What are your favorite Easter memories from your childhood? On the hunt for Easter eggs? Biting into marshmallows? Biting off the ears of your Easter bunnies?

Or maybe the most magical part was the preparation: painting those eggs and anticipating the candy you would receive. The Easter basket, with green grass and chocolate bunnies… maybe a stuffed chick or even a real duckling!

I am sure you would like to recreate some of those good memories for your family and especially your children. So here are some tips to help you make that happen.

For many families, Easter is about their faith, but that won’t stop anyone from enjoying Easter egg hunts and Easter candy as a secular celebration. Easter is a day of joy, and the colorful eggs and accessories of traditional Easter serve to enhance that sense of joy in the essence of spring and rebirth.

For children, of course, part of the appeal of Easter lies in the fact that it is another holiday where they expect to receive lots of chocolates, sweets and other goodies. And for the purposes of this report, we’ll focus on the fun aspects of Easter, along with its joy. You can have a happy Easter, celebrating spring and its beauty and freedom, without focusing entirely on the sugary stuff.

Easter is a family affair

Families vary in how they like to celebrate Easter. So you can choose how you would like to celebrate. But despite individual differences, there are also many common themes. Here are some of the standard ingredients:

a) Sweets

Easter is (for many people) all about treats… and the key among treats is Easter eggs. It’s not Easter unless a lot of eggs are put in the basket, along with a variety of other sweets. And about those eggs…there are so many different types, from filled and unfilled chocolate eggs, caramel eggs, marshmallow eggs and yes, even hard boiled eggs that have been decorated in bright colors to add joy.

Peeps, preferably in various shapes and colors, are also a must, as are jelly beans, which really do look like miniature eggs.

Some families even have their own special Easter baked goods, which can range from specialty breads to fancy cookies and cakes with colorful Easter decorations. My mother used to bake each of us a cake in the shape of Easter bunnies and Easter lambs! Some years, she let us choose which one we wanted.

b) parties

If there is an Easter parade in town or even nearby, be sure to bring the kids and take plenty of pictures. If you go, you should make sure to get (or create) some special Easter hats for everyone, as there are often contests to choose the best Easter hat at these events.

For example, Richmond, Virginia, has a special Easter parade, appropriately named “Easter on Parade,” which turns Monument Avenue, a beautiful tree-lined avenue lined with beautiful old houses and monuments, into a temporary playground for the citizens of Richmond, who stroll up and down, showing off their decorated hats and dogs. There are contests for the best hats, both for humans and their canine friends.

Meanwhile, there is music along the avenue, and many elegant handicrafts and delicious treats are for sale. There are also games for children. Parades like this can create very special memories.

Children always love egg hunts, which many cities, towns or institutions organize on Easter weekend, so if you have the opportunity to take the children on an egg hunt near where you live, they will have a lot of fun. . If not, you can always hide eggs and candy encased in colorful plastic eggs around the house or outside in the garden, weather permitting.

Preparing for Easter: painting Easter eggs

One of the most beloved Easter traditions, aside from getting and eating the candy, is painting Easter eggs.

You have two options: you can paint hard-boiled eggs and then eat them later, or you can remove the contents of the eggs and paint the shells to use as decoration.

In fact, you may want to do both. You can always make a brunch frittata out of the hollowed-out eggs and then use them to create pretty centerpieces once you’ve painted them.

To create such centerpieces, you can simply get Easter baskets and place the eggs beautifully on the “grass”. Or you could get some branches, with or without leaves, and decorate them with your colorfully painted eggshells. Of course, there are many additional possibilities, from creating a mobile and hanging it from the ceiling, to decorating a wreath with eggs and displaying it on the front door or in the hallway.

Painted hard-boiled eggs, meanwhile, will be part of the Easter baskets intended for consumption, and can also be hidden for Easter egg hunts. Just make sure the kids find them all, or else you’ll have some very unpleasant odors coming from their hiding places a few weeks down the road.

So how can you color your eggs? Once you have your “canvas” set up, the process is easy.

First, you need to decide if you want to give your eggs a solid color base. If so, you can color them in a bath of food coloring.

Then you get some special tools to decorate Easter eggs and pints. It’s totally up to you whether you want to create designer artwork, geometric shapes, or bunny pictures. You can also incorporate special Easter egg decals and “tattoos.” If you are going to color eggs with your children, encourage their creativity and, above all, have fun!

Preparing for Easter: Buying sweets

It seems that every year there are more options. It’s already hard to decide what to buy.

A few decades ago, the options were pretty clear. There were chocolate Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs, candy eggs, basic yellow marshmallows, jelly beans, and those Cadbury cream eggs.

Now the selection has grown in all directions.

Where there were only yellow peeps, now peeps come in a variety of colors, including pink, blue, and purple. There are also bunnies in various electric colors. And yes, you can even buy sugar-free Peeps for those of us who need to avoid eating sugar.

Next, you can select from a wide variety of other candies in all kinds of shapes and sizes, from egg-shaped candies with creamy fillings in strawberry, raspberry and coconut flavors, just for starters.

And then you can get Easter bunnies and related critters in all sizes, from pocket-sized to bunnies big enough to dwarf your toddler.

Some of the smaller chocolate bunnies also come with fillings, from marshmallow to peanut butter and more.

How do you select the ones your kids will enjoy the most? You can ask them, take them shopping with you, get one of each and make notes for next year, or buy a really big Easter basket so you can fit in a wide variety of options.

Speaking of baskets, the choice will also depend on whether you’re going to put the baskets together yourself or whether you’re going to give the kids baskets filled with fake grass that they’ll fill as they search for their treats around the house — or yard.

Be sure to save a few items in case the hunt turns out too lopsided, so you can sneak a few extra eggs into the “loser’s” basket to stave off tears.

It’s not ALL about the food! What else can you put in an Easter basket?

Some parents may cringe at the thought of the Halloween-like candy overload that could result from Easter baskets limited to edible treats. So what else could you include?

Pretty much anything you like, really, as long as the kids enjoy it.

From CDs to games, books, cute notebooks, pens and erasers, you could really include anything that makes a good stocking stuffer. It is that for Easter, it will go inside a basket.

You could even include small items of clothing or accessories, from socks to hair ornaments to jewelry and more.

And don’t forget gifts for parents and friends. You definitely don’t have to limit yourself to bunnies and candy here, though feel free to include them, along with a piece of jewelry of your choice, a new watch or fancy new electronics, and even new headphones in Easter egg colors. .

And of course, no one has decreed that all bunnies have to be edible. Some children will enjoy bunnies that will be their friends for months and even years. In fact, some people take “friends” literally and give live bunnies and even chicks. That’s not always a good idea, especially for other people’s children. Be sure to check with parents; they may not appreciate the extra work. If you like bunnies, remember that they grow up to be big bunnies, and even bigger bunnies if you’re not careful!

Preparing an Easter Party

There are no real rules about what to serve for an Easter party. Unlike Thanksgiving, Easter doesn’t usually call for Turkey. Instead, many families prepare a large ham, or a rack of lamb, or perhaps a rib roast. But it’s really up to you what you and your family enjoy – a vegetarian brunch might be more suitable for you.

Rather than include a recipe here, I’d like to encourage you to make your family’s favorites. There is something very comforting about gathering around the traditional festival each year.

However, when it comes to desserts, feel free to get creative and include some new elements or decorations. Unless you have a favorite dessert that is a must.

What to do with all those hard boiled eggs after Easter?

It’s actually kind of funny that there are basically three types of eggs that make up the Easter repertoire: chocolate eggs, candy eggs, and hard-boiled eggs.

And, of course, we won’t have to worry about what to do with the first two categories: they’ll stick around for weeks, if need be. But they are not likely to survive that long.

Instead, they are hard-boiled eggs. Once the novelty of decorations has worn off, there will likely be leftovers in baskets around the house.

So pick them up and incorporate them into your meals.

Here are some ideas on what to do with all those eggs:

a) Stuffed eggs

Cut them in half, mix the yolks with your favorite combination of mustard, mayonnaise, relish, and your favorite spices, and fill back into the egg white halves. Serve cold.

b) Sliced ​​eggs as a topping for sandwiches

Simply cut up your eggs and use them to top sandwiches.

c) Egg salad

Chop up the eggs, mix them with mayonnaise, mustard and onions, or whatever else you want to include, and serve as a dip or on sandwiches.

d) Other salads

You can also serve them sliced ​​in chef’s salads and potato salads. You can combine egg slices with spinach and make a hot dip. Just be creative!

There is no limit to what you can do. Take the ideas I suggested and build on them. Consider your family’s preferences and make sure you get everyone’s favorites, but also throw some new potential favorites into the mix.

Most of all, have fun and have a very Happy Easter!