Parenting Australia

Celebrating Easter (Without Bunnies)

Easter is cause for celebration in our house! For our family it is about much more than chocolate and bunnies though. For us, the Easter story represents perhaps the most important part of our Christian beliefs as we celebrate what Jesus did for us. Here are some bunny-less ideas for celebrating Easter in your home with kids.

Preparing for Easter:
The forty days leading up to Easter are known as Lent. Christians often give something up during Lent. (Last year I gave up tv watching 5 nights a week – that was a challenge!) The Lent Event (http://www.lentevent.com/) is a great program which helps Aussie families to give up a luxury and donate the money instead to needy third world families. Depending on the age of your children, they might like to give up dessert, lollies, a television show, school canteen or computer games.

Easter is all about new life, and eggs are a great symbol of this. There are lots of other historical, cultural and traditional reasons for decorating eggs too, and loads of great activities you can try! Have a go at:

• Dyeing hardboiled eggs. Artificial dyes like food colouring will give strong colour. For softer tones try natural dyes like blueberries, red onion skins, orange peel, turmeric, beetroot, spinach leaves, red cabbage. Adding white vinegar to the dye will help the colour adhere to the eggs.

• Blowing eggs. This is one for older children as blowing eggs is quite tricky, and they need to be handled gently once they have been emptied of their contents. It is fascinating to watch the white and yolk come out of a tiny hole in the shell though! Decorated blown eggs are lovely hung on a branch like this (link http://squigglemum.com/activities/dont-blow-it-egg-craft/ )

• Growing eggs. After cracking open an egg for cooking, save the two halves and wash them carefully in warm soapy water. Place a couple of wet cotton wool balls in the bottom and sprinkle on some grass seed. Draw a face on the front of the shell. Water daily and watch the “hair” grow!

Easter Weekend:
After going to an early morning church service on Good Friday, we have our own little tradition of a yummy brunch with the extended family. Fresh fruit, coffee, strawberry milk and of course, hot cross buns! We talk about why there is a cross on top of the bun and what it means for us. I’ve heard you can make your own hot cross buns in a breadmaker at home. If anyone has a good recipe feel free to share in the comments below.

On Easter Sunday we go to church again – yes, twice in one weekend! Easter Sunday is a wonderful celebration of life. We give chocolate eggs to each other and talk about how they are empty inside (like the empty tomb). This year I’m looking forward to hiding eggs in the garden for our kids to find, and just enjoying some time together. After all, togetherness is what makes life so special.

That’s how we will be celebrating Easter, but of course different families celebrate in different ways. Is Easter cause for celebration in your home? If so, what are you and your kids planning on doing this year?

3 Comments

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1. Deb makes this comment

   Monday, 29 March 2010

   Hi Catherine!
   
   We're an atheist family, but we still celebrate Easter as part of the yearly cycle and the beginning of new life. It's quite appropriate here, because we've just finished the wet season so now is when everything is flowering and green.
   
   And it's a great reminder to do all those crafts! I wrote a tutorial on dying eggs naturally using flower petals which even my almost 2 year old loved, and we also blow eggs and made easter baskets out of paper mache.

2. Julie makes this comment

   Tuesday, 30 March 2010

   Thanks for this post Catherine. We are trying to establish traditions for a Jesus-focussed Easter with our little ones too.
   
   I love the Good Friday brunch idea. Sorry, I don't have a good hot cross bun recipe. We attempted it in a youth group I used to lead about 5 years ago - it was a disaster! I haven't been game to try again since then.

3. kitkit chow makes this comment

   Sunday, 04 April 2010

   Hi Cath,
   My family will go to church twice during the Easter weekend. Our little family tradition is to have roast lamb on Friday as we read the story of the last supper in the Bible.
   Thank you for posting. I really enjoy your blog.

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