Easter was always a fun time around our house. It is Mom’s (Sue’s) favorite holiday. It meant Easter egg hunts, pretty dresses with hats, and fun activities for all the children in the family. Mom would go to great lengths to create fun Easter parties. She also created an amazing basket for each of us to see when we awoke Easter morning. That was my favorite! I would be filled with anticipation to see what toys and candy the Easter bunny would bring that year! That is a tradition I have always upheld in my own family.
Fun Easter ideas from our family to yours:
Use unbuttered popcorn in the Easter basket instead of the Easter grass. It is edible and much easier on the vacuum cleaner!
Personalize the Easter basket with things the child would really like. Make it fancy with ribbons and cellophane. Each of my children had their own basket that was reused every year. They always knew which was theirs, but with six children, I would forget, so I recommend putting their names on them somewhere. We never made a big deal about the Easter bunny bringing the basket. Our children were taught it was from us because we love them like the Savior loves us. Of course, as most children probably would, they really just wanted the Easter basket!
Dye Easter eggs with your children. There are many fun ways to do this, with kits or good old vinegar and food coloring (1/2 cup boiling water, 1 teaspoon vinegar, 10-20 drops of food coloring.) Be creative! Use this as a time to explain the symbolism of the egg. It may mean different things, but to us it symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Have an Easter egg hunt. Use your dyed eggs or fill plastic eggs. Put fun little trinkets in the plastic eggs instead of candy to reduce the sugar intake. Make sure you count how many eggs you have hidden. We have had the wonderful experience of finding real eggs days after – not a very pleasant thing!
Dress in fancy Sunday clothes. Even if you don’t attend a church, children, especially girls, love to dress in their fancy clothes for an Easter party. Even hats and gloves are fun on this special day.
Decorate a large cardboard box as a fishing booth. For the fishing pole, we used a stick with a string attached and a clothespin at the end. Have a person, dressed as the Easter bunny, behind the box and put a little Easter toy on the fishing line the child throws over. All that is really necessary for the bunny costume is to put on bunny ears so the children can see them over the box. A big fluffy tail is fun, too. I was the bunny for my nieces and nephews when I was a teenager. It was so fun to see the looks on their faces!
I would love to hear of your favorite Easter experiences. Please share!
In this Easter season, may we all remember the life and death of Jesus Christ and how His resurrection showed us the way to eternal life. Happy Easter!