Make Easter Your Own Family Holiday

Easter is one of those holidays you never really know what to do with.  If your family belongs to a church, you go to church that day.  But if not, then what?  And even if you go to church, what do you do afterward?  There’s always the requisite egg hunt, but it’s not like that lasts all day.  Easter should be a time to get together with family, but since not everyone gets the days around Easter off (like they do for Christmas) it can be hard for families separated by distance to find the time and money to be together.  For that reason, you might want to start your own Easter traditions. 

If time permits, it helps to start your new traditions on Saturday (Easter Eve, if you will).  If you’re having people over for Easter dinner, prepare as much of the food ahead of time as you can (salads, sides, dessert, etc.).  If you’re going to someone else’s house and you’re bringing a dish, pick something you can prepare a day ahead, as well.  And don’t feel like you have to be a slave to time-honored traditions.  This is all about starting your own trends.  There’s nothing wrong, for example, with having Easter Lasagna instead of ham. 

But don’t plan on staying in the kitchen too long on Saturday because you also want to do a little pre-Easter groundwork with the kids, that of course, being the coloring of Easter Eggs.  If you’re up for the mess (or you’re an Easter egg purist), buy the egg dye kit from the store, boil some eggs and color them the good old fashion way. But since boiled eggs should be refrigerated after dying, you probably don’t want to use them for your egg hunt.  And if that’s the case, why not forego dying real eggs altogether and instead buy a bunch of plastic eggs, and let your little Picassos color them using markers, glitter glue, stickers and anything else that would make a masterpiece.  (When the Easter Bunny hides them he can put a tiny chocolate or a quarter inside each one.)

If you’re really up for some messy fun, you can also make Easter baskets with your kids (either the day before or on Easter morning before the egg hunt).  For this adventure you have to plan ahead, since the main ingredient for this craft is an empty coffee can, potato chip can, or cardboard oatmeal container.  Use construction paper, glue, stickers, markers or paint to turn your container into a basket.  Create a handle with rope, heavy twine, or cardstock paper, and your kids have the perfect basket with which to hunt their eggs.

If weather permits, plan to get your family outside on Easter Day.  Gather everyone up and visit your local park for a kite-flying contest (maybe the Easter bunny left everyone new kites in their baskets).  See who can get their kite up the highest and stay aloft the longest.  (Be sure to bring extra kites in case of hungry kite-eating trees.)

Or consider going on a family hike.  Even if you have to drive to a trailhead, it’s worth it to be outdoors together.  You’ll be amazed at the quality conversation you’ll get out of your kids without the distraction of TV, video games and other kids. 

If the weather isn’t cooperative, stay inside and break out a board game that you haven’t played since you were a kid; something like Monopoly, Life, Clue, or even Battleship, preferably a game that takes all afternoon and doesn’t involve electronics.  If you have guests coming for dinner, set up a Checkers championship, where both kids and adults play each other in a round-robin tournament.  This permits everyone to interact, but still allows time for adult conversation.

Easter doesn’t have to be an unremarkable holiday.  Make it special by starting your own untraditional family traditions.  At the very least you’ll get the kids to bed early on Saturday night, because the Easter Bunny doesn’t deliver to children who stay up past 9:00 (now that’s when the parents should start their traditional Easter margarita party…).

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Stacy Dymalski is a freelance writer, filmmaker, and stand-up comic. Her screen credits include co-writer (with Zack Van Eyck)/director of the feature film "Jupiter Landing" and writer/director of the web sitcom series "Hagnet."  Stacy learned about being a parent the hard way: she became one. A working mom, Stacy finds the humorous lessons in family life and then writes about them in magazines and books (much to the annoyance of her two sons).  Stacy recently co-authored 'The Vixen Chronicles' with Brandy Pinkerman: