Easter traditions?

Ali,
No Easter traditions to share....but I did see that Thursday on Oprah is a show on autism.
Jennie

Hi Ali, I haven't read all of the other ideas yet so hope i haven't doubled up - here in Australia, our Easter bunny leaves a line of clues a bit like a treasure hunt - the kids follow these clues all over the back yard until they come to the end where there is a big prize of lots of easter eggs.
Last year we painted eggs too!
Can't wait to hear what you do.
x Janelle

When I was a kid not only would we dye eggs with my grandmother, we would also blow the insides out of fresh ones and then carefully cut a window out of each. After they were washed out and dry, we would create little Easter scenes inside with all kinds of craft goodies. My grandfather had cut and secured a tree branch in a flower pot for us to hang our eggs from. Great memories.
After the first grandchild was born (my kid) and was old enough, my mother started having Easter parties for the whole extended family. As well as an egg hunt (which is pretty fun on two acres), we play games like 'Duck Walk Races' and 'Toss the Egg'. There is also some kind of fun and messy craft (cookie decorating, etc.) One year we had a contest for the grown ups. We had to bring an uncooked egg, wrapped up and protected. My dad took each in turn and dropped it onto the ground, even from a ladder. The egg which didn't break won. So much fun and some very clever ideas came from that one.

Ali, I know this may be short noticed, but one Easter tradition I love is not just a egg hunt, but a scavenger hunt the day before Easter. Get your friends, family, and neighbors involved. It is a great way to not only celebrate Easter with your family, but as a community as a whole. Prizes to find could be Easter related, or not. I know you have Simon on a special diet, so it may be a great way for him and other children to do something and not have to involve loads of sugar filled candy. Just an idea!

We decorate eggs on Saturday. Then we spend a few hours with my husband's family. We hunt plastic easter eggs. They used to have a birthday cake for Jesus, which is funny because nobody in their family actually likes cake. That tradition faded away over the last few years.
On Saturday night while the kids are sleeping my husband and I put out the baskets filled with candy and small toys. We hide the colored eggs and jelly beans. Growing up, the Easter Bunny always hid them in my living room. My husband and I did it that way as well but then last year I decided to try hiding them in the backyard instead. We let our oldest son get up with us really early to help because he figured out the secret.
As soon as the kids wake up we let them make a dash to wherever the candy and eggs are hiding. Then we have a fun breakfast outside and a fancy Easter lunch later.
Our family is secular so we don't actually go to church. Instead we focus on celebrating springtime.

Ours is pretty simple. Every year we go to church, meet up with the rest of the family for Easter brunch and then we come back to our house and hide Easter eggs for the kids. Once they have found them all, they rehide them for each other over and over until they get bored with it. That usually takes them about 10 times! Too funny. It's usually just a relaxing day.

My children are now in their 20's but if they are with us for Easter, they will still get an Easter treat (at least until there are grandchildren!). They will expect their dad to write out clues (from the Easter bunny) that will lead them on a treasure hunt to their "basket". They've found them in the tree house, in the trunk of a car, in the dryer . . . You get the idea. The first year we were on vacation on Easter Sunday they begged their dad to write out clues rather than just look for them. It delayed the hunt, but tradition was followed and still is.

We will color eggs Friday night. And from my childhood we'll color on them and right messages with crayon before we dye them. This year my DD can write small enough to put messages on eggs also.
I'll make a big batch of deviled eggs early next week to help us use the eggs. And if there is any left over, I'll chop them up for egg salad!

Hi Ali,
I have been following your effort for fundraising and awareness for autism and wanted to let you know that Thursday on Oprah they are doing a show on the topic of autism.
Keep up the good work!
Heather Jordan, California

I usually make "refrigerater cinnamon rolls". They rise in the fridge all night, then you pop 'em in the oven in the morning for a yummy breakfast ~ if I don't have time, I cheat & use pillsbury, heehee. ;) We also do the traditional egg hunt & basket, attend church services & have dinner at Grandma's with the fam. Have a good easter!

We always have an Easter egg hunt! This includes our kids and cousins if they're visiting...color-coded for each child so they all get the same number of eggs. The eggs have either some small toy or a piece of candy in them. As they've gotten older the eggs are more difficult to find.

We are always at my mom's for Easter. The Easter Bunny comes while we are at church and always hides our kids' baskets. Also, the Easter Bunny doesn't take requests like Santa does. The Easter Bunny just figures out what to get for each child.

We do this on Good Friday, but could be a Spring Tradition or an Easter Tradition.
We "plant" jelly beans in flower pots and put in the window sill. The next morning we discover that the jelly beans have sprouted into suckers! I love finding really great suckers or other treats on a stick -- the first year I did this I had to make sure that I removed the Jelly Bean before putting the sucker in because I knew my little guy would look! These make a great photo opts.
I am a traditon consultant and there is a group of us that is always sharing great tradition ideas -- I even have a monhtly newsletter if you are interested let me know and I will send it to you.
Love your blog -- have been following for a while -- it is an inspiration.

My favorite memory of Easter is waking up and reading a note "from" the Easter Bunny. Then I'd go out and have my own little Easter egg hunt. We'd have breakfast and then go to church.
After that, we always go spend Easter with my mom's side of the family. We have a kids Easter egg hunt and then eat dinner. Then we just hang out a while and chit-chat. Very relaxed and very fun. This year we're doing an adult Easter egg hunt. We're all really looking forward to it. :)

We enjoy doing jello eggs. Easy to make, fun for the kids to help, good to eat and not too bad for us.

Ok, I have to confess: I buy them Peeps so I can eat them. It's a sick habit I know. We make Ressurection cookies and this year we are going to be coloring eggs using the natural dyes you can get from vegetables, like red cabbage, beets, you can use really strong coffee. All you do is boil the veggies down and add a 1/4 cup vinegar and a 1/4 cup salt. we'll see how it goes.
Sue :)

our bunny always brought us kiddy garden tools since we loved to play in the dirt! And I have to have the robin's eggs my personal fav! This is my 1st easter with my 1 yr old twins so I'm looking forward to starting new traditions with them.

My husband's family still does a CRAZY race-style Easter hunt throughout the house. Now that the youngest is 17, they hide coins instead of candy, and it's a mad race looking for the cash! It's basically 8 adults (yes, we all still do it) scouring the mantel, the light fixtures, and the houseplants for money! Somebody needs to have the first grandchild so we can pass along the tradition to actual children again!!

The martha stewart silk tie dyed egg instructions are here
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=955500e62abd0110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=silk%20tie%20egg&rsc=ns2006_m1
amazing and fun!
Rockester

We dye eggs and hide them - my husband never had done this until we had kids. Unfortunately I don't always remember where the eggs are and one year found an egg about a year later...

When my kids were little, I used to cut rabbit feet from two pieces of cardstock, then use baking soda to sprinkle inside my handmade templates, leaving footprints from the door to the baskets. I also did this at Christmas, but with boot cut outs. The kids always loved it!

Well, my Grandma used to hide eggs around her farm, plastic egss with candy in them. We'd have to run around and find them. It was fun.
Now as we've gotten older we die Easter eggs the night before and make sugar cookies as well. Nothing exciting there but it's tradition. Usually we find some new and cool way to die Easter eggs, just to keep it interesting. One year I put rubber bands on them and dipped them in color to do tye-died eggs. That was cool. Hard to do but cool. This year we might try acrylic paint.
We still give each other Easter baskets on Easter. Mom leaves them out at her house. As adults we make baskets for our parents too. It's fun. :)

I loved Easter as a kid (and still do - my 30something boyfriend & I will be dyeing eggs together on Saturday)! My parents always had our Easter baskets waiting on Sunday morning w/a few treats in them - some candy but also fun stuff like crayons, maybe $1 in a plastic egg, etc. Then we'd hide the easter eggs over and over again: inside, outside, before church, after church, and everyone joining in all possible roles. I'm pretty sure my brother & I thought the e. bunny hid the first round, but after that, they were game for anyone to hide. And the crystal clear picture I have of my mom's cupcakes just feels like spring - white frosting, green-dyed coconut for grass, and colored jelly beans on top. Makes me feel all giddy and silly just thinking about it. What good memories!
The other thing I loved about Easter was that our Lutheran church held a Seder meal every year. (the seder is a Jewish tradition, but I think a lot of protestant churches do something like this today) It was such a cool chance to learn about other beliefs, practices, celebrate what we share.

We dye eggs the day before, just for fun. The night before we leave a carrot and then when the bunny comes he takes nibbles off of it.
The bunny leaves candy and somes toys (bubbles, chalk, funny bunny glasses, etc...). Then my kids do an egg hunt outside (this year I bought pre-filled eggs!).
Around 11:00 we celebrate with my dad and my sister and her family with a HoneyBaked Ham (YUM!!!!), potato salad, chili, strawberry jello pretzel salad, croissants, carrot cake (YUM! YUM!). Then my sister hides chocolate bunny's for the "adult" hunt and my husband usually ends up mad (not really) because he can never find them!!! It is too funny watching everyone search!!

Easter is always a fun time, as we have gotten older our Sunday morning Easter egg sugar high has passed but our Good Friday tradition is strong. We normally abstain from meat on Good Friday (old Catholic tradition) so in the morning the family makes ricotta filled ravioli from scratch (which takes a while). We also make Fagoli, a Maltese easter treat. It basically a shortbread style pastry with an almond filling cut into large Easter shapes. These are normally iced in bright colours. We have so many memories that involve icing these sweet treats in an array of bizarre shades. Every year I still get the warning "No Weird Colours this year" – I am now 32!