Easter Traditions?

Weather permitting we always fly kites as a family. It was my husbands family tradition that I am so glad that I became part of.

Hi K.,
We are Christians too and we never did Easter baskets either until last year because Easter actually fell on our Daughter's birthday and we wanted to do something extra big and special for her and the rest of our children, we have 5. But usually I get the kids new Easter outfits for church. We also color eggs and hide them and let the kids find them. Another thing we do that the kids get to help with is make Easter cookies here are the instructions:

Easter Cookies
Make these cookies the night before, just before bedtime

Ingrediants:
1C whole pecans, 1tsp vinegar, 3egg whites, pinch salt, 1C sugar, zipper baggie, wooden spoon, tape

Heat oven to 300*. Place pecans in the baggie and close. Let the children beat it with a wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by Roman soldiers. (John 19: 1-3) Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1tsp into a mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thristy on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink. (John 19:28-30) Add egg whites to the vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life (John 10:10-11) Sprinkle a pinch of salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it. Put the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers. (Luke 23-27) Add 1 cup sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him. (Psalm 34:8, John 3:16)Beat with a mixer on high speed 12-15mins until stiff peaks form. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. (Isaiah 1:18, John 3:1-3) Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a waxed paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid. (Matthew 27:57-60) Put the cookies in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape to seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. (Matthew 27:65-66) Go to bed. Explain that the disciples felt sad to leave Jesus in the tomb so they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.(John 16:20-22) On Easter morning, give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface. take a bite-they're hollow!! The disciples were amazed to find the tomb empty! (Matthew 28:19)

My kids love doing this every year! Have fun!

C.

I try do to a nice outfit each ear with my kids. And also we do a very simple Easter basket. Just a couple of candies and either a 5 dollar movie or a book. We get all spiffed up for church and then come home and have a ham with the rest of the family. Then we do a simple easter egg hunt and some have candies some have money etc.

There is a saying I have with Jelly Beans:
JELLY BEAN PRAYER

RED is for the blood he gave

GREEN is for the grass he made.

YELLOW is for the sun so bright.

ORANGE is for the edge of night.

BLUE is for the sins we made.

WHITE is for the grace he gave.

PURPLE is for his hour of sorrow.

PINK is for our new tomorrow.

A bag full of jelly beans colorful and sweet, is a prayer, is a promise, is a special treat.

Hope you found something fun to do.

Just last year I decided I had been too commercial on Easter. My kids were treating it almost like a 2nd Christmas.

So I decided to simplify. They now get a Easter Basket on Saturday with a few eggs and candy treats. Maybe a book (since I love reading this is an excuse for me to buy books.) My girls usually get a new easter dress and the boys might get a new shirt or tie if they need one. This year I'm not sure what to do for my boys since they don't really need new church clothes but I might do a sweater vest that would be different from what they normally wear.

Our neighborhood usually does a big easter egg hunt so we participate in that on Saturday also.

Then on Easter Sunday I can focus on going to church and reading stories about the resurrection. We are LDS so I have a beautiful book called "Three Days Without Light A Nephite Easter Story" that I like to read with my kids. Any stories or videos that depict Christ's resurrection or the renewing of life would be great for Sunday.

Anyway I feel like doing the fun stuff on Saturday just because I like excuses to do fun activities with my kids and then really focus on the meaning of Easter on Sunday has been a good compromise for me in meshing the material holiday with the religious. Also my kids have always known the Easter bunny was just mommy although I'm not sure if my youngest gets that yet since she asked me where the Easter Bunny lives the other day.

Anyway good luck with whatever traditions you decide fit your family.

Go to the family Christian book store they have a lot of great things to celebrate Easter and tie in the message of Christ. We always have a Easter party for my kids and their friends. We do Jesus crafts and talk about Christ and bake cookies. So even the people who dont believe see that Easter is about Christ and not the Easter bunny but it is in a fun none threatening way.

K.,

I too am a little lost or disenchanted with the whole easter basket thing, but we try to keep our Easter celebration separate from the resurrection. The Easter bunny, bless his floppy ears, doesn't exist at our house. We do what he would do at my mom's the day before (Saturday). We color the eggs, my sister and her hubby hide them from our daughter (age 7) and she takes her basket out and finds them. Later we set out the candy and she gets her new dress and shoes to wear the next day to church. On Sunday, we talk about the birth, death and resurrection of our Savior with her. It has helped us ALL to get to know Him better. And I don't feel like a (oh, I can't think of the word!!) ___ because of the incredible mishap that the Easter Bunny has turned out to be!! He's worse than Santa in my opinion!! ;)

Hope that helps some.

V.

I get the individual unique candy that you find at Walgreens along with a summer toy gift (sand box, swimming, dump truck, etc.) to be from the Easter Bunny. Then after we do the fun easter stuff in the morning and get back from church, we watch 2 movies about the resurrection:
The Easter Dream
He Is Risen
Then we talk to the kids in great detail about how Easter is to celebrate Christ's resurrection (vs. Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth) and what all that means.
Have fun creating what you want to do for your family traditions.

Hi K.,

Isn't creating new family traditions wonderful? My family never did anything much on Easter other then the dress up, go to church and Easter egg hunt thing. Us as kids always got bored at church and I dont remember much of the true meaning of Easter ever kicking in really hard.

Once I had children I wanted it to mean more. We got Resurrection Eggs from the local Christian store. Your daughter may still be a little young, but I know they give different activities for different ages to do with the eggs.

Basically each plastic egg has something to do the the death and resurrection of Christ along with way to explain it to kids and parents that helps it all make sense. It is fun to go through each egg, hold the object inside and learn as a family.

There is also a recipe somewhere on the internet for resurrection cookies, I always wanted to make those as well but always forgot and now that my daughter has Celiac, we cant really do them now.

Good luck and I am looking forward to watching this post grow and hope to maybe learn new ideas for our family too!!

Bright Blessings!
K.

My sister and her friends were just talking about this. My favorite is one lady takes a cotton ball dipped in flour or powdered sugar and dabs it on the floor and sidewalk. When the kids wake up there are Easter Bunny tracks! My kids are too young for the Sunrise service at church, but when they are older we will do that. My sister also purchased some wooden eggs. Every year her son will paint a new egg and when he is older there will be a big collection.

I didn't grow up recieving a basket either, but it has been so much fun doing them for my kids. My youngest still believes in the Easter Bunny so to wake up & find out where her basket is hiding before church, is a blast. Last year she announced that she needed a big girl bible, no "baby" stories!! It was a nice place to put both of their new bibles along with a pretty cross neacklace for her & some really cool book markers for my son & of course the candy!

I know some people say lamb or ham is the traditional Easter meal, but at my house, we have some kind of fish for dinner and Honeycomb cereal for breakfast on Easter, since that was Jesus' first meal after he was resurrected. (If you're an LDS Christian, you might know the Primary song "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" that talks about fish and honeycomb.)
Again, if you're LDS, you might like the book "A Christ-centered Easter," which has lots of ideas, including the recipe for cookies someone mentioned. They are neat-o! You make them like drop cookies and let your child tape the oven door shut (to symbolize the tomb) and then when you remove the cookies, they are hollow inside (empty, like the tomb). That could be simple enough for a toddler to appreciate. Also, using the Gospel Art Kit (or other approprite pictures) allows you to tell lots of details about the Easter story. You could keep your pictures in the dining area this week and talk about one at every lunch time to lead up to Easter.
I own a set of evangelical-style Resurrection eggs and thing they are nice, but I have also made my own set that I prefer. The scriptures are more personal to me and the items inside are appealing to my children. I have instructions on how to make two sets, using both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. If you'd like them, message me and I'd be glad to send them your way. It's a fun craft activity and you can use them for years--opening the scripture eggs is my family's favorite Easter tradition, and Easter is by far my favorite holiday.
On the bunny side of things, I get up before everyone else on Easter morning and tie a string near each person's bed. Then I walk all over the place with the string, looping it over and under furniture, etc., and finish at their basket of treats. My husband had a childhood friend whose mom always did this and he was always jealous, so now I do it for him and our children. Most of the treats are inedible, and often include something to help them be reverent at church that day, such as a sticker book or new board book about the Savior. With candy, we always say candy is sweet like the gospel. ;) The treasure hunt is lots of fun.
I have one friend who sprinkles flour into stencils of paw prints around her deck and driveway so it looks like the Easter bunny has been there.
Happy Easter!

I just had a party for the kids in my church where we tried to "Live as Jesus Lived," it would fit in well with Easter. We washed each other's feet, read scriptures from homemade scrols, acted out parables, and ate foods that Jesus would have had available like unleavened bread (it's super easy to make), grapes, yogurt, figs, fish, etc. There are so many great ideas that you can use and even tailor to your daughter's age and understanding. I also have a plastic Easter egg that has many symbolic items in it (you can make your own, it is simple stuff like a scrap of red cloth, a clove spike, a dime) that we take out and talk about and look up scriptures to go with them. I can e-mail you more details if you are interested, my adress is ____@____.com Another idea for Easter that I like is to have your egg hunts and baskets and whatever on the Saturday before Easter and then on Easter Sunday focus on going to church and doing more spiritual activities about Jesus, that way you are not making the religious aspects compete with the chocolate bunnies!

In my family, we did all the Easter egg stuff with a nice family dinner too. My Dad, give the children a new swimsuit every Easter in our baskets. It was the offical sign for the warm weather to come. He continued until we left home for collage. He still does it with the grand children (my kids)and it is a fun tradition he has kept for us.

My friend has some on her blog, you have to scroll down a little. http://razzledazzleyourkids.blogspot.com/

I did do a candy easter egg hunt in our living room and while my two boys were searching I talked to them about Jesus and how he loves us and how he gives us eternal life because he wants us to be happy. I tried to make it a joyful event that they would remember, perhaps because it was so much fun.

We always got a new Easter outfit for church and a book (usually religious, sometimes not though). We would get a basket with some treats, the outfit and book before church. Then after we would come home do the egg hunt and have a big family dinner.