This is the first Easter where my son was aware of the holiday. In order to prepare, I did a lot of fretting and frowning. My biggest issue…What is up with the bunny?
With Santa, there is a fairly standard mythology. Even folks that don’t celebrate Christmas know that Santa has a white beard, delivers presents, and has a bunch of reindeer.
The Easter Bunny is not so standardized. Does he lay the eggs? I does he deliver a basket AND hide eggs? My post on FaceBook yielded great information, some very helpful and some just plain funny.
We decided to let him figure this one out on his own. We asked him questions here and there to figure out what he had learned from his friends and then just played along.
The Friday before Easter, we noticed a bunny in our front yard. Interestingly enough, Edison found his Easter basket hidden under the bush where we saw the rabbit last. Edison seemed to think the bunny left it, so we just went with it.
As for what was in his basket…I struggled with this as well. The last thing a spirited 3 year-old needs is more sugar. But, I realized that just because he got candy didn’t mean he had to eat it all at once. I did try to mix it up with non-editables though.
I settled on this for his Easter basket:
- A paddle-ball
- Velcro ball and mits
- Bubbles
- Sidewalk chalk
- Raisons
- Hotwheels
- Assorted plastic eggs with goodies
For the egg hunt, we did:
- Jelly beans
- Chocolate covered acai berries
- Mini chocolates
- Almond clusters
- Spare change
On Easter morning, we watched the movie Hop in which we learned that the Easter bunny poops jelly beans. So, when Edison opened an egg with jelly beans, he yelled, “Look Mom! I got poo!”
Easter afternoon, we had an egg hunt with the neighbors. He had a blast, and never figured out that we were taking eggs from his basket and hiding them again. Afterward, we joined the neighbors for a wonderful dinner.
That is what Easter is about; friends, family, and celebrating the beginning of Spring. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to introduce the holiday.