Easter « Back to Group Discussions

[ziursrm]

I've been thinking about how to avoid Easter waste/clutter. My kids are little so we are still setting the stage for our Easter traditions. I want the key memories to be about the activities (sunrise service, egg dying & hunting, discussions on the importance of this day to our faith).

The Q: Any thoughts on basket alternatives that won't create waste or storage?

[SomethingAnonymous]

What about using something in your house that can hold eggs- it doesn't have to be a basket. Any bag would work, or you could use a basket for storing toys most of the year and just dump it out for easter. We have one basket with a handle that is used for holding craft stuff.  I think any reusable grocery bag would work.

But yeah I think the best way to avoid extra storage or waste is to use something you can use the rest of the year for something else. ya know?

Oh and then try to fill it with things that are edible and don't have packaging or very little. 

thought of another option- if you have beach buckets you use, that could double as a basket for easter.

Edited by SomethingAnonymous - 3/10/12 at 4:11pm

[ziursrm]

I don't have anything on hand that will work, but like the idea of finding something with a dual purpose the rest of the year. I'll have to look around. As for the fillers we've settled for know on a nice outfit, a new book, eggs and a piece of Easter candy. Simple and quality. No junky fillers or cheap toys

[Persephone]

Lurking around a bit, but I couldn't help piping in. I think the biggest waste in Easter is that infernal plastic grass. You could grow your own wheatgrass baskets. If you're into Waldorf at all, there are tutorials for it all around the web. Little Acorn Learning has one on her blog. And you could do real eggs instead of plastic ones, like this: http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2010/03/30/chocolate-easter-surprise-eggs/ Then add small toys as you see fit. I don't even celebrate Easter, but if I were, that's how I"d do it. :)

[mrsmischief]

I'm putting together a pizza garden basket for my daughter this year. A large pot will be the basket and inside will the be the seedlings and planting supplies for this container garden. Tomato and pepper seedlings will be planted in the middle of the pot and surrounded with appropriate herbs for making the sauce. Little waste, a great science lesson, and fun activity for Easter day all in one! 

[ziursrm]

I like the concept from the pp! I'm so not a gardener but the idea and theme is great. I just need to find our style. Definitely no plastic eggs or grass. We do real eggs from parents chickens and then eat them after the egg hunt. I think a new book each year since we are big readers.

[LoveOurBabies]

I bought cute fluffy baskets that we re-use every year. I like to think that the kids will discover it in adulthood and say 'My easter basket! Boy, this stored a loooot of eggs!'

If you don't have space to store 2-3 baskets from year to year then perhaps having the children make their own baskets (out of paper and weaving it for extra strength) is an option. Fun activity and something to use.. When it's all done, just pop it into the recycling bin.

Good Easter 'fillers' (both time and physical) are:

Special Easter dress or outfit

Edible eggs (be it boiled or chocolate)

Making easter eggs (chocolate)

Dying eggs and then cracking them

Easter arts and crafts

Your own Easter hat parade at home

Making bunny rabbit and egg shaped cookies and icing them

You could make your own baskets and prepare chocolate eggs, easter themed cookies and dyed boiled eggs, wrap them in cellophane and use them for the easter egg hunt. Everything is edible or at least recyclable... So no clutter and plenty of fun to be had.

[dogretro]

We like to keep Easter gifts simple, too, since we are Christians and place the emphasis on Jesus. Our kids (2 so far) each have a special Easter basket that I keep in an out-of-the-way closet. I purposely bought baskets that had cloth liners so that I wouldn't have to mess w/ Easter grass; however, what my parents did was just save the grass from year to year. It stayed in the basket all year, no set up, no fuss.

I liked the idea of using a sand bucket. We have a large sand pit and always seem to need at least one new bucket every year due to heavy usage & breaking. Some other ideas: We keep most of their toys in baskets, ranging from large to tiny, and we have playsilks. I could easily empty two of our nicer baskets (they don't need handles) and use a clean silky bunched up for filler. You could also fold or bunch up a new t-shirt in a pretty color to use as filler & it is a gift, too.

Our eldest is turning four & we have done books, little gardening tools, a small stuffed animal, fancy chocolates, and wooden Ostheimer figurines for their collection. This year, I was pretty much at a loss b/c their b-days are so close to Easter & they also get a large basket each from my mom. We just went to the fancy chocolate store today & dh kind of spoiled them, which was really cute. So, they are getting several chocolate figurines (each small) and some loose jelly beans. We go to Waldorf parent/child class & made felted eggs that you open and there is a little woolen chick inside, so I made them each one. At the candy store, I found tiny puzzles inside of plastic eggs. They are REALLY into puzzles right now, so I got them each one.  DD2 is still too young for it, but she likes to watch her sister build them & you can't do non-matchy at this age or they freak out. I want to get DD1 a set of little gnome figures to play w/ and will order something for dd2 from the same company, and that will be it. This year was HARD! It is v true, though, that if you start by doing just a couple things in the basket, they will be so excited by that, there is no need for more and more and more.

[green_momma2007]

We've never done Easter gifts, but we are Hispanic and growing up giving gifts on Easter was just not part of the tradition. Only until last year did I actually realize that the rest of the US gives Easter gifts, lol. I don't know how I managed to miss  those Easter baskets at the stores for all these years.

[Mama505]

I have been thinking about this (and other holiday traditions) a lot lately, glad to see others are as well!  My DS's godmother came into town for a couple of days recently and we did some crafty things together for the Solstice and Easter.  I had the most fun decorating our living room window!  We got out the glue sticks, paints, markers, crayons, tape, stickers, construction paper and magazines and so on... We cut out simple flower shapes, bugs and birds, and a couple of kites.  We decorated everything profusely and talked about symbolism and nature.  We really got into talking about our favorite parts of holidays (in retrospect, I mean!  I am sure at the time I would have said it was the candy, but that isn't what I remember now)! 

My friend used to go out with her family and search for the perfect Yucca (they lived in southern NM) for an Easter tree.  They would blow eggs and then decorate them to make Easter ornaments.  Baskets would go under the "tree".  And then after festivities had faded everything could go in the compost!

As far as baskets go, I have been thinking of fashioning something out of an egg carton.  Or maybe making something similar to a Christmas stocking... that way it is flat and I can stick it in with the Christmas stockings.  I like the idea of making one each year, and enlisting his help.  We just do eggs in the basket, the grandparents like to send a bunch of stuff like stickers, singing cards, a book, and they are all waiting for the day when I say candy is okay, but we are holding off as long as possible.

Hmmm... a lot to think about!  I don't know if I helped at all, but this sure got me thinking.  Thanks everyone!

[SomethingAnonymous]

We took our son to an egg hunt- the craft basket I mentioned was coincidentally broken a week ago but the little basket that holds his bath toys has a handle so I dumped that out for the hunt.  As for presents, we didn't do any. Easter is not about presents to me, and so I don't even want to start that tradition.  We did dye some eggs but did natural dyes from things we had in the house - turmeric, beets, and purple cabbage made yellow, pink/red, and blue eggs.  I mostly did it just because I wanted to try the natural dyes for fun.

[Paigekitten]

We hosted an egg hunt at my parents house and this morning the girls each got a basket with socks, underwear, sandals, and a little candy.  It was all stuff we were getting them anyway but having it all together as a gift was fun for them.  

[heyitskalista]

We do only hand made gifts...and not too much!  This year they got a needle felted animal each and a knitted "treasure bag" to store things they find on our walks (acorns, shells, etc.).  My mom bought them each an outfit and some new underwear as well (strangely, they were most excited about the underwear!).  We actually didn't use baskets at all.  They just put their stuff in piles!  I meant to make some but completely forgot!

[Lazurii]

I honestly went to the dollar store for their gifts, but I was careful about what I picked out for them.

Each basket had:

a wooden car

bottle of bubbles

a washcloth scrunched into an egg shape (they love washcloths in the bath and are always stealing mine, so now they have their own)

A terracotta pot with a packet of flower seeds

three rubber balls

a handful of dried fruit snacks

a 1 oz chocolate bunny

The "grass" was shredded documents.  The baskets are ones they use to play with already.