Category Easter

Apr 9 2012

Holiday Help

Hoppy Easter! My husband and I had everyone over today to celebrate the day. I always love that I am so close to my Children and Grandchildren that we can easily get together for special occasions. Being part of blended families though can make holiday schedules a real challenge. I have learned over the years a few valuable lessons for making holidays less stressful and more enjoyable:

Plan an Open House
Instead of playing the guilt game and trying to get four families to arrive at the same time, we now have an open house. I plan brunches, with our family’s favorite dishes and let everyone know what time the food will be out. Today it was 10:00am. They can come anytime after that if they want to eat.

Have One Event
I always have one timed event. Today was a backyard egg hunt at 11:00. If the kids can make it, great! If not, that is OK too. This gives a central activity time, but we try not to force an activity that is not flexible. The eggs are plastic, and the treats inside will hold. We plan so every grandchild gets 11 eggs to find, three with their names on them. That way, early or late comers may not be there for the whistle blow, but they still can hunt. And especially for days like today, if the hunt starts are spread out Papa can hold more than one little hand as the hunt is underway.

Remember Who the Holiday is For
The holiday is for the whole family. It should never work against our closeness, and it should not be about me. My kids feel bad enough if they cannot enjoy the food, fun, and family time. Adding in my own agenda makes things harder. I appreciate that they drive to us for almost every holiday, so if one doesn’t work out, I keep myself focused on the purpose of holidays: to bring us together, and that means I am greatful for 1 hour or time the day before too.

Welcome Everyone
I wish I got to pick my in-laws. And I doubly wish I could pick my Ex-laws. It would make life far easier. We are lucky and most hurt feelings in our step-families are overlooked for the benefit of the grandkids. So I follow my children’s lead and if they are comfortable with it, I include everyone. Sometimes this is akward for me, but it is never akward for my grandchildren. Therefore, in our house for holidays everyone that my grandchildren values in their lives gets an invite.

Have Fun
Live in the moment, not the past and not the future. I find a shared bottle of wine helps everyone stay in the moment and enjoy the day. My husband finds a shared twelve pack of beer does the job. Whatever it takes to relax and forget about the silly details that nobody but me would notice (dirty handprints on the walls, a looming disagreement held over between the kids, a trail of crumbs ala Hansel and Gretel). Next month all anyone should remember us what fun they had.

Our Easter today was great. With these tips, which I do my best to use, we had another fantastic day. I hope your next day will be just as grand!

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Apr 6 2012

Coloring Eggs

Easter eggs

Easter eggs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We are now officially in high Easter swing.  We are going to a community park tomorrow to hunt for candy eggs, but today we decorated our own eggs for Easter brunch on Sunday.  Aside from a few paint brush wars, and a couple tears because of a cracked masterpiece, things went remarkably well.

We have always done egg coloring with vinegar and fizzing dye tablets ala the store bought version, but this year we tried a less expensive version. And fortunately, taping down a vinyl tablecloth before the coloring event meant that other than hands and clothes, the colors for the most part stayed on the eggs.

I recently heard about using Kool Aid powder and water as your dye source.  I thought this was a great suggestion, as you used the dime packets of kool-aid and a cup of water, rather than the more expensive options, that justify their cost by adding in stickers and egg holders.  It also gave me a greater realm of color possibility than food coloring tablets: Kool-aid comes in red, blue, green, purple, yellow, pink, orange, and many variations of shades. 

To Make:

1. Measure out approximately a cup of water in a coffee cup.

2. Empty a non-sugar packet (the concentrated dime version) of Kool-aid into the water.

3. Mix

4. Using a spoon or fingers, gently place the hard boiled egg into the cup and allow to steep for about thirty seconds, longer if deeper color is desired.

It really was that simple.  For less than five dollars, including the cost of the eggs, we have two dozen hand colored eggs for our feast!

To add an exciting twist: Let the kids use crayons to decorate the eggs before dipping, the wax prevents the color from adhering to the egg shell.

Another option: Get out your children’s paintbrushes.  Since it is only kool-aid, you can have the kids paint the eggs with names, pictures, or multiple colors rather than just dipping – watercolor style, and yo don’t have to worry about vinegar getting anywhere it shouldn’t, like little eyes!

 

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Apr 3 2012

You’ve Been Egged!

Last night I played a “prank” on my grandchildren that I hope they will spread to their friends and neighbors.  I egged their houses!

OK, not like how I used to egg houses in high school – shh don’t tell anyone, I will lose all credibility!  This was a toy egging.  A real crack up, pun intended.  I took a dozen of the plastic eggs and filled them with little treats.  Then I drove to my grandchildren’s homes, and egged each (spreading them around the front yard, in the courtyard, near the front door).  A quick note taped to the door to encourage them to egg their friends, and a ring of the doorbell and I was outta there.  Sprinting like the Easter Bunny himself has to hop to make it to all his houses.

I was thinking of twists on this adventure but I almost think it is too perfect to change: it gets the kids excited, it gives me a little race in my day (YES – ding-dong ditchum is as fun as it was 50 years ago), and if I had stuck around it also gave me a perfectly good opportunity to steal a few uninvited moments with the kids.  And best of all, it was very inexpensive, for a cost of less than ten dollars I was able to add some Eggstraordinary fun to the week. If you carried this one out Easter morning (or the night before), you could save on individual treats and baskets if you are looking for a way to further cut costs.

 

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Mar 26 2012

Thumbprint Butterfly

Materials:

Construction paper

Paint

Markers

 

  1. Cut construction paper into a butterfly shape
  2. Using paint, dip thumb or fingers and tap onto construction paper to make body and decorate wings
  3. Add a face or other decorations using markers, glitter, or other items
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Mar 26 2012

Spring Ladybug Craft

Materials:

Red construction paper

Green Construction paper

Black construction paper

String

Glue

Google eyes

 

  1. Cut out leaf template
  2. Make a circle loop using a strip of red construction paper
  3. Cut out different sized circles using black construction paper
  4. Glue red loop to green leaf
  5. Glue black dots (on for face, and other smaller ones as spots) to red loop
  6. Glue google eyes to black face
  7. Tie string to leaf stem
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