Hippity Hoppity Easter’s On the Way!

Easter is a celebration of rebirth both spiritually and physically. It is a spring holiday that welcomes in new growth and flowering. Trees are budding, flowers are slowly blooming, lawns are greening and the days grow longer. The dark and cold of winter give way to a new optimism filled with sun, warmth and cheer. The religious origins of Easter are an integral part of the Christian holiday but that does not preclude people of all faiths from celebrating the more secular side of this holiday. There is plenty to enjoy as the bunnies, chicks, children’s baskets filled with candy and family gatherings present another side of Easter. So no matter your beliefs, we can all celebrate the new awakenings that happen each year with the onset of springtime. Gather your family, your friends and celebrate all that the wonderful aspects of Eastertime.

I always love Easter dinner. We keep it simple by buying or ordering a honey baked ham. Add some yummy scalloped potatoes, a colorful jello mold filled with fruit, some fresh roasted or sautéed vegetables and my menu is set. We usually serve Easter as a buffet. Some times we have brunch, other years it is an early dinner depending on everyone’s schedules. . No matter how much you try to avoid it, Easter is an all day sugar festival for the kids so we have always found the earlier the dinner, the better.

When the kids were smaller, we always enjoyed making Easter favors for everyone. Sometimes we did small plants, decorated the pot, added the recipient’s name with paint marker, wrapped it in ribbon and added in some dyed and decorated eggs. These could be set around the table as placeholders too. Decorating the eggs was an event in itself. There are so many creative egg decorating kits at the stores. You can dye, paint, stamp, sticker, glue and even draw on eggs! The key is to keep this event age appropriate and make it fun. It takes all the fun out of the project if they can’t do it themselves or what they make looks terrible because it was a decorating kit designed for older kids.. So make sure your egg decorating activity will meet both criteria and all will be well.

An egg hunt is also a popular Easter tradition. In our family, we never hid the eggs. We hid the baskets. Easter morning would have the kids running around the house to find their baskets. Our family tradition happened later in the day when all the cousins and friends were over for dinner. We would follow the Easter Bunny Trail. The kids would be all over the neighborhood finding the clues that the Bunny had left. Like Hansel and Gretel’s trail, the Bunny left a trail of clues would lead the kids to the ultimate Easter Basket with goodies for one and all. Rain or shine, adults and kids would all be out there together chasing the Bunny and his clever clues. It was truly such a fun tradition, that when the kids were in high school, we actually did it for all their friends. It was a huge success. Just goes to show that you are never too old to celebrate Easter!
There are more great ideas for Easter recipes, decorations and even sample clues to help you stage your own Bunny Trail Hunt at Celebration Ideas Online.