stick part of a branch in a jar and hang lovely eggs all over it.  We use bleeding art tissue paper and sometimes pretty jewels and sequins.

[StephandOwen]

Scrooge here too we use the same basket each year, same grass, same plastic eggs. He'll get some books in his basket and a chocolate bunny. In the eggs i'll put m&ms and hersheys kisses. We will also dye some eggs.

[Momsteader]

We haven't ever really done anything for the kids at Easter. They've participated with others sometimes if we were somewhere and others were. They've been to a few egg hunts. But, I'm also not a Valentine's/Tooth Fairy/Santa/Christmas stockings person either.....so it makes sense I don't go ga-ga over Easter either LOL

[stormborn]

Originally Posted by beansmama 

My dd's b-day is the first week of April, so typically she just gets a few things in her basket. Even though easter's the end of april this year, I don't plan on making any huge changes. We don't really have any traditions - although I'd like to change that! I think an easter egg hunt with little goodies inside (something cheap - hershey kiss or some m&m's) would be fun. My baskets usually consist of a small chocolate bunny and some jelly beans - usually less than $5. Guess I'm a jumbo scrooge, lol!

Just don't hide the chocolate ones in the sun.  "Mama, I think this one has dog poop in it"

We usually do candy and stuff they'll need for summer anyway. Water bottles, pool stuff, flower seeds, little toad or birdhouses to decorate, stuff like that. I hate easter grass  (it never.goes.away.) so I usually do a playsilk or beach towel to line the basket instead for an extra little gift. 

This year we scored some duck eggs for dying, so that should be cool for no $.

[zebra15]

It varies from year to year here.  Sometimes I go all out and get DS some new art supplies, summer stuff (pool supplies, clothes, sandals etc), legos, candy etc and other years we dont do much.  This year I have 2 small FREE boxes of pick a brick legos and DS is thrilled.  They are free after xmas!.  We are hopefully moving soon so Im trying to keep stuff to a minimum.  I may get DS some chocolate covered candy pretzels, he loves those.  This is going to be a lean year.

*we dont do church or anything so thats a non-issue for us... its a total 'fluff' holiday around here

[skreader]

We celebrate it as a religious holiday too.  We dye easter eggs and  put them in a bowl.  We also sometimes do the blown-egg technique and decoarte and hang from a house-plant. When the children were younger, I would get together w/ a friend whose kids are about the same ages as mine and have it be an egg dying and decorating party. Now we just decorate as a family.

Some  years I've been really together and brought the kids to Maundy Thursday dinner, Good Friday morning service & Easter Sunday service. But now they're in their teens it's harder to get them to go.

At church there is a plastic egg hunt & the kids get a piece of candy for every egg they find.

[ilovemygirl]

We have a friend who does a big egg hunt event every year that we go to so we don't do real or plastic eggs at home.

We do have a basket we reuse every year and give one special toy, one book and one chocolate treat. Same "scrooginess" as some others here ... I don't think I've ever spent more than 20 or 30 dollars. 

It's a religious holiday for us. I'm not necessarily against holiday characters like the easter bunny and santa but I make sure dd understands they are make believe.

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by mama to B 

Everywhere you go now there's Easter stuff so what's the bunny bringing your kids! Last year I went way overbored with "stuff" stuff she never used such a waste! This year I'm trying to keep it to things she really likes or needs. She will be getting bubbles, sand toys, chalk, probably a kite, a ball for outside, a tinker bell dish set, a leap frog text and learn, a game, puzzles, coloring books, I will also likely get her a new outfit sandles, a toy, and treats. I will do a Easter egg hunt around the house to! I'm debating back and forth about getting her a trampoline and a jeep for Easter. There both things I'd like to get her to have this summer and since she has a fall birthday they aren't something I could do for a birthday present. So I'm thinking basket, eggs, toys will be from the bunny but then I'll get at least one of the bigger items from me? Does anyone else do bigger items for Easter? Dd is only 2 1/2 so I don't think she will expect big things like that every year. Do you think she will expect it? I'm trying to stay within a budget for get basket since last year I probably spent over 300 on it but the bigger thing would be more of a splurge.

Wow that's a lot of stuff. I don't know that at the age of two she would be able to remember and expect a similar level of gift giving the following year, but I think that it is important to be mindful that the you are setting the tone and expectation for how your family will approach celebrations in the future.

If you have more kids you may find yourself searching for things to buy to celebrate in the way your kids have become accustomed and you could easily become overwhelmed by stuff and the cost of it. It's also been my experience that my kids get overwhelmed with lots of gifts and can't appreciate them.  Perhaps not all of these things need to come via the Easter bunny or on the same day?

In our family we do a big easter egg hunt at my aunt's with my sisters and their kids. We split the cost for the things in the eggs (mostly candy and coins)  The kids just like hunting for the eggs.

They also get a basket (which we reuse every year) that has a larger chocolate bunny, a couple of handmade things - this year is knitted bunnies and appliqued t-shirts and jammie bottoms. We try to replenish some of things they use up (chalk, bubbles, balls or badminton birds, skipping ropes, yoyo strings, nature notebooks, gardening gloves, paints, wooden peg people, balsa wood airplanes).  We also will often get the kids one "big" joint gift - which in the past has been things like a badminton net, new kite, and this year will be an outdoor tree swing because we just moved into a new house.  The things my kids love the most in their easter baskets are silly little things like bubble gum (a huge treat for them ) and we all have bubble gum blowing contests, or oragami paper we use to make paper airplanes.

I aim to keep the cost of easter basket stuff under $100 total for the 4 of them and even that seems high to me.
 

[eirual]

We colour hard-boiled eggs and do a hunt for them, maybe with a few mini eggs thrown in if I think of it. That's the extent of our easter. ....and we all get yummy egg-salad sandwiches for the week! lol

[sniffmommy]

For the past few years, DH and I put the kids to bed, put on a non-kid friendly movie (a treat for us) and make chocolates for Easter.  I got the choco molds on clearance for 10 cents, post holiday.  It is a tradition that I look forward to each Spring.  We have carrot bread muffins for breakfast too.  :)

[carfreemama]

These are all such great ideas! I love all holidays...Hallmark, religious, cultural, whatever. It's a challenge, though, to celebrate and love giving gifts and still be environmentally conscious. So now I know where to start.

I just wanted to add that I ALWAYS shop for the next year's holiday right after the current one. So the day after Easter, it's off to the fancy card stores for next year's Easter. Last year, I got a huge plush bunny for my dd for 90 percent off. The exact same model is on sale again this year in that store for $35. I also get all our baking chocolate that way. I cut up the valentine hearts and chocolate eggs for cookies and what not and have gourmet goodies all the time. Cheaper than chocolate chips in the grocery store.

[monkey's mom]

Whoever suggested the Lego bricks in the eggs idea? I LOVE YOU!  Thank you for a great idea! My boys have food allergies, so candies in the eggs is always an issue. We usually do coins, stickers, and Smarties (the one candy they can safely have), but how fun would it be to get a small Lego kit and divide up the bricks? They can spend the morning putting it together. Awesome!

We recycle the same eggs and grass from year to year. I buy beach pails for the baskets and get a handful of things at the dollar store (books, bubbles, parachute guys, army guys, sand toys...that sort of thing). 

[Ruthiegirl]

We dye eggs, do a nice breakfast and egg hunt and each of the kids get a chocolate bunny.  They specifically ask for the cheap chocolate bunnies -- the kind with candy eyes.  Normally, they are real chocolate snobs, but apparently not one of them can resist the siren call of a waxy, overly sweet chocolate bunny.  

And I really insist that Easter stay small in my house.  We are not religious and I am really, really done with holidays that explode into mammoth, week long, expensive, too-big manias of present buying and chaos.  But that is just me. 

 

[Amila]

I tend to go overboard on holidays :)  Each kids gets a basket with stuff like crayons, bubbles, a few pieces of chocolate, coloring book, kite, stuffed animal...that kind of stuff.  Im thinking of getting something this year that will last a bit longer though- Insect Lore has some awesome stuff like ladybug land and anthills that I know my kids would love.  We dye eggs, and do several egg hunts, plus a nice brunch with family. I probably spend $30 on each basket, less for the baby, who will just get something little.  The brunch is what costs a lot because we go all out and do mimosas, organic eggs, natural bacon, etc. Plus my kids get easter baskets at my dads, my moms, and my inlaws, which does make it excessive, but thats par for the course I think.

[mommariffic]

Easter is just a huge spring celebration for us :) 

We are doing wheat grass baskets this year, and I will fill them with gardening supplies, a "spring" book, and some little wooden treasures for our nature table. I would also like to get DD a balance bike because Christmas/her birthday aren't appropriate times (her b-day is August and that's too late..) we will see. DS will get nothing :) We hide a mix of felt, real, and plastic eggs in the yard and IN the eggs we put pretty rocks, candies, and seed bombs (just got some!) 

[marimara]

I, too, am shocked at how commercialized Easter has become.  This year I received a flyer from Target in the mail that was chock full of toys and you name it, just like at Christmas time.  We celebrate Spring (easter) more as the beginning of spring and our connection to nature and the Earth.  We are not Christians so we don't get involved in that part of it.  This year I wanted to try egg dying using natural dyes.  I read that boiling the eggs with onion peels will make them bright yellow.  So we are going to experiment with that.  We'll do an egg hunt and picnic with some friends and go look at birds and flowers and talk about how spring works and what it means for all living things in our half of the world.  I will maybe get her a little chocolate to put in her basket, the same reuseable basket we use every year.  I might add paper shreds as the 'grass'.  I did buy some plastic eggs that I plan on using again next year, that I'll put some little candies in.  I'm going to get some flower seed packets and drop them in there, so we can plant them and see how they grow as part of a homeschool lesson.  I did buy dd a scooter at a thrift store  and it is "hot wheels" brand so as a surprise gift to her from us, not from the Easter bunny, we are going to paint it pink and purple and I want to handpaint her name and some spring flowers on it for her.  

[Aeress]

We are doing a spring equinox basket this year, which has chalk, a new notebook and pencil, stickers and a few other fun things.

They will get some chocolate from the bunny this year as well. We dye eggs and have a easter egg hunt with the cousins.