Contributed by Cindi Pearce, Catalogs.com Top 10 Guru
Not everyone celebrates Easter, but for the huge number of Christians around the world who do, it is a wonderful opportunity to teach young children about the history behind this holiday and why it is celebrated. Easter is also a time to get decked out in your best finery and usher in the long-awaited spring season. Daffodils are blooming and the forsythia, which means you have survived yet another punishing winter. Ready to make Easter special this year?
Here are the top 10 ways to make Easter special:
10. Dress-up
Dress up as the Easter bunny. You can have TWO Easter bunny outfits: The one you wear to the kids’ Easter egg hunt and the one you wear in the privacy of your boudoir. Someone’s really going to enjoy Easter this year!
9. Go to a parade
Take your family to the NYC parade or any parade, for that matter.
8. Easter bonnet
Enter an Easter bonnet contest. Make your own sassy over-the-top and imitable headgear. Think Lady Gaga! Extreme is good. If you’re not the creative sort, check out the classic looks in Easter church hats. Maybe you’ll get everyone wearing fancy hats to church like they used to!
7. Be a bunny
Call Hugh Hefner and tell him that you would like to be a Playboy bunny; it’s your Easter dream. The worst that can happen is that he will say ‘no.’ Apparently he’s turned over a new leaf and may no longer be interested in bunnies. The 85-year-old is getting hitched. Domestication may be in his future. Tell him you’re a domesticated rabbit.
6. Easter baskets
Create fabulous Easter baskets for your children and grandchildren. Of course, you can give baskets to the adults in your life, too. Mail baskets and gifts to your friends and relatives. Be resourceful and inventive. You don’t have to stick to traditional eggs and chocolate bunnies. Slip in something sassy and sexy if the basket is for your spouse. Just don’t get your husband’s basket switched with your granddaughter’s. Gift cards are a great idea. The more elaborate the basket the better it is. Tie pretty bows on the basket and fill the basket with that crazy fake grass. Hide the baskets. Make your spouse look for his.
5. Easter dinner
Gather the family together and treat them to a spread of ham and all the trimmings. Serve a special spiral-cut holiday ham. Everyone loves to chow down and get together with their family and friends on holidays. Well, okay, not everybody but most of us do. Let cranky Uncle Herbert sulk away in the attic. Who cares?
4. Easter lilies and stories
Order lilies for your church in memory of loved ones. Get the little ones spiffed up in fancy finery and take them to church with you. Explain to them what the celebration is and why we observe it. Otherwise, the bunny gets all the attention. Tell them about Lent and Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Even if you aren’t a Christian you can talk to your children about Easter, read about the story, and talk about what it means to others.
3. Church
Wear your Easter finery to church and hope the roof doesn’t fall down if you haven’t been there in a while. (You might want to consider going a little more often.) Put the kids in Easter dresses and suits. Remember that service for Easter is usually more formal than at other times of the year. Go all out and buy yourself an outrageously big and beautiful hat. Do it as the British royals do: Over-kill. More is more!
2. Color eggs
Color eggs with your children and grandchildren. Yep, this is messy but it’s really a lot of fun. See who can come up with the most unusual designs. Encourage creativity and to heck with conventional colors and designs. Ten bucks says you’re going to be right in there with food coloring up to your elbows. You’re never too old to color Easter eggs.
1. Host an egg hunt
If there are young children in your family it is IMPERATIVE that you host an annual Mother of All Easter Egg Hunts. This is something that the kids (and adults) will look forward to. Get your Easter party supplies together, fill plastic eggs with money, buy favors and decorate. Some parents have been known to subject their toddlers to time trails and search and seizure exercises before the big day so that they can run the fastest and scoop up the most eggs. You can hide real eggs or plastic ones, and if you are a really nice parent or grandparent you will put money and their favorite kinds of candy inside the plastic eggs.