Easter! - Page 3

[PlayaMama]

we don't do easter. i always mean to do something for the equinox (we're not christians so i avoid their holidays) but i always forget and so... my kids never get anything this time of year. i feel like a bad mom

[Coconut Chronicles]

Originally Posted by Amila 

I tend to go overboard on holidays :)

Me too... we got DS a really nice monogrammed basket and chair backer from Pottery Barn this year. It will have in it: 2 finger puppets I made, bubbles, chalk, art related stuff (paints, crayons and one coloring book), a butterfly net, an egg shaped spatula and whisk (which he will use to help DH make pancakes on Easter morning), a couple spring themed books, a wind chime, a mini handheld dustpan and broom (he keeps stealing mine!) and a wind up chick that jumps. I made fabric Easter eggs for his hunt so no need to bother with candy.

We also do a big Easter lunch for family and friends. All told (including lunch) we will likely spend about $200 or so on Easter this year but half of that is the food and another chunk is the basket and chair backer which we will reuse.

[A&A]

my kids will get a book each and a little candy.

[limette]

The kids are getting a piece of chocolate each and some sand toys. We're getting sand delivered next week for the sandbox I dug up so the timing is good.

We have chickens due to hatch around Easter so that will be fun. We'll check out all our baby animals, do some gardening, play in the sandbox, hunt for painted eggs, it'll be fun.

[AsherahTanith]

We celebrated the first day of Spring with an egg hunt where the Spring Hare had also left our 4-year-old daughter a basket with a bright new [to her] outfit, colorful sidewalk chalk, a chocolate bunny and some chocolate foil eggs.  The eggs that she hunted were all plastic eggs with jelly beans and malt robin's eggs inside.

I made a meal of keilbasa and eggs before we headed downtown with the chalk and three bundles of flowers that we had picked up from the grocery store the day before.  I cut the blooms' stems down to four or five inches and she handed them out to people downtown.  It was really fun.  I could barely keep up with her.  She handed them out to homeless people, men, women, children - if you were walking by her, you got a beautiful spring flower and a cheerful "Happy Spring".  It was awesome and interesting to see people's reactions.  We had a few people try to hand her money; but, I would just shake my head before she noticed what they were doing.  We then went by the square [that's in our downtown] and chalked Spring messages and drawings before heading home because the wind started to pick up and get cold.

She said it was the best day ever.

As we're not religious, we'll be spending this weekend participating in Earth Day celebrations and clean up efforts in our area.

[madskye]

I'm surprized that people buy big items for Easter.  That's new to me!  I use the same basket, eggs, and grass each year. I'm also not above reusing jelly beans or chocolate if it got put in the cupboard and not eaten.  In past years it's been all candy and maybe a book, but this year her birthday was last weekend, and I went on a big trip to Switzerland and came back with a lot of really good chocolate so this year we are going easy on Easter basket candy and I bought her some fun accessories instead--headbands, hair ties, a little Skipper barbie doll and a bright, pretty sun dress.  I bought some peeps and skittles and one chocolate bunny because the bunny seemed somehow necessary.  I also bought her a mini hand sanitizer because she loves that stuff.

We also go to church and have a big family gathering on Sunday, our neighbor has a great egg hunt, and we dyed hardboiled eggs last night.

[sunflower.mama]

I reuse the baskets and eggs - but never considered myself to be a scrooge...why would you throw out and buy it again?  I consider it organized...I keep all that plus egg dying items in a bin.

One fun tradition I started was slowly collecting the bunnies and duckies that people seem to get the kids this time of year - after the novelty wore off I would disappear them..and they all show up on Easter morning around the house.  It's a little magic (they "are" the Easter bunnies) and less clutter through the year.  The bunnies tend to be a bit tacky anyhow.

We have fall/late summer birthdays, so I like the excuse to buy the kids a little something - this year they each get a nice book and a small toy - doll for dd and hockey cards for DS.  They will get chalk, and bath toys.  I too would hesitate to throw a big ticket item in for fear of setting a precedent they'd remember.  I guess a bike will need to just be a holiday free purchase as needed here.

It is silly how all the stores are turning it into a bonanza.  I spent a bit over $20 per kid, which is north of $60.  I don't feel like a scrooge at all!

[bobandjess99]

my kids have never gotten anything for easter.../its just not a gift holiday for us.  

However, i went out and bought a few things this year and they will get small baskets of stuff.  but only  like $10 per kid, and i thought that was outrageous! 

[puffingirl]

I finally got Easter stuff for DD last night.  We do a few plastic eggs to find, filled with coins (she's saving up for a comic book) or a few jelly beans.  She'll get a small chocolate bunny and a few play items (bubbles, a ball, a matchbox car, some silly putty).  

[SomethingAnonymous]

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. I am so shocked there are kids who get all those presents for Easter.. I had no idea. 
 

Originally Posted by TiredX2 

Wow, I really hadn't realized that Easter had become so commercialized.  I'm surprised that there is not more discussion of that, given the outcry about keeping Christ in Christmas.

^ exactly.

I'm not buying anything for my kid's for Easter.  For us Easter/Good Friday is a time to talk about Jesus's death and resurrection. We call Easter, Resurrection Day.  Candy, egg hunts, gifts, have nothing to do with that.  $300 is more than a months rent for us.  And yeah I think if you start making holidays very commercialized kids will expect it and not understand if it suddenly stops.  Even if we weren't Christians, I wouldn't buy my kids tons of presents for Easter because we believe in having minimal material possessions and not contributing to the constantly consumerism of our culture.   Maybe this sounds harsh but I am seriously concerned about the environmental impacts of buying tons of new stuff.

[monkey's mom]

Must say big thanks to the smart mama who recommended the Lego idea! They are working on assembling a Harry Potter Lego set as we speak. Perfect for my food allergic kiddos!

I'll just say for me, we've spent the last 2 years rabidly fighting a coal fired power plant for communtiy. This week that meant I headed out of town to speak at a local university for a night and then spoke the next night at another event. Next week will be more meetings and campaigning. I'm more concerned about having my children be surprised and joyous on a morning that can often be about foods they can not have, in a week/month/year that involves me being very occupied saving the environment.
 

Blessings however you choose to celebrate today!!

[StephandOwen]

DS ended up getting 2 books, a little plastic bowling game in an egg, a dove chocolate bunny and 4 plastic eggs filled with a "clue" in his basket. Each of the clues led ds around the house to find a gift. Those were.... a big Tron play set, 2 Tron "cars", a new bath toy and a dvd. I would much rather do toys/books than candy (and ds only likes plain milk chocolate, no other candy).

We also have some eggs filled that we will hide later today. They have some chocolate (hershey's kisses, m&m's, etc) and some quarters. All of the chocolate we already had in the house so I didn't buy any of that, just re-used it

[Smithie]

Thank you, Passover Rabbit!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithie2000/5649555660/