Easter traditions?

I don't think I have ever not dyed eggs for Easter since I was old enough to do it. The excitement was always in the hunting. since we have lived in areas where the weather can be a bit unpredictable, we usually do some inside and some out. Newer rules developed the year we forgot to count exactly how many we hid for the children inside. Yes, you guessed it, we discovered we had forgotten one when we had to play track down that smell a few weeks later! Only plastic eggs in the house now! Guess I always remember the year that my Mom finally fooled my sister and I. She was pretty good at hiding them, and we always wanted more to find. She had made a ceramic basket and eggs that were always on the table. so, she used those eggs that year too for us to have more. Well, for the first time we couldn't find the last one despite multiple clues of getting warmer etc. Crazy woman had used a clothes pin in the hole on the bottom of the egg to attach it to the clothes line! That was the only year Mom won. Now I try to find the crazy places to hide them too. Always candy in the basket and plastic eggs with a toy or two for silly fun as well. Thanks for reminding me of good times!

We'll throw out the eggs all over the back yard (now that we have a really big back yard to do it in). This year, our son Jackson is getting Baptised on Easter Sunday (that's just how it fell) so we will have a big party and put these out on the table: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11412

We're dying eggs on Friday as well :0)
Since we both have family in town, we usually spend Saturday with my parents and Sunday with my husband's family.
Usually small egg hunts on both days with the cousins.
Always mass in the morning on Sunday.
We will have an Easter basket for Evan full of goodies on Easter morning as well with a small egg hunt in the house.
Last year he had five egg hunts total before Easter was over but he didn't seem to mind (lol)

as a kid my parents always hid foil covered chocolate eggs all over the inside of the house. some were hard to find some were easy but i always remember all the silly and inventive places my parents hid the eggs, now I have fun hiding eggs for my kids. Also my children receive lots of play outside in the nice spring weather, toothbrushes and their summer bathing suits flip flops, towels and goggles.
Have fun!
I love reading all the other traditions, there are some great ideas out there.
rochelle

This is kind of corny, but we have an egg tree. We would go look for the perfect branch for the tree and my dad would spray paint it silver (in the 70s mind you) and we would hang decorated eggs from the branches. Now we just use the natural branch. My mom would poke little holes in each end of the egg and blow the yoke out so the eggs were very fragile. Then we would hand decorate them with the dye that came in the little bottles. No dipping for us! She still has some that we made as kids. They are so funny to see. She still hangs them each year. We would put our names on them and names of our pets. We haven't decorated eggs in long time, but we still have the tree each year.

when i was a kid, our neighbor would always leave big, white, giant-bunny-shaped footprints on our front walk in flour, leading to and from the Easter baskets. It was a treat!

Wish I could share my Easter decorations with all of you because I've worked so hard to make some great vintage-inspired decorations with my scrapbooking supplies, but alas...no blog or website.

Here's what I do that I got from my husband's aunt - using flour and a wet paper towel I make marks on the floor that look like rabbit prints. The kids totally believe it and I complain about that rabbit making a mess in my house!!
There were a couple of mornings that I woke up and I had forgotten to do it!!! you've never seen a crazier woman running around at 5am making rabbit prints!!!

It has become the tradition, in my family, to attend a sunrise service, usually held at 6 or 7 a.m. and to then have breakfast at church.
This tradition started when I was in my very early teens and has lasted until last year (it is kind of hard to manage with a toddler).However much I complained about such an early hour when I could be sleeping in when I was young, it is probably the tradition that I miss the most as an adult.

we hide the basket and leave clues for our daughter to find. The past few years Alex (my daughter) and I make Easter breakfast/or dinner together. We also color Easter eggs the same day and leave them out for the Easter bunny as thanks for the basket of goodies. Even though she's 12 this year she still loves all this:)

Hi Ali,
of course we decorate eggs with as many family members that are willing to participate. :) Also, the Easter Bunny does come to our house, but while we are sleeping and hides the baskets full of goodies. We try to limit gifts to small toys and candies. Madison hates sweets so I get her a dvd and some type of ball. We also do a family egg hunt on Easter morning after breakfast. Not sure how much longer Hayden is going to want to participate in this.....but finding the eggs with the golden dollars may keep him interested.
xo
M

Last year I took 3 or 4 skeins of yarn and created a giant yarn maze that criss-crossed through the whole house. It covered upstairs and downstairs, the kitchen, dining room, bonus room etc - just not the kids bedrooms cause I didn't want to wake them up. So when the kids woke up in the mornng not only did they have to try and find their Easter Basket (cause the bunny hides them) but they had to climb over and under a maze of yarn. I started it to make the fun last a little bit longer and to make up for my dh being out of town.
Our Easter Bunny also hides plastic eggs filled with $1 bills instead of candy (There's already candy in their baskets -jelly beans, peeps and a choc bunny.) Each child gets to find 10 plastic eggs. Although this year I may do the new dollar coins.
Oh and at the end of the maze there is usually a small game/toy that the kids share. This is how I got them to wind up all the yarn maze mess that I've created. The only way to find the prize was to wind it up and see where it ended.
p.s. Last year the kids groaned about the maze, but this year they started hinting real early that they sure hope that bunny does it again beacuse it was the most fun ever. So I guess it's a keeper.

We have always hid our kids baskets just as our parents did when we were young. We decorate eggs either Friday or Sat after having homemade pizza. One other tradition, which isn't very original is HAM. We always have a nice ham dinner with homemade au gratins for my husband and son and dumplings for myself and my daughter.
Have fun finding your own family traditions!

"The Easter Bunny" only did this once, but I've never forgotten it. When I woke up on Easter morning there was a trail of peeps and jelly beans from my bed to the kitchen, and my basket was at the end of the trail. Also, my mother always put a lot of stuff in our baskets--not just candy.

My mom would hide our easter baskets in the morning, so we would have to look for them.
The night before we would leave out some lettuce and carrot for the Easter bunny. In the morning the carrot would be half eaten and the lettuce had bunny bites out of it.
My grandparents would do an egg hunt with plastic eggs filled with dimes, quarters and nickels. One or two would have a dollar in them. They would hide them in the yard and all the kids would look for them.
Fun stuff!

Every year my mom, sister and I decorate eggs the night before easter. In the morning "the easter bunny" hides all of our eggs and an easter basket for each of us. Even though they're always hidden in the same three rooms of our house, there's always at least one egg that's really difficult to find.
My sister and I (25 and 29 years old, respectively) are well past kiddie age and yet we look forward to this tradition every year. But now, we involve a glass of wine or two to the egg-coloring session and have recruited our boyfriend and husband in the egg hunt.
One day, we'll have children of our own and finally graduate to the other side of this tradition. =)

We do a lot of the same things that have been listed. One of our favorites though is "Resurrection Cookies" http://www.easyfunschool.com/article2099.html As you prepare them, you read the Easter story. To cook them, you preheat the oven, put them in, turn off the oven and tape the door shut! In the morning you have puffed up, hollow cookies that represent the empty tomb. Easter Breakfast is always boiled eggs and Resurrection cookies. The Easter baskets have changed a lot since the kiddos are getting so big. ITunes gift cards are the hot item this year!

My mother in law is passing down her tradition of having an easter egg tree...she also does a Valentine's day love tree in February that is similiar. For Easter they blow out eggs...decorate them with ribbon and yarn (I plan on trying puff paints this year) and hang them from the tree. The tree is made from small branch from a tree that is placed in a container and is simply held up by plaster of paris or just rocks (decorate the container as you wish).
I can send you a picture if you wish, just email me. This year my sweet mother in law even blew out the eggs, brought me the branch and container. Me and my boys (ages 5 and 3) will have a blast decorating it! And it is carrying on a tradition from my husband's childhood which makes it extra special. In fact, I will have to so a layout about it!

HI Ali
i tried to read all the comments so as not to say an idea already said but i didn't see "our tradition" we always had the usual coloring of eggs and the egg hunt in the morning- part of the hunt were a few "special eggs" (plastic colored ones) they contain God's story
we number these eggs and before they get to the goodies we open the plastic eggs in order...everyone says their part of the story...
egg #1 contains a flower (God created the world to be beautiful)
egg#2 contains dirt (then sin came into the world)
egg #3 a stick cross ( God had a plan - He sent His only Son )
egg#4 contains a rock ( they put Jesus in the cave)
egg #5 is empty (just like the tomb on Easter morning
egg#6 contains a picture of your family ( the reason God did this....YOU)
even now that my kids are all teenagers...we will always tell the Easter story with our eggs..and i still get that lump in my throat hearing my kids say their part....we are blessed :)

Last year when we dyed the eggs we had a contest (we all voted), and took photos of the winner with the winning egg in their hand (held up close by their face), ie. funniest, most sporty, most colorful, most detailed, worst looking, most creative, etc. My DDs helped come up with the categories.
We do the treasure map idea too, but after I make the map I cut it into pieces like a puzzle. I put the pieces in the plastic eggs, and then after they find their eggs (they are told what color/s they are looking for) they have to piece and tape together the puzzle/treasure map. Then they follow the directions on the treasure map. Along the way they find a surprise... a piece of candy, a hair bow, a sticky note pad, office supplies (new mechanical pencil) are a big hit. They also have do silly things within the steps of the map, like brush your teeth, walk on the treadmill for three minutes, etc. This year they will also do a little looking around when we get to my sister's house! They carry their baskets along the way to collect the treasures they find. Last year the grand finale egg had gift certs to the movie theater so they could pick a movie and take a friend and treat the friend to the movie and snacks at the movie.
Loved your question Ali, and loved reading everyone's answers! Hoppy Easter!

We also like the Easter cake tradition, but ours is a "King's Cake." We use a single layer of a 9" round cake, frosted, then we add sugar ice cream cones (inverted) on the top to make the cake look like a crown. Then comes the fun part! Everyone decorates the crown with fun-colored candies (M&M's, jelly beans, gumdrops, etc.) to look like jewels on the crown. We always talk about how Jesus is our King and why He died for us. We also make one at Christmas, incidentally! It's a fun activity for the whole family!

As a kid I had fond memories tring to find our Easter baskets in the morning on Easter. We also colored eggs and had easter egg huts at our church! good times!

As a kid I had fond memories tring to find our Easter baskets in the morning on Easter. We also colored eggs and had easter egg hunts at our church! good times!

For DS - I made the bunny cake - a sheet cake cut in a VERY simple pattern -- he loved it while he was little!
And -- don't make the same mistake as me -- I didn't every get a "traditional" Easter basket -- a woven thing with handle -- I thought I'd be so inventive and cute by finding a little, very inexpensive plastic toy -- a wheel barrow, a little wagon, a bucket, etc -- for a non traditional container! Now -- DS is 18 -- I don't have "anything" that is either appropriate or "traditional" --
Go for TRADITION -- get a nice woven basket and use it every year!!
And -- dye eggs with them while they will dye eggs with you!!

it's great reading about all of these easter traditions . . .we usually have an egg hunt around our property . . .this year ethan is starting t-ball so most of the gifts the easter bunny is leaving is associated with t-ball . . .even the protective gear! i'll even hang his new spring clothes at weird places (like from tree branches) . . . we hide some cool things for brett (23 now) too (like some yuengling). . .lots of fun and we all get a big kick out of it.