I’m going minimalist for Easter this year. Last year I got my daughter and a couple of friends lovely hand-painted wooden animals from Jalu Toys, a company that creates gorgeous original wooden critters. We held an egg hunt at my inlaws’ beach cabin.
This year we’re going a little less crazy. I am not a big Easter gift person. I like to give my daughter one nature-inspired object. This year’s choice will likely be a plant for her garden. I might get her some summer bulbs or something that is already growing. Spring is an inspiring time for the gardener in me, and I like to inspire the gardener in my daughter as well.
I also fill up plastic eggs with organic chocolates and hide them around our townhouse complex. The kids in the neighborhood can find them too: there are a fair number of them. If they don’t partake, I may be forced to eat many of the eggs myself, and that would be a shame. I ordered the eggs today, so I’m feeling ready now. I even ordered some dark chocolate ones for my husband. Apparently the Easter Bunny knows that he likes icky chocolate.
On the Friday or Saturday of Easter weekend, we will also decorate eggs. We use red cabbage and extract the dye by placing it in a pot of boiling water and vinegar. Then we place our eggs in the vinegar dye and leave them there for a few hours. They certainly don’t look like store-bought dyes, but that’s kind of the point. It’s fun to create our own dyes, even if they’re not consistent rainbow colors. This year I may try coffee grounds and onion skins again. I’m thinking of placing stickers on the eggs before we dye them to create patterns on them. Go wild, I say!
What are your Easter gift traditions?
(Image courtesy of asinila at stock exchange)