Three Things : Easter

I love the colors of the suitcases....so fresh and spring-like!

it's so nice to have someone who is planning ahead for the coming holidays, since i am still awestruck that is already march!!!
i love your ideas for the easter baskets, but, since no kids, maybe we will make a nice easter basket for the dog!

Hi Ali:
I do a similair "tradition", I buy spring plants not yet bloomed,tulip,daffodils,hyacinch etc,from the garden senter and plant them in a large basket I keep by my front door. My son mixes in a few plastic colored eggs, and a pretty spring bow. Every time the door opens you have the most wonderful smell. and after they bloom we then add them to our garden, and the usually come back one or two times.
Thanks for the continued inspiration!!!!
Very truly, Beth W.

Thinking about Easter feels so good - lots of fresh, fun ideas and colours. Thanks for the inspiration!
A.

Ali...It was a pleasure to meet you at CHA. I was the one who is from OR, but is living in TN (temporarily), and gets such pleasure from reading about things from back home i.e. the dunes, Saturday market, Oregon politics, Country Faire, etc. Anyway...that's not what this post is about. You gotta make naturally dyed eggs with Simon...I'll post instructions on my blog...www.roxiscreativejuice.com

Ali,
If you start this week, plant real green grass or wheat seed and have natural grass in your baskets.
We used some natural dyes when I was growing up. My mom would save the onion peels from yellow and red onions and boil a few eggs in it for a different look.
Can't wait to read what others post. We love the non candy options also.

That reminds me of when my kids were little we went to the grocery store and gathered up all the brown onion skins from the bottom of the onion bin. Then we boiled them and tossed in our eggs, that gives a nice terra cotta brown dye. You can lay a fern leaf or other on the egg and wrap some pantyhose around them first and keep it on with a rubber band and get an imprint of a natural leaf or feather too. I still have some of them, we didn't blow them out just kept them intact. A few have exploded over the years, phew! but there are a couple left after almost 30 years.......must photo graph them. Have fun!
Donna

I agree, we try wholeheartedly to do more fun and different gifts - especially some great books. I love the little suitcase idea - what a great idea for a trip.
Hope your family is all back to good health!!

PS - and we always do the plants with Brody - Simon will love it. Brody also has his own little set of garden tools and loves to help me plant all of the planters and tomatoes!!

I love the idea of the seeds to plant together! I am totally doing that this year, we did plant some wild flowers last year and tomatoes also but including it in our easter celebration is a perfect thought for rebirth. Thanks for sharing!

i ♥ those suitcases. trying to find a reason to buy them!!
i also ♥ martha stewart crafts. i always find myself trying to do them all!!!

Love the eggs - some years we use food coloring, some years natural. Blueberries, cranberries, coffee, cabbage, tumeric. My girls aren't so interested in the browns, but they are beautiful. Have fun!

My two kids get flower seeds every year to add to the garden. It's especially fun to plant ones that will self sow; when they pop up the following spring, the kids get a kick out of seeing the yellow nasturtiums from two Easter's ago.

We have done the same thing with our 8 and 5 year olds...dumped the "candy baskets" long ago and instead try to find other things the Easter bunny might bring. Target has a great line of kids gardening tools, etc., and those together with some seed packets work great (and maybe a cool hat to keep the sun off while gardening). We have also done a basket of swim/beach stuff, as we live in CA and Easter/spring means it's almost time to start enjoying the pool and beach again.
Have a Blessed Easter.

HI Ali,
I have done the natural egg dying and the colors are so vibrant! Especially if you use beets and blueberries. A few crafty friends and I did an Easter exchange for a couple years. We each made something homemade for the everyone and swapped. The kids baskets were filled with homemade treats and other fun things. Once year I made hand made soap in jelly bean molds and filled bags with them. They were so cute and the kids loved to use them in the bath.
Happy Spring!

Fantastic ideas and links!! Thank you!

When my girls were little, I would buy shampoo in the cute character bottles. A special treat that would last a while.

We'll be planting, too. I'm taking my kids to the nursery to let them each pick out a plant that will be theirs to take care of. So far I've killed every plant we've gotten but this year I'm going to do some research. =)

i'm working on this years now too and i love the seed and personalized pencil idea!, my little guy loves pencils too! so far i've got a new game for his basket(we love game night!)
last year the easter bunny brought various arts and crafts, he jumped up and down, he just loved it! he especially loved the model boat that he got to put together with his daddy!
Thank you for sharing!

thanks for pooling all these great ideas into one place for us.