I love Easter. As a kid, we’d always go over to my grandparents house for an Easter egg hunt. I’d try to scope out where all of the eggs were hidden before the hunt began. It was often indoors so I’d lay on the floor and look under furniture. We’d get little trinkets like Chinese jump ropes, jacks, silly putty, sidewalk chalk and bubbles. All things to play outside in the crisp, fresh, often damp spring air.
Now that I have kids of my own I love playing Easter Bunny. I try not to load their baskets up with candy (thought I, myself LOVE Easter candy- especially black jelly beans!) Instead I fill the eggs with goldfish crackers, raisins, fruit snacks, trail mix and any other little snack food I can come up with. But it isn’t Easter without jelly beans so I include those as well. It seems like new kids movies often come out right around Easter time so the past few years I’ve scoped out the deals, gathered my coupons and got the kids each a new movie for their baskets. This year the Easter Bunny will be getting Tangled and Bambi. I also get each child a new spring outfit or pajamas. My husband thinks I over-do it but it’s so much fun!
My husband has a fairly large family (compared to mine) and it’s great to get together with my in-laws for a nice ham dinner (don’t forget the deviled eggs!). The kids get to play with their cousins while we watch over them and visit. The food is always delicious and the company excellent. I couldn’t have asked for better in-laws and I’m thankful for them all.
The grandparents have been in charge of hiding the eggs the last few years. The kids usually need rubber boots to trudge through the wet grass of their yard. Last year there was a “golden egg” filled with quarters. As our own kids get older it gets more fun. Our oldest is almost four so he’s really just starting to understand things.
We aren’t regular church goers but I think it’s important for our kids to know the true meaning of the holiday so I do my best to tell them in simple terms that what we are really celebrating has nothing to do with plastic eggs and bunnies. Holidays are so much more fun with kids though, aren’t they?
Egg decorating should be fun this year too! I almost forgot about that! I’m a kid myself when it comes to these little holiday traditions. How do you celebrate with your family? Do you have any special traditions? I’d love to hear them as there is still plenty of room to incorporate new ones into ours!
I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Hop blogging program, for a gift card worth $25. For more information on how you can participate, click here.