It’s that time of year again, when Easter is starting to creep up on us and I am so excited! Even though my family isn’t religious, Easter has always been a special family holiday to me. Growing up, I loved the big family dinner we had each Easter Sunday and I also always looked forward to Easter morning basket hunting.
My Easter baskets growing up were pretty standard, always including a chocolate bunny (I always saved the ears for last!), peeps, jelly beans, robin’s eggs and usually a soft animal. My parents would hide the baskets and my sister and I would have to hunt for them. We spent many Easters visiting my Nana and Grandpa in Florida but my mommy would always still make us a basket.
Easter baskets are a family tradition that hubby and I have carried on to our own family. But we have made a few changes for our own kids. I don’t give them soft animals (they have MORE than enough of those!) but do give each of them a small gift (usually around $10). The first year, Honeybun got an animal book. Her second she got a tool set. Sugarplum’s first she got a baby doll and Honeybun got a doll highchair (which I broke the following Thanksgiving). The last year we were in Dublin my mom brought a few small things over and last year they each got a game (Uno and Disney Easter Match). I’m still working on this year for Doodle, but I have a watch for each of the girls and a small Merida figurine.
The other big change we made is what the girls get in their eggs. While my eggs were always filled with chocolates and other candies, I’ve tried to stay healthier with my girls. Each of their first Easter’s they were under a year so I gave them some of their finger foods like freeze-dried fruit, yogurt drops, puffs, mini rice cakes and the snap pea crisps they love. As they’ve grown I’ve started throwing a little bit of sweets in there, but still try to stick with healthy choices (I even found some pea crisps and other healthy treats in Honeybun’s eggs I sent in for her to hunt at school last year…oops!)
With Doodle also being under a year for the upcoming holiday and my rule to not give my babies wheat until after their first birthday, it makes it a little trickier. However, I’m so thrilled that there are so many more choices now than when Honeybun was a baby or that I could find for Sugarplum in Ireland. The Happy Family’s line of baby and toddler treats includes many gluten and wheat free options. And they don’t just have things for Doodle, they have snacks for the girls too that will seem like a treat but are actually healthy like their Chocolate Pumpkin cookies. And my kids love all of it! They don’t even miss the sweets because they are used to the healthier alternatives and they are so tasty (yep, they’re so good that I even sneak a taste every now and then!)
Life sometimes gets really overwhelming and I am really looking forward to Easter where all I have to do all day is be with my children, hubby, my parents, my aunt, uncle and cousins and enjoy them. I can’t believe how fast Doodle has grown (less than a month until his birthday, it seriously makes me teary-eyed!) and I plan to just spend the day taking him in, reveling in his many firsts and loving every second of it!
