Easter traditions?

wow...what a lot of fun traditions. we put the kids initials on their plastic eggs so that the older kids can hunt in harder places and the younger ones can look for theirs in much easier to spot places. then if they see someone elses initials they just don't pick it up.

'Can't wait to have time to read through all of these... :) 'Wanted to share one thing that my XDH and I used to do, because we had a fireplace (not common in Florida)... we would put bunny "footprints" from the fireplace to the baskets and back, on the carpet, and tell the kids that EB came in the same way that Santa did. :) HAPPY EASTER!!!

My daughter and I are going to the mall to walk bunnies from the SPCA.

There were 4 of us kids and we lived in a 2 br flat in Chicago. We LOVED the plastic Easter egg hunt my mom set up around the apartment!!! We were especially excited when we shook the eggs and heard clinking bc it meant MONEY!!! We hoped and hoped it was quarters and not pennies in there.
ONCE I FOUND AN EGG WITH A WHOLE DOLLAR OMGWHEEEEEEE!
We also had fresh flowers on the table for Easter dinner. We are Polish Catholic so we always had ham, polish sausage, sauerkraut, lamb butter [shaped like a lamb] and lamb cake.
As an adult, now I always buy the lamb butter for my brother's Easter dinner [he is the only one with kids and a big house to host it]. I put it on the table and cry, "OFF WITH ITS HEAD!" and then chop the head off before anyone else gets any, and butter my bread. LOL
I am sick but that's what's lovable about me.
I so totally have to scrapbook these memories. My grandparents were from Poland and never did any of these "frivolous" things and even as a single mom with 4 kids, my mother was determined that WE would have those growing up. And we did -- birthdays, costumes, Tooth Fairy, Santa, fashionable clothes, everything.

Hi Ali!
Mine isn't really a tradition; instead, it's an Easter story I love to tell. I plan to scrapbook it soon.
When I was in kindergarten, my teacher told us we would have a big Easter egg hunt with a chocolate bunny as the grand prize. Competitive little thing that I was (and am;)), I made up my mind that I was going to win. On the day of the hunt, our teacher informed us that someone ate the chocolate bunny, so there was no prize. Undetered, I still planned on winning.
Out we went into the yard to hunt eggs. Each time I got near one, some vicious little child would snatch it right from under me! We went back inside, counted the eggs, and a victor was named. I had not gotten a single egg, and was totally embarrassed when our teacher asked if there was anyone without any eggs. I slowly raised my hand. The teacher then made the three children with the most eggs each give me one. Somehow, I ended up with the same three eggs I brought that morning. What a trauma!
I've since thought that those Easter eggs are like life itself. I already had everything I needed when I got there that morning, and I didn't need anything extra to make me special.
Counting the days 'til Anaheim!
XOXOXOX

Starting with Palm Sunday, we have a very short little family devotional each night to talk about the last week of Jesus' life & read the Bible. On Sunday, we read about His Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem, on Monday, the cleansing of the temple, etc. Sometimes we have little objects to help hold the kids attention, nails on good Friday for example. Then Sunday morning, we talk about the Resurection. It has been neat to see how much joy & understanding my girls have of this beautiful holiday. After church, we have an Easter egg hunt.

Everyone has such great traditions!
The main tradition we have is religiously based. It comes from the Polish tradition and is the blessing of the Easter basket. After 40 days of eating very sparingly during Lent, people would often get sick after eating the rich foods that come out on Easter Sunday. So a long time ago, the Polish people thought that if you blessed the food, it wouldn't make you sick. I don't know if it works, but it makes for a nice tradition. On Saturday, a large basket is filled with foods that will be eaten on Sunday... hard boiled eggs, butter, wine, cheese, keilbasa, salt & pepper... and taken to church for the basket blessing.
There is another tradition that I want to *start* when I have kids of my own. Burying and then digging up the alleluias. During Lent, alleluia is not said at all because it is such a deeply somber and penetential season. So on Fat Tuesday or Ash Wednesday, I'd like to bury alleluias in plastic eggs. Then on Holy Saturday, we could dig them up so we could use them during Easter Vigil!

For the last couple of years we have had a hunt for my son with clues hidden in plastic eggs which are then hidden in the garden. Each clue leads to another egg, the final clue to a chocolate Easter Egg sent from the UK (our homeland), usually Cadbury's and filled with his favourite candy! I make Hot Cross Buns for days (and eat them for days!). This year we are having a party on Saturday, with an egg hunt, egg throwing contest and hot cross bun bobbing - tie them to a string, hang them from a tree and catch them in your mouth and eat them with your hands tied behind your backs!! And a proper "English" tea - with afternoon tea in china cups, cakes and .... more hot cross buns!!

It's very interesting to read the traditions you have in the US. Here in Ireland we don't have Easter Baskets (in fact had never heard of it till I read people's posts). The Easter Bunny comes to some houses (similar to Santa....) but not as diligently as Santa. For the past few years my SIL has had an egg hunt for the grandchildren and kids in the neighbourhood. She makes maps - easy ones for the little kids and there's a little bag for each child to find. In my family we used to have a prochog (pronounced pur-uh-oh-gg - Gaelic) which is a little picnic. As children we would be brought off in the car with our parents, grandparents and whichever cousins/family were around. We made a little camp-fire and fried sausages in a pan! It was originally something my father's family did as children. Can't really happen when the weather is bad, but this weekend is promised very sunny and warm (fantastic by Irish standards) and so we have been talking about what form the prochog will take this year - BBQ or all out campfire?!

Also meant to say that we don't dye eggs in Ireland either...cos our eggs are brown or kinda tan in colour...not white. Dont' think you could dye them. The little difference are wierd, aren't they!

Hello again! It is interesting the cultural differences, we moved to the US from the UK six years ago and the whole Easter basket/Easter bunny thing is so much bigger here in comparison. Easter when I was small was more a church/family event in the UK, it was always the time we spend visiting distant cousins. As I mentioned in my previous post we are now into the egg hunts, can't give up my hot cross buns though!

I always make a lamb cake in an antique lamb pan I found at a flea market. It is covred in white 7 minute frosting with coconut and candies for eyes, etc. I color the coconut "grass" around it with green food coloring.
I have a bunny stamper that contains powder and you stamp it all over the carpet and it makes bunny tracks.
Lisa

Besides dying eggs (the day before Easter) and an eggsearch on Easter morning, we also made an Easter sidetable with a vase with those curly branches with lots of small wooden and painted eggs, easterbunnies and chicken hanging down. I made some Easter and flower feltfigures to be put on the sidetable. And we also put lots of fresh Springflowers on the sidetable and some nuts and other treats. My son liked dressing up the table.

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On the Saturday before Easter the Easter Bunny leaves "Magic lollipop seeds" in a baggie, in the mail box, with a note that says "Here are magic lollipop seeds, just sprinkle them on your lawn tonight and there will be a magical surprise in the morning." Then, wherever the kids sprinkle the "seeds" (cause they remember where they did it) you put lollipops sticking out of the ground. I use white rice for the "seeds" and if it is going to rain I cover each lollipop with a baggie and tie it with easter grass. My kids love it!

Decorating eggs makes great photos. Easter's a lot more fun for us than it used to be because for the last 3 years (counting this one) we've gone to a friend's farm for a multi-family Easter egg hunt and down-home-cooking feast. Egg hunts are always more fun when there's a competitive edge.