*All the hyperlinks in the text link to a site you can purchase the item from. I do purchase many things from Amazon and understand that some people do not support that site for very good reasons. I've tried to link directly to product sites where i can, and diy tutorials where applicable.
Spring Colors
The tradition of throwing natural material Rangoli powders to celebrate springtime is a Hindu one. It's been adopted into color runs, gender reveals, and more. We don't make our own, because they are popular enough to order, but if you want to cut out the shipping and packaging, there are many recipes online to make your own. Made from materials like rice or corn starch, or sometimes chalk, they wash away in the rain and are really fun to play with. We also bought spring loaded color cannons, but ours did have a small charge to them so purchase at your discretion. You can definitely buy biodegradable confetti cannons!
*I haven't made panoramic sugar eggs in many years, but dying rangoli powder is done in a very similar fashion to coloring granulated sugar.
Confetti Eggs
The tradition of smashing Cascarones comes from Mexico and is traditionally part of Carnivale (Mardi Gras). We like to smash them both for Easter and for Halloween. Sometimes I order these already filled with paper confetti, but i've also made them and you can find the tutorial for that here.
Easter Baskets
Baskets filled with candy seem to be a mashup of many cultures, but have largely evolved as a commercial tradition celebrated for Christian Easter. While the baskets themselves are often used year after year, they're usually filled with plastic grass. Offerings have evolved to include paper grass and edible grass, but a few years ago, I started using real grass. This does require being on the ball enough to plant it at least a week in advance, but i'm going 3 years strong and think it's totally worth it. It's difficult to keep the candy eco-friendly without making it yourself, but we do include books on nature and kindness: For young toddlers, "If You Plant A Seed" and "Bee" are really great. For small children, we've done "Seeds & Trees", "The Story of the Easter Bunny", and "The Hugging Tree". Books on eggs are also fantastic. "The Broody Hen", "The Easter Surprise", and books about the art of Pysanky are all really fun. If religion is a part of your celebration, there are lots of great stories on The Resurrection and Passover. Gardens- both real and pretend- are favorite gifts in house as well as egg shaped sidewalk chalk!
Egg Hunts
Egg hunts are fun but the plastic eggs are not very friendly. This year i purchased both wooden eggs, and eco-eggs. Eco eggs look like regular plastic, but are made from 100% recyclable content, and (at least some of them) are marked fully compostable. These can be used year after year like regular plastic eggs, but if one gets lost in the yard or stepped, it's carbon footprint is a lot lower.
Dying Eggs
In recent years i've been using natural egg dyes. The colors are earthier and take longer, but i especially love dying brown eggs. This year, i bought wooden eggs that can be treasured as a keepsake. I've used the eco-eggs kit, natural earth, and color kitchen. Color kitchen is my favorite, but they all use similar colors, and eco-eggs comes with a grass growing kit as well.
Check out this Wondersmith Tutorial for dying eggs with botanical prints and homemade dyes!
Games
This year, i purchased a variety of outdoor games including a wooden egg race, burlap sack race, Bubbles, and an old fashioned egg spinner.
Lavender Lemonade
There are lots of recipes for lavender lemonade and all of them should yield a pink aromatic treat. I liked to boil about 1/4cup-1/2cup of lavender flowers in 2cup of Water with 1/2cup of sugar or honey and then let it sit overnight (though 30min to an hour will do). I strain out the flowers, pour the liquid into a pitcher, add the juice of 3-4 lemons and top with ice and more water to the top. For an adult treat, I like to spike mine with Penn Square Lavender Vodka from Thistle Finch, a local distillery here in central Pennsylvania.
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