[Softmama]

For the mamas who celebrate Easter-

I really have no Easter traditions of my own save going to church in the a.m. My dh's family didn't really celebrate anything ever, so he's no help on this. I would like to establish some fun traditions for my kids but am kind of at a loss.

this year we will be going to an egg hunt at a local church the day before. I will hide candy filled eggs Easter morning, give them a basket and let them find them. Then church. Then out to eat (a real rare treat for them). But we have four days off from school and I thought it would be cool to have some stuff leading up to Easter and the days after...

Do your kids get an empty basket and hunt for candy filled eggs, or do you give them a basket already filled with candy on Easter morning?

If you color eggs, when do you do it, and what do you do with them? put them on the table to look at? eat them?

What else do you do??

 

[meemee]

no matter what hunt we go to we always do a hunt at home.

no matter where we are. with yard or no yard.

i always gave her an empty basket. for her it was the hunt and how many eggs she got that was the exciting part. not really into what is in the egg. i mean yeah she got excited over the candy but she would lose interest in it pretty soon. i would get rid of it by the evening.

oooh one other tradition. actually it started with easter.

my dd hates colouring eggs. so she discovered she loved painting them. so whenever i brign eggs home she takes her nontoxic paint and paints them. i always have colourful eggs in the fridge. though now that she is older she is kinda out of it. maybe you could do that before hand.

there is enough activities around - playdates, library events, plays, movies that keep us busy this spring break.

 

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

We are a very church-oriented famiy, so many of our traditions have developed around the demands of two choir-singing parents. Also, from a religious standpoint, I think that Easter is pretty difficult to understand if you don't have the lead up through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. But, my kids are 6 and 9, so they are old enough of the intensity of this. Until they were 4 we skipped regular Good Friday services(or at least the young child did) and we went to one of the "children's Good Friday" services offered by a different church.

We don't "do" the Easter Bunny because it has nothing, IMHO, to do with *Easter* -- a religious holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ. Who was not, as far as a I know, a bunny. We do, however, do Easter treats because, well, because its chocolate and I like it too! Ok, more seriously, we do some of what I can "secular Easter" as a celebration of spring and for fun.

So, we do church on Thursday and Friday nights. This year DS is old enough to have a part reading lessons and serving as an acolyte so he is pretty excited about this.

Generally the kids have off of school on Good Friday so we also use that time to dye easter eggs. Not because it ties to Good Friday at all, just because its convenient.

On Easter Sunday we get up and go straight to church -- mostly because the choir needs to be there by 8, its 30 minutes away, and I am not doing anything other than breakfast, Easter clothes (generally new and fancy), and getting to church for rehearsal.

After church there is an easter egg hunt at church for the kids that I generally have to get a teenager to supervise my kids for because the choir turns around and sings the next service. Then kids get a picnic in the park with the sitter.

Mid-afternoon our friends and their children arrive for Easter dinner. We do a hunt for candy and the dyed eggs. I am a major food safety nut, so I only hide eggs minutes before they are hunted and found, then they go back into the fridge to become lunch for the next few days. The kids get a mostly empty basket to start-generally only one special "big bunny" in it (so they don't fight over who gets which big bunny), they hunt for dyed eggs, chocolate eggs, and plastic jelly-bean filled eggs. My DH says that they eat more candy on Easter than Halloween, which is probably true. We hunt indoors because I don't want food outside where it might be spoiled (or soiled) before being eaten.

Then we have big festive dinner and life gets back to normal, or at least as normal as possible given the presence of all that candy.

 

[LynnS6]

We do a combo of the religious and secular Easter.

For religion, I'm trying to get us to go to the Good Friday service this year. Our kids are 4 and 7, and old enough, I hope. It's a really cool Tenebrae service that ends in darkness. I'm not sure if my kids will freak out or not.

Saturday the kids have an Easter egg hunt/craft fair/story reading at church. I've signed up to do work on a Habitat for Humanity build, and I'm hoping that as they get older they can join me in a service project on Saturday.

Saturday evening we dye Easter eggs. After the kids are asleep, I hide their Easter Baskets (this was a tradition in MY family) and a few Easter eggs.

Sunday AM we get up and then hunt for the baskets/eggs, and then go to church. After church, my sister and her family usually come up to visit and we have an outdoor Easter egg hunt (weather permitting), a mid-afternoon dinner with ham, rolls and potatoes. Some years I get really inspired and make a bunny cake. It's not happening this year with the Habitat for Humanity build.

IME, things that make a holiday special are things that you do together. How about a nice tradition of an afternoon hike on Easter?

 

[KathinJapan]

we always plant some things in the garden.

and the same others mentioned eggs, hunts, church, dinner etc.. we don't put anything in the plastic eggs, they are just for the pure joy of finding something. My girls are 5 and 2.

Kathryn

 

[Mama2Bug]

Easter is complicated for us. We are Unitarian Universalists but our families are Christian. DH's parents are Catholic. We've done things slightly differently from year to year, but here's what we're doing this year:

We homeschool, so we've been "celebrating Spring" every day since the first official day of Spring. We do a Spring-related craft (even if it's something as simple as painting flowers) and read a Spring-y book each day.

Yesterday, I told DD the story of the goddess Ostara, the rabbit and the egg. I explained that that is where the traditions of egg hunting and the Easter Bunny come from. We talked about how Easter/Eostre/Ostara are all celebrations of Spring/Rebirth and then we colored a picture of the rabbit in the story.

(We do not currently discuss Jesus/the crucifixion/resurrection with DD. We are not Christan, so it is not part of our tradition. We will discuss it with her in a few years, since it is important to much of her family and is prominent culturally, but we feel the story is too gruesome for a four year old.)

Tonight, before bed, I surprised her with a realistic, stuffed rabbit and a golden egg filled with jelly beans. We talked again a little bit about the story behind the traditions and she reenacted it a few times just for fun.

Tomorrow and Friday we will do several more Springtime crafts, focusing more on renewal/baby animals/changing of the seasons. I would love to dye eggs, but nobody here eats hard-boiled eggs. I have to look into whether or not it is effective/safe to dye uncooked eggs. If it is, we'll dye some.

Saturday, we will attend our church's "Pagan Egg Hunt." It is an informal pot-luck with lots of kids and running around.

Sunday, we will do a massive egg hunt (plastic eggs reused each year, filled with small toys, cheddar bunnies and a small amount of candy) in our backyard. Then DD will look for her basket, which I will hide somewhere in the house. Her basket is filled with books about fairies, a small goddess/princess/fairy doll, a pair of bunny ears and a chocolate bunny. We don't have an Easter Bunny tradition, so she knows that we hide the eggs etc.

We will attend our usual church service, where we have a "flower communion." Each person brings a flower to lay at the front of the church, which then get redistributed after the service so that everyone takes a different one home. DD will wear one of her foofier dresses and, likely, the bunny ears. LOL

We will then drive an hour to DH's parent's home for their Easter celebration. They'll probably have some candy for her and there will be a big dinner with cousins, etc. We haven't gone to an Easter dinner there since DD was an infant, so I'm not sure what to expect re: religious celebrations. We will take that as it comes.

 

[fritz]

DS just turned 4, and this is the first year we're doing anything to celebrate spring/Easter. He just found out about dyed eggs and couldn't wait for Easter, so a week ago, we dyed our eggs. Then I introduced him to the Easter egg war. I grew up doing this, but DH had never heard of it. If you're a pacifist or just uncomfortable with wanton egg violence, don't do it. But if you're fine with cracking eggshells, it's a lot of fun, and gets lots of giggles.

After the eggs have been dyed and cooled off completely, I had DS choose an egg, then I picked my own egg. Before you start, you chant, "One, two, three, four, I declare an egg war!" Then you each hold up your eggs with the narrow ends (top of oval) pointed at each other. Next you bash them together, then look to see whose eggshell got cracked. Then you flip the eggs over so the wide ends (bottom of oval) are facing each other, and you bash those ends together and check to see whose eggshell cracked. Next you bash together the sides (I usually get 4 bashes out of the sides, but depending on how much/little the eggs have cracked you can do more). Whoever has the least amount of cracks in their egg is the victor. Then you peel and eat the egg. If it's more than two of you, the victor goes on to compete against the next person. Repeat until all participants have had their turn.

We also happened to start some seeds inside (and in 4-6 weeks will transplant them outside) last week.

I think my mom is planning on bringing up an Easter basket with some little gifts/candy for DS, and we will be having an egg hunt w/ the plastic trinket-filled ones inside the house. (When I was growing up, my parents would hide the easter baskets...the all time best hiding spot was inside the dryer--I was so thrilled when I finally found that basket!)

 

[Softmama]

:

 

[karne]

We're going to have brunch together as a family, and the kids will have Easter baskets.

We're planning a spring-themed easter egg/treasure hunt on our property. Some of what the kids will find will include seed packets. During the day we'll try to get the seeds into peat pots to get started for the garden.

I'm planning a ham dinner, and I hope to use my "special" plates to make the table festive. We aren't going anywhere or meeting up w/family this year. I'm looking forward to a nice family day.

 

[Alyantavid]

We do a community Easter egg hunt the Saturday before. Sunday, we do church (always on Easter), a lunch at my mom's or grandma's and then something with mil in the evening.

Kids hunt for real dyed eggs, or empty plastic ones.

 

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

DD doesn't eat, need more plastic junk or stuffed animals, so we're not doing an Easter basket. What we decided to do instead, and are planning on making it a tradition, is to give sacrificially (time or materials) to each other, and then, in the future, to people outside of our family. VeeGee isn't old enough to really understand this too much, but, I'm making a painting with her for her daddy (and believe me, for her, that's some serious sacrificial giving

). I'm not sure what it is that I'm going to do for DH, but I'm looking forward to celebrating the act of sacrifice. I think that will really honor what it is that Easter commemorates and I'm excited about it.

Then we'll go shoot skeet with my family (which is a tradition!

). I know it's weird.

 

[~PurityLake~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mama2Bug Easter is complicated for us. We are Unitarian Universalists but our families are Christian. DH's parents are Catholic. We've done things slightly differently from year to year, but here's what we're doing this year: We homeschool, so we've been "celebrating Spring" every day since the first official day of Spring. We do a Spring-related craft (even if it's something as simple as painting flowers) and read a Spring-y book each day. Yesterday, I told DD the story of the goddess Ostara, the rabbit and the egg. I explained that that is where the traditions of egg hunting and the Easter Bunny come from. We talked about how Easter/Eostre/Ostara are all celebrations of Spring/Rebirth and then we colored a picture of the rabbit in the story. (We do not currently discuss Jesus/the crucifixion/resurrection with DD. We are not Christan, so it is not part of our tradition. We will discuss it with her in a few years, since it is important to much of her family and is prominent culturally, but we feel the story is too gruesome for a four year old.) Tonight, before bed, I surprised her with a realistic, stuffed rabbit and a golden egg filled with jelly beans. We talked again a little bit about the story behind the traditions and she reenacted it a few times just for fun. Tomorrow and Friday we will do several more Springtime crafts, focusing more on renewal/baby animals/changing of the seasons. I would love to dye eggs, but nobody here eats hard-boiled eggs. I have to look into whether or not it is effective/safe to dye uncooked eggs. If it is, we'll dye some. Saturday, we will attend our church's "Pagan Egg Hunt." It is an informal pot-luck with lots of kids and running around. Sunday, we will do a massive egg hunt (plastic eggs reused each year, filled with small toys, cheddar bunnies and a small amount of candy) in our backyard. Then DD will look for her basket, which I will hide somewhere in the house. Her basket is filled with books about fairies, a small goddess/princess/fairy doll, a pair of bunny ears and a chocolate bunny. We don't have an Easter Bunny tradition, so she knows that we hide the eggs etc. We will attend our usual church service, where we have a "flower communion." Each person brings a flower to lay at the front of the church, which then get redistributed after the service so that everyone takes a different one home. DD will wear one of her froofier dresses and, likely, the bunny ears. LOL We will then drive an hour to DH's parent's home for their Easter celebration. They'll probably have some candy for her and there will be a big dinner with cousins, etc. We haven't gone to an Easter dinner there since DD was an infant, so I'm not sure what to expect re: religious celebrations. We will take that as it comes.

I love this! We are UU as well, from family who are Christian/Catholic. My mom loves doing the Christian/secular holidays so we frequently indulge her. Do you have any links for child friendly/interactive sites that I can use for teaching my nearly 4 year old about Ostara and Pagan Spring celebrations?

 

[nolansmummy]

We don't celebrate any of the religious aspects of Easter.

For us, its a fun holiday to celebrate spring, and get candy. We hide the Easter baskets for the kids to find in the morning, and they are filled with small trinkets, usually one dvd, and this year they are getting small shovels to dig outside with, possibly some seeds to plant some herbs. I also give them some eggs. We dye eggs on the Saturday before Easter.

I hide the dyed eggs outside for them to find , as well as some plastic ones which we fill with candy and pennies.

We serve a yummy brunch, and a ham dinner too.

I always loved Easter growing up because i got to get dressed up, and see family, and hunt for eggs.

 

[Mama2Bug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Purity♥Lake~ I love this! We are UU as well, from family who are Christian/Catholic. My mom loves doing the Christian/secular holidays so we frequently indulge her. Do you have any links for child friendly/interactive sites that I can use for teaching my nearly 4 year old about Ostara and Pagan Spring celebrations?

I tried really hard to find something similar to our Ostara story somewhere online for you, but I couldn't. Since nobody knows the "real" origins of many pagan traditions, people have woven their own rituals and stories. Though they have the same elements (the Goddess, eggs, rebirth, a rabbit or two), the stories are all different. If you Goggle "Ostara Story" you will turn up some wonderful tales! I'm actually very glad that you inspired me to look, because now we have new stories to tell DD.

Since I couldn't find anything exactly like our specific Ostara story, I will type the one I "made up" out for you:

"Once upon a time, after a long, cold Winter, a beautiful Goddess was born. She was the Goddess of Spring and her name was Ostara. Now a Goddess is born as a grown-up woman- not a baby- and can use her magic to bring about many wonderful things but, as everybody knows, being born is very hard work. Ostara was not quite strong enough to do the magic that would bring Spring into full bloom.

A few days after the Goddess's birth, a small rabbit was hopping around in the forest, trying to find enough tough, dry, brown grass to eat. It had been a long Winter and he was both hungry and tired of the dead grasses that were left after the snows had melted. As he hopped from one place to another, the rabbit came upon a lovely, perfect egg. It was beautiful! The rabbit was very excited. It would be the perfect thing to eat for his evening meal. With great effort, he drag-hopped the egg back to his hole.

Once he was home, the little rabbit settled down to eat his prize. As he prepared to crack the shell, his thoughts turned to the newly-born Goddess. When she gained her full strength, Spring would bring the Earth back to life and he and the other animals would eat well every day. He hoped that would happen very soon.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that the Goddess, like him, would probably feel much better if she ate well. With a small sigh, he decided that it would be better for him to give his egg to the Goddess than to eat it himself. He rolled it back out of his hole and hop-dragged it to the Goddess's forest dwelling.

The Goddess was very, very pleased to receive the egg. It did indeed give her the strength she needed to put Spring into full-motion. More than she enjoyed the meal, however, she enjoyed the generosity of the little rabbit who brought it to her. She knew he must be hungry after his meager Winter meals and that to give her the egg was a great sacrifice for him. To reward him for his kindness, she told all the creatures of the world what he had done and requested that they remember his unselfishness each year."

I know it's a very simple story, but we're fond of it.

 

[~PurityLake~]

That's a great story. It makes me want to write it down on paper with pictures to turn it into a little book for my girls.

Which is probably just an excuse for me to bring out my artistic nature.

 

[zeldamomma]

The Easter bunny leaves baskets for each kid and a shared basket for mom and dad. The baskets each have a little gift (fun t-shirts this year) and a chocolate bunny. The Easter bunny also hides candy-filled eggs inside the house (it's cold here for Easter most years). After finding the baskets and the eggs, we get in the car and drive to a family dinner/Easter egg hunt.

ZM

 

[4evermom]

Growing up, we'd have to find our Easter baskets when we woke up. There would be small toys and candy. We'd go to church. We usually took a family photo after we got back home. Then, we would hunt for the hard boiled eggs we had decorated the day before. We used the empty egg cartons for the hunt so we didn't need to dump out our baskets.

Ds does not appreciate having to find his basket. It feels like a mean trick to him that I know where it is and make him find it so I just leave it on the coffee table. He also does not appreciate hard boiled eggs so we do a plastic egg hunt with small trinkets, money, and candy.

We do set out a bowl of hard boiled eggs in the morning to look pretty. People who like them eat them whenever they want. I'll turn them into egg salad the next day.