Easter Bunny & Contemplating Life Lessons
As much as Easter isn’t my favourite holiday, I managed to pull together an Easter egg hunt for Little MPB.
I ‘hid’ 8 plastic eggs – but let’s be honest, when you hide eggs for a 2 year old, you really just set them out in plain sight. The plastic eggs were filled with either chocolate eggs or stickers. We also gave him a large chocolate fire truck which friends had purchased for him. I put in 2 Hot Wheel cars and 1 small Transformer into a slightly larger golden egg. And lastly I took advice from someone and bought him a plastic bucket for his Easter egg hunt, rather then a cheap Easter specific basket which would probably end up broken and in the trash within the week. (I cannot lie, I was oddly proud of myself for randomly coming across a Paw Patrol themed bucket for $2.00). All in, I spent less then $25.00.
Little MPB had a blast and loved opening each egg to discover something new inside and he still enjoys putting his new bucket on his head and ‘hiding’.
The whole Easter celebration seemed completely reasonable to me.…
Until I looked at Instagram on the weekend, where apparently Easter baskets are filled with toys, books, stuffed bunnies, chocolate bunnies, etc. I was completed WOWED by the amazing baskets I saw. In fact, I was a tad bit disappointed by my Easter effort as it completely paled in comparison. (Absolutely no disrespect to those who did so much better then me – you are awesome).
Of course, Little MPB has no idea. He doesn’t get to look at pictures on Instagram and doesn’t compare gifts with friends yet. Really, at 2 years old, he doesn’t understand that he got shafted by the Easter bunny this year.
But, something tells me, next year I’m going to have to step-up my game because by 3 (or 4 if I’m lucky), he will probably start to compare notes with friends, and he may end up realizing the Easter Bunny didn’t bring him as much.
And yet, honestly, I don’t really want to participate in trying to keep up with Jones’ (as the saying goes). Not just because I personally dislike Easter, but because I don’t think it’s necessary. Honestly, how much chocolate should 1 kid have? And, maybe it’s not a bad thing for my kid to learn that the Easter Bunny (and Santa and all other gift giving people/creatures) don’t treat everyone the same and that we should be thankful for what we do receive and what we have in life.
I dunno…I guess, I have a whole year to decide what age he gets to learn that life lesson. Because whether it’s next year or the year after, I know one day he will learn that life isn’t always fair.
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My Perfect Breakdown 
Ha. Your Easter festivities outpace ours (but of course I didn’t post on instagram!). We have a drawer full of plastic eggs that S plays with all the time, and I bought a sheet of smiley face stickers from the grocery store last weekend and cut out squares of a few stickers across and “hid” them in only *six* eggs (so you’re doing 25% better than I am!). But S had a blast, and we did it several times — S even took a turn “hiding” the eggs. I call it a success! I really love this age where everything is fun and the pressure to make things magical and amazing is low. Enjoy it while it lasts!
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We didn’t get a whole lot for Easter each year, and every year was different. I think by not following the Instagram crowd you are teaching him something that is even more valuable. Yea, he may complain or whine for a year or two, but he will eventually get it. Maybe it could be a time that you share things about your mom and sister with him, making the Easter tradition something unique to your family. Just brainstorming.
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My kids have NEVER asked why they didn’t get as much as their friends from the bunny or Santa. I don’t think it will be a problem for Little MPB, it certainly hasn’t been for our kids and they’ve been in pre-school since the age of 2.
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Yea, I don’t have any kids, but kids in general seem to surprise me, so I always make that caveat of one or two years just in case. I don’t remember it being a big deal for me as a kid, getting stuff in general was more of an issue when I was a teen, and the whole “my friends got cars when they were 16” thing. But not so much Easter specifically.
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Lol..
We dont celebrate Easter , but my 2 year old came home from daycare with eggs and asked me why the bunny didnt give eggs in our backyard.
took me a few minutes to realise what he was asking, and I told him the Bunny was cold.. Lol.
So Id say Little MPB has already compared notes perhaps at daycare and realised he has been dealt poorly by the Bunny. 🙂
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Well, let’s hope that your son also learns not to value materialism and excess and instead learns to find joy in the small things as well as fun and quality time with family…. I think you’re doing a great job.
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I thought some people went way overboard on Easter as well! It looked more like Christmas in their house. I got C some summer clothes which she needed, and threw them in her basket to make it look fuller lol. I also got her a new baby doll for $5, because she’s obsessed with them, and it was the cheapest one I could find. Everything else came from the dollar bins. I did get a thing of plastic Easter eggs last minute for 78 cents, and filled them with her snacks that we already had in the cupboard lol. She doesn’t know the difference, and she had lots of fun opening them up. Even when she does know the difference, I’m going to try to still fill her basket with things she needs, and not just a ton of candy. I just don’t see the point really. It sounds like you did a great job! He had fun, and that’s all that matters!
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Your Easter sounds perfect. You did more than me! But glad it went well. It’s hard not to compare yourself to others but sometimes people go crazy!!!!
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I think you should be pleased with what you did! I was sad because my little girl only got one egg in a box and the Easter bunny brought her about 20 small eggs that were hidden round the garden. We got her a new bodywarmer too and she was super happy with her things but I was sad that some of our family didn’t seem to bother with Easter for her this year. Like my husband said though if she’s not sad why am I sad?
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I agree with your husband!
Neither of our families do anything for our kids for Easter other than send cards. It wouldn’t even dawn on me to expect them to do anything. A benefit, I guess, of stand-offish grandparents!! 😂
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Our Easter’s are a lot more low key here! We don’t do the plastic eggs – we do chocolate eggs and Molly got two, a LOL doll and a new dressing gown. Neave got a stuffed rabbit and a book!
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We kept things low key too. My older daughter got a few used books and we went to the dollar store for my younger daughter.
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I’m not sure how Easter came to be a mini Christmas, but that’s the way it is these days I guess. I go old school with it though, they get candy and maybe a stuffed animal, that’s it. Well, I did throw in a fart whistle this year, couldn’t pass that gem up 😂
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I am one of those moms who does not do just because everyone else does. For two reasons:
1) I don’t care what anyone else does do holidays – they’re holidays are theirs and ours are ours
2) more importantly, I’m not going to do ANYTHING that may make other kids feel like they got shafted by Santa, the tooth fairy, or the bunny. For Christmas, Santa brings ONE thing/combo that is unique and can’t be purchased from Target or Amazon (“because Santa makes gifts, Mom, he doesn’t buy then on Amazon!”) – that removes all monetary value from the gift (Etsy is my savior!). That way, my kid isn’t going to go to school and talk about his $500 gift when Johnny got a new pair of jammies from Santa. That is very important to me.
IMHO, parents have lost their minds with these holidays. Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter seem to have turned into the holidays of, “who can do more,” and that’s not my thing. I will not play a part in making other kids question why they were shafted. We save all of the expensive presents or gifts with any monetary value as being presented by us. This Easter, the bunny hid eggs with candy while Daddy and Mommy gave each boy a small basket with a chocolate Bunny, a bag of gummy bears (because I had them from our trip!), A Reese’s peanut butter egg, and a $9 Lego set. That’s it. And they were perfectly happy!
You do not need to up your game at all. Do what you’re comfortable with!
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Ah yes the disparity in gifts. I haven’t had to really get into it thank goodness. We aren’t mega high but aren’t teeny either. I thought what you’d put together for little MPB sounded totally acceptable! My kids get one big egg each and some smaller ones that we kind of follow on the ground like breadcrumbs. This year I did also include some non choc items so limit it a bit – pjs for the big boy, shoes, a top and a colouring book for the toddler. Everyone seemed happy. They got chocs from the grandparents too! Even with trying to keep it tame i still have way too much chocolate hanging around!!!!
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I actually don’t remember ever getting more than just candy in my Easter basket when I was growing up. Which is fine with me but I will have to step up my game too for my daughter.
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Baby Bach loved picking up eggs with goldfish crackers in them, using the same $0.99 basket he had last year. Lol. He should probably get used to it! Lol
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If you don’t like Easter, don’t do Easter. Or always keep it this simple. I am Buddhist but was raised Lutheran. We only do Easter because we live with my mom and close enough to family that I am required to participate. My mom went overboard as she always does and I had a few things because I knew he’d get candy he couldn’t eat. I do not play Santa or Easter bunny or anything else. Gifts come from those who love and care for him, not an imaginary mythical character. He is old enough that we talked about not telling friends that Santa and Easter bunny are not real. I do not plan to do Easter with him if we are not required. Do not make yourself feel bad for how you choose to do things with your family. There is no requirement in order to be part of society.
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