Easter is just around the corner (April 12th to be exact). I remember the Easters I had as a child.
A few days before my mom would boil up a couple of dozen eggs-pull out the PAAS Easter egg dye and the five of us would go to town on decorating.
Easter morning we’d rush downstairs and find our chocolate Easter bunnies lined up on the mantle, a small pastel basket (the same one every year) full of jelly beans, and a big basket (again, the same one every year) filled with fake green grass and a slew of candy-chocolate malt eggs, peeps, peanut butter eggs and the like.
Then we’d dress up in our Easter finery, have a few family snapshots taken out on the lawn and head out to church.
That was it. No toys, no jewelry, no bubbles or stickers and most definitely no Xbox games.
When did Easter get so out of control? When did a religious holiday turn into a commercial hoopla? Obviously sometime between when I stopped being a child and when I had my own children.
So here are some ways to stop the madness.
#1-Manage expectations. Start this one young! Make Easter baskets small and inexpensive-teach your kids not to expect a lot of “presents”
#2-Make your own Easter Egg Dye. Yes, those kits are pretty darn cheap, but you can make your own dye with things you already have in the house!
#3-Be creative with “Baskets”. You probably already have a basket, bucket, tub or hat in the house that could make a perfect Easter basket. Why not use that instead of running to the store to buy some ugly pastel plastic thing that will wind up in the trash next week? Even better-keep your eyes open this year at yard sales and pick up a couple of nice, sturdy baskets to use annually. If you really must, go ahead and spray paint them pastel colors. It’s ok-I give you permission.
#4-Don’t buy plastic “grass” to put in that basket. It’s bad for the environment, and it winds up all over the house for a week! Instead try using some shredded paper!
#5-If you just have to have little presents, check out your local dollar store. You can find all sorts of inexpensive toys, snacks and gee-gaws for kids up through the early pre-teens. Sorry, I’m not really sure what to tell you for teenagers.
#5-Plan ahead for the big Easter Dinner. I know this advice is a tad late-but if you decide on your menu early, you can keep your eyes out for sales and pick up items you’ll need at bargain prices.
#6-Don’t go nuts with decorating. To me Easter Dinner is one of those events where you pull out that china you got as a wedding gift, and that lace tablecloth that never sees the light of day and you set a pretty table with what you have.
Believe me, this isn’t all I’ve got to say on the subject of an inexpensive Easter-tune in to Frugal Coast2Coast on Monday night at 8:30pm EST/5:30pm PST and listen to Lynnae and I discuss this very topic: Celebrate Easter without Tons of Cash.
But you don’t have to wait till Monday night to share-go ahead and tell me now: What is your best tip for how to save at Easter time?
Photo by Windy234
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Jenn- My kids love boiled eggs so we buy and boil extra that stay in the fridge and they enjoy them the following week for breakfasts and snacks. We also use food coloring I have on hand for dyeing eggs. i don’t go too crazy with “gifts” outside a chocolate bunny and maybe a stuffed small animal for the 5 yr old. Same baskets get used every year and as with each holiday I use clear bags for bulk candies and nuts. I do the same fow christmas, I don’t see the need to go nuts on junk. _Amyrlin
We use the same baskets every year. They’re filled with a chocolate bunny, a small trinket such as crayons, and a book.
My gift to the extended family has always been an Easter egg hunt for the kids. The older ones are too cool to hunt for eggs now, so they enjoy hiding them for the younger kids. And the younger ones still race around to see who can find the allotted number of eggs fastest.
The eggs are filled with inexpensive or clearanced candies as well as tickets to trade in for prizes. I pick up the prizes all year long: pens and markers at the back to school sales, small toys after Christmas, anything marked way down throughout the year.
Since my son’s birthday is in December we scale Christmas way back and instead do at least one big Easter gift. It helps to spread out the gift giving a bit more and takes some of the pressure off the winter holiday season.
Also, if you’re like me and enjoy doing a bigger basket then another frugal idea is to stock with summer items that you would probably buy anyway – swim suit and goggles, beach toys, etc. My mom even used to do socks and undies!
I have always loved the idea that the same decorations are used from year to year therefore creating a tradition out of the elements themselves. The Easter basket is not exception. If a common basket is used (as I did for my five children) it promotes the concept of sharing. Yes, each did get their own chocolate Easter bunny. Now I have grandchiildren that live at a distance. The baby got a soft stuffed bunny, and the older children got tins with cookies (healthier than candy and travels better) and an assortment of inexpersive Easter related activity toys. And children are thrilled to get a piece of mail so an Easter card (store bought or made)is a big hit!
Easter is a religious holiday and age appropiate reading and coloring books are ways to reinforce the meaning of the holiday.
And since not all of Frugal Upstate and Frugal Coast to Coast devotees are folks with young children at home, the holiday can be celebrated by attending religious services and a celebratory meal with family/friends.
As a grad student living far from home, I am organizing an Easter potluck with friends and classmates. It’s less expensive, less stressful as we’re all trying to prepare final projects, and suits everyone’s different dietary needs. Go potlucks!
We've never gone overboard for Easter. I spend maybe $10 on the entire family.
I make fill up the little plastic Easter eggs with M&Ms or whatever and send the little one on an Easter egg hunt with a nifty basket that a friend gave us. I save the basket and plastic eggs from year to year so there's no expense there.
I like to focus on what Easter's REALLY about. Although we don't focus as much as I would like, I think we have a pretty OK balance.
I am using a basket I already have. Instead of buying that fake grass, I am using pastel colored tissue paper that I have saved throughout the year from gifts I have received. Last week I had stopped at our local Salvation Army and picked up two stuffed bears that still had the tags on them. One pink, one purple. Instead of a bunny this year, my daughter will have two large stuffed bears in the same colors as her bedroom. For both bears was a total cost of $1.49.
I used to put a white chocolate cross in both of my kid’s Easter baskets (they are twelve years apart so it wasn’t at the same time!).
I had hard time finding one last year and this year I couldn’t find any at all.
While they weren’t the best tasting candy in the basket, at least it was a symbol of what Easter is all about.
Instead there are now aisles filled with little toys, DVDS, etc. and one area of candy.
We always had simple Easter rituals. Mom would use pie crust to make an Easter-related scene (tomb stone rolled away, Jesus post-resurrection on the shore, etc). We ate lamb and mashed potatoes got out the best tablecloth. That was about it, but it felt really special.
I think starting simple rituals–painting eggs, getting chocolate bunnies–when the kids are little helps a lot. I never cared much about painting Easter eggs because it wasn’t part of how we did Easter. That doesn’t always happen, but I think kids like to stick with the familiar routines for the most part.
From a religious standpoint I'm really against the whole egg & bunny thing; we refer to Easter as 'Resurrection Sunday' and avoid references to the non-Christian elements, as these are based in fertility cult background (sorry–not here to preach, just giving my rationale). For my Sunday School class, we are giving the kids each a small canvas tote bag filled with coloring books, small chocolate crosses, mini-paks of skittles and tiny inexpensive toys. Several of my kids are ADHD and I don't want them pumped with too much candy, hence the non-food items.
For egg-and-bunny Easters:
- I'm loving the edible grass that I'm seeing out. Obviously it's a little more expensive than the plastic stuff, but at least it's edible and not going into the trash.
- When I was little we made colored egg shells (blew out the insides, used for dinner) and those made a yearly reappearance.
- A real basket (pretty but not too childish to stand the test of time), re-used each year.
- I have to say that I do support the alternatives to candy. Teaching kids that special treats can be non-food items goes a long way toward avoiding eating disorders. Coloring books, small toys, etc.
- If simply dying eggs doesn't offer your older kids enough of a creative outlet, you can use food coloring straight, dropping & rubbing for different effects. It's messy, but fun!
- Decoupaging colorful images from napkins is also a fun way to decorate hard-boiled eggs.
Looking forward to the show tomorrow to hear lots of great ideas!
Great Tips Jenn. I too can’t believe what people buy their kids. I went all out and bought them some new washable markers that I got with my micheals coupon and a new coloring book with a bit of chocolate. We do the classic egg hunt (indoors, still have tonnes of snow) and have a nice brunch.
Great post, Jenn,
I agree with you – -when I was a kid, Easter didn’t involve gifts from the Easter bunny. Just a relatively small amount of candy.
I’m not sure how it morphed, but it hasn’t in my family. Our Easter bunny brings just some chocolate, jelly beans and other candies in a reasonably sized basket. (He doesn’t even bring a big bunny because grandma gives that.)
I think the idea of XBOX for Easter is just way out of control.
Easter has never been a big deal for us – my family is non-religious, and we never had much money, so we did the egg hunt and mom did up a basket. It was never extravagant, and always contained items that were needed for the upcoming spring and summer – sidewalk chalk, skipping ropes, water sprayers (never guns though!), etc.
So this year, the same as I have since my oldest was born, it will be simple. I tend to choose a different basket every year and let the kids use it to play with, but this year I found Easter-themed sand buckets. Paper grass inside, with a bit of chocolate for my oldest, and a few small gifts.
I try to keep it simple now, but the rest of our family and friends do not follow suit which makes it hard……ugh
thanks for the great tips i remember my mom would hide the eggs and then we would go to church simple and sweet