HOLIDAYS 2009 ~ Moms & dads: How do you celebrate Easter at your house?

[Deja Vu]

It's a present free for all here, lol. Not the $100 range or anything, but I have two kids and use this time of the year to gift spring needs.... I just orderd umbrellas, sunglasses and hat's from Children's place and a webkinz and soccer ball from amazon. I also have butterfly nets and candy and intend on buying each child a movie. I grew up in a non-religeous family, and am raising a non-religous family. We celebrate spring, the Easter Bunny, and full-blown gluttony.

[Abigail's_Mommy]

We do a small Easter basket and lunch at my in-law's house. When DD is older, I also plan on doing a egg hunt and coloring eggs.

ETA; Both Grandmas buy presents/baskets for DD.

[momof2inohio]

We do an egg hunt here and then go to my moms for brunch. I dont like to give them a bunch of candy so I usually get some things they need for spring/summer.

[cpaige]

Easter in my family was never really a religious holiday. When my sister and I were younger (now: I'm 34 and she is 25) we always dyed eggs and got a basket of candy with some of the eggs in them. There was always an Easter egg hunt, and mom always made sure we were dressed just as cute as could be in our Easter outfits. Now that we are older, we still actually get baskets, but instead of candy, we now get more practical things i.e~ gardening stuff, bbq stuff, etc. For us, it's a time to spend with family and celebrate Spring!!

[talk2ham.1]

I remember folks from church bringing us chocolate bunnies as a kid. But my folks never made a big deal about the "bunnies and eggs" part of Easter since it was a very important religious holiday for us. That Sunday was just like any other Sunday since we went to both morning and evening service, but we also went to the sunrise service and Easter breakfast too. My mom would wake us up before the sun was up that morning with the phrase "He is risen as He said!" And we would respond back the same way and then jump out of bed because the sunrise service was a lot of fun for us kids! That afternoon we usually had a big family dinner and took time to recognize that the purpose of the day was to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now that I'm a mom, our family celebration is very similar. Sunrise service, then both church services as usual, and a big family dinner in the afternoon. It is a special day for us without the "commercialization" of it all. I am glad to give thanks for the gift of salvation on that special day. No bunnies or colored eggs. But I do take full advantage of the candy sales after Easter! And I do sometimes decorate eggs with my kids. But only for fun. Not as an Easter activity.

[mnmzz]

I think I probably went a little overboard this year, My boys are 2 and 1. I didn't start out that way but my Walgreens had Crayola everything on clearance this last month so I picked up 1 something here then 2 there then 2 more and it kinda snowballed. I might save some for birthdays or gifts but we'll see. I don't get them much in the way of candy since they are 1 &2, but my 2 year old loves the Pez dispenser so he has gotten a new one for each holiday. Only thing there is I only give him the original filled and that's it so I am getting quite the supply of pez rolls. Someone said they stuff socks in their kids eggs which sounds good especially if they need them anyways. I'll get each a new Christian Easter book and we will dye eggs for something fun to do. We will go to the community egg hunt and to church and have dinner with my parents. I haven't bought specific baskets yet as I have just been using the baskets I have around the house so far but I do like the idea of having a special one to reuse every year. I will also maybe do some plastic eggs with coins for the 2 year old since he got a piggy bank for Christmas and loves it. So my splurge was on my 1 year old. I found larger plastic eggs with fisher-price little people in them at Target and I got those because I was feeling guilty I didn't have anything specific for the baby. That's what I will do. I try to find my little gifts on clearance so I am ready for most of the holidays.

[Macaela25]

I do for DS about the same amounts/types of things my mother did for us. He has the same basket every year with several small gifts and plastic eggs with a little candy. I don't mean dollar store gifts, but certainly nothing expensive. Sidewalk chalk, bubbles, small toys, a DVD, a plate and cup...that's what's going in this year (off the top of my head).

I think it's sad that the holiday (like Christmas) is so secular and commercialized, but of course not everyone believes in or commemorates the religious history of Easter. My DH, who is Eastern European and was raised Russian Orthodox, was dragged out of bed before dawn on Easter to stand (yes - no chairs) for several hours in church. A basket stuffed with food was prepared by each family, blessed by the priest and then given to the poor and to orphanages. Any bunny in a basket over there is the main course at dinner...and is definitely not made of chocolate.

We do Easter baskets mainly as a low-key family/secular tradition, and keep the religious aspect completely separate and of much higher priority.

[MrsPinecone]

My DH, who is Eastern European and was raised Russian Orthodox, was dragged out of bed before dawn on Easter to stand (yes - no chairs) for several hours in church. A basket stuffed with food was prepared by each family, blessed by the priest and then given to the poor and to orphanages. Any bunny in a basket over there is the main course at dinner...and is definitely not made of chocolate.

I'm sorry if he feels that he was "dragged". I always thought it was special and fun to go to the midnight services. I am Russian Orthodox, too.

We got to church at about 11 pm, the service ended at about 2, and we all broke our fast and had the basket blessing afterward, but we take ours home with us. By the time we get home to eat our yummies, it was at least 3am.

I fully intend to take my kids to Easter night services when they are a little older. Those services are some of my best childhood memories.

[VANILLAGRRL]

I'm sorry if he feels that he was "dragged". I always thought it was special and fun to go to the midnight services. I am Russian Orthodox, too.

We got to church at about 11 pm, the service ended at about 2, and we all broke our fast and had the basket blessing afterward, but we take ours home with us. By the time we get home to eat our yummies, it was at least 3am.

I fully intend to take my kids to Easter night services when they are a little older. Those services are some of my best childhood memories.

That is so neat!! I absolutely love the idea of those services and I am glad you have such special memories of them. That reminds me of the midnight Christmas Eve candlelight service that we had at my childhood church. I loved that service! Our church was way out in the boonies at the end of a really dark road. I loved the drive out to the church on Christmas Eve. It was really exciting to me. When I think about it now it makes me feel so....cozy. That might be a strange way to describe it, but that's how it made me feel.

The service was really cool too. It was kind of spooky being in that big, old church with only the candlelight. Especially with the woods all around. But I always loved spooky stuff, so I thought it was all the better. Thank you for bringing back some great memories!