Easter traditions - make it memorable

Since traditions are near and dear to my heart, I have a plethora of ideas for any holiday or celebration. Still in the blogging learning curve, I have realized that I need to post them in advance so you can implement them effectively. I apologize for not doing so.
I will be saving my favorite Easter tradition for next year...here are some easy and fun ones that you can still whip together.

Follow the Ribbon
This is a simple tradition that doesn't take much preparation. All you need to do is buy some narrow inexpensive ribbon from a local craft store. Choose a different color for each member of the family 15 to 25 yards per person, depending on how crazy you want this to be.) You can personalize this tradition by attaching a charm to the end of each ribbon; a soccer ball for Kevin, ballet slippers for Suzie and a sewing thimble for Grandma. Once the kids are in bed, tie a ribbon to each of their hidden baskets and wind them in and out of the furniture and the other ribbons until you can't see where they began. Bring the ends with the charms to one central location (perhaps the kitchen table) as a place where your family can begin the entangled maze to find their baskets. Before you know it, everyone will be entangled in ribbons and laughter.

A Sweet Trail
Another option for finding their baskets is this Sweet Trail tradition.
A delightful way to bring little ones into the Easter festivities if they are too young to hunt for a hidden basket, is to make bunny feet out of pastel construction paper and use them to create a simple path to the goodies. You can also make soft little bunny prints out of baby powder or flour sprinkled over a bunny foot stencil. It can be as long a trail as fits your child's age, and can wind inside and out of your home. They will squeal with delight as they follow along the Easter Bunny's path. Black jellybeans, used as ‘bunny droppings' will add an element of humor the older kids will enjoy.

Cut out of Bunny Feet - print here


Flowered Easter Baskets
Tools and Materials: 5- or 6-inch diameter woven basket
*1/2 yard silk or satin fabric * Hot glue gun
* Seam binding or ribbon * Artificial flowers or leaves (about 60)
DIRECTIONS: 1. Cut satin or silk fabric into a circle with a diameter 3x that of the basket;
line the inside of the basket with the fabric, tucking and gluing into place.
2. Hot glue a length of seam binding or ribbon at one handle end;
wrap the handle with the seam binding, and affix with hot glue at the other end.
3. Remove stems from the flowers.
4. Hot glue the buds or leaves onto the basket, covering the entire surface.
(When gluing leaves, work from the top of the basket downwards.).

The Big People Egg Hunt
On Easter Sunday, gather the adults together and have them each hide one or more eggs somewhere on themselves. It might be in Grandma's apron pocket, Uncle Bob's boots, behind Dad's glasses or under Grandpa's hat. This hunt isn't just for the little ones; it involves everyone and is a wonderful way to connect the generations. There might even be a specific age when the ‘little people' graduate into 'big people.' Your family will be sure to get a laugh as the kids poke around looking for hidden eggs. No one and no place is considered out of bounds. You'll definitely want your video camera ready for this Easter Egg Hunt.

Did you miss the other Easter posts?
Easter traditions that build character - Compassion baskets?

Posted at: Hooked on Houses

Traditions that build character - May Day baskets

Martha Stewart

Enjoy Emily's Tuesdays Unwrapped where we look at the simple things.

One of my children's most poignant "teachable moments" was cemented in their memories when our family left a "friendship basket" for the "Nice Lawn" guy (see template below).
For years, we had driven past a house near our church and watched as an older gentleman meticulously manicured his lawn.
He fertilized. He weeded. He loved on that lawn. And it showed.
Beautiful LIFE grew from that yard and it warmed our hearts to see the beauty that he tended.

Considering that our lawn is a muddy thorn in our flesh, for years, I have used his work ethic as a weekly life lesson example. He has taught my children many lessons on perseverance, and the potential that life offers when we have a 'stick to it' mentality.
But the thing I realized is that although we watched him from afar, he didn't know how much his small actions ministered to us. Actions that he did on a daily basis without any realization that they mattered to someone else. He was completely unaware.

So we decided to put our words into action and implement this "May Day" basket tradition.
You can name it what ever you want. It wasn't May when we gave it to him, so we called it the "Friendship basket."
The purpose is to demonstrate gratitude, appreciation and compassion for someone in an anonymous way with out expecting anything in return... and that's really hard, especially for children. (OK, forget children...I struggle with this as well.)
Giving gifts is always fun, but quite often we want that small "thank you" to make sure that the person realizes just how "fortunate" they were that we thought of them. :)
Show your children that to give without any expectation in return is an even greater gift; a gift that builds their character.

The memory of giving to the "Good Lawn" guy is precious. I wrote a small note and stuck it in the basket. We told him the nickname that we had given him and all the life lesson that he had showed our children by his hard work ethic. My kids put little notes in the basket thanking him for his beautiful lawn and flowers. And then we found a few little gifts to share - candy, a garden candle, and my daughter put in one of her dolly paraphernalia, from which I am sure he got a chuckle.
When we went to leave it on his door...(trust me that is a story by itself), he ran out as we were getting ready to drive away.
Oh no, this was not supposed to happen, but the joy that this man showered on my children will be a memory forever etched into my framework.
You would have thought he had won the lottery, and it showed my children that
it truly is The Little Things that are the Big Things.

Remember that this is frugal living at it's finest. A small gesture such as a flower in a basket with a note that says, "I am thinking of you," goes farther than any dollar spent.

Since our monthly family virtue is Compassion, here are the free down loadable family activity ideas that I post every month.
I have included a template to make your own "Compassion (May Day)" baskets. This will enable you to take a few minutes of intentionality and truly make a difference in someone's life.
I can't wait to see what some of you crafty ladies do with this.
Victorian mag.com

As always, the Compassion file includes ideas for:
*Family Conversation Starter questions
*Family Fun Night ideas
*Family tradition ideas
*Telling your family story

Click here to view the Compassion Worksheets free PDF file

Related Posts by Jen:
Easter Eggstravaganza tradition
Read about it here!
Easter traditions - making meaningful memories (quick and easy ideas)
Read more of our Easter traditions here.
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Posted at: Chattingatthesky.com

Freebie fun...deals and steals

Thanks for such a wonderful response to Tasty Tuesday's new location.
Check out the 50 people who linked up with fabulous recipes.
I had so much fun and look forward to doing this each week, but it has kept me from getting to my fun deals and steals alerts. :)
So let's get to it!

(As I will continue to do this weekly, some people have wondered what I do about giving my email address. When signing up for freebies, feel free to use a generic email account. The majority of these freebie offers do not send multiple emails, but a few do. I made a generic email in 30 second using gmail.)
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Do you have a blessing still in diapers?
Huggies just reloaded more diapers/Pull up coupons.
Print them from my left hand side bar, click "see all coupons," scroll and select.
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I LOVE THIS BOOK. These summaries typically run $9.
Click here for your Free Book Summary: "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Powerful Lessons in Personal Change"

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This freebie will go quickly.
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SOME OF MY FAVORITE REPEATS!
Sign up here for GREAT recipe ideas, plus they often send coupon links.

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Gevalia is one of my favorite deals ever. I got my very first coffee maker from them, and it's still going strong.
They offer a free stainless steel coffee maker for trying their coffee membership. Click picture for this great deal.

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Easter traditions - Eggstravaganza

For most of us, Easter is not Easter if you don’t decorate eggs. This year, instead of letting the kids have all the fun, start a tradition that involves the whole family. Throw an annual Easter egg decorating contest. Choose plenty of categories so everyone gets a chance to win. Some great categories might be: funniest egg, most original egg, best look alike egg and the prettiest egg. The wackier the categories, the more fun you’ll have decorating and judging. I think our family ended up with about ten categories, and they were too funny. Ask everyone to submit an egg for each category and display the eggs for all to see on the dining room table. You can ask Grandma and Grandpa to be the judges or, if they want to enter the contest themselves, invite some neighbors or friends over to do the honors. Before you know it, you won’t be able to find judges because everyone will want to enter the contest. My parents ended up making some of the most creative eggs ever, so we all just voted...yes, it got a little competitive. :) This will be the second year that I will host our extended family in doing this fabulous tradition. We had such a blast, and I even had our out of town family send their entries via email. I just got an email from my newly married niece, who lives ten hours away. Her email subject title said, "Top secret egg pictures." She wanted to make sure no one got a sneak peek at her creations, since she knows how sneaky our family can be - namely her own dad. I'll try and scan the pics of our eggs from last year (yes, I was still in love with print pictures in 2008). We had over 30 eggs and they were HILARIOUS! If you're looking for something fun to do....this is it. I put "pressure" on my dear brothers with this new tradition, promising that they wouldn't regret the memories their families would make, and everyone came through from ages 4-68. :). We also did a "hunt for the golden egg" treasure quest which I'll share on Wednesday.

Trash to Treasures...it's yard sale time!

You all know how much I love my Saturday morning yard sales.
It was quite an adjustment when we moved down south and garage/yard sales went from being held all weekend long, to finding out that they are held only on Saturday mornings in NC.
It was a blessing in disguise for my balancing act of time management.
I can have so much fun in just a few short hours on a Sat. morn.
Above I found a set of four gorgeous place mats for $.50/piece.
I LOVE the colors, and they look great under my $2 bird cage.

This tall glass apothecary vase was $2 - with the sand in it. :)

I am on the hunt for milk glass of any kind, and was excited to find this set of eight grape vine pattern glasses for $5. Typically, a bit more than I would pay, but I wanted cups to use for my kitchen.


You already saw that beautiful fabric that I received for free,

but here is some more.
I actually received so many beautiful pieces I just want to gaze, and gaze.
You all gave me some great ideas in the comments of the last post - I can't wait for some free time to put some of those into action.
I must look like someone who loves fabric (or they feel sorry for me when I tell them I want to learn to sew, but have yet to take the sewing machine out of the box) because another woman gave me a HUGE bag full of other fabric pieces totaling about 8 yards.
I think I need to get going with some raga muffin garlands. :)


Now for a more practical purchase.
Do you remember when I went to work organizing my pantry for my stockpiling?
Well, I confess, I have another storage area under my stairs that gets even worse than my pantry. I wish I would have taken a "before" picture.
You would have been so proud of my progress today (Sat).
My goal for this yard sale season is that I must find a place for everything.
This is such a challenge for me since I find so many amazing things, and I know that I will use them "eventually". Well, I bought this organizing system for $3, came home and put it right to work storing some more of my triple coupon treasures.



But then I remembered this...my nemesis. The thorn in my flesh.
The "blue thing" (yes, it has a name) that sits right in my laundry room, side entryway, and is the holder and keeper of all things disorganized. As soon as you open the door, it scream chaos reigns.
Not to mention the wonders it does for attracting dog and cat hair as well. Just lovely.


And then there is this issue....SHOES!
"But mom, I put my shoes on the shelf. " ERRR!

But back to my point... guess what treasure I found? It was going to store more books, until I had a delicious brainstorm when I walked through the door.
The BLUE THING went outside, and in came this!

Now because I promised I would find a place for things...the bird cage went on top, with one of the new place mat underneath. The green Pottery Barn organizer that I bought for $1 is going to house "what nots." I am going to search for similar style baskets and do something amazing to them, but for now these will have to work. Doesn't it have such potential?

But the best thing ever about that $1 wicker basket is this...

SANITY!!
My 5yo is notorious for never being able to find her matches. She gets this big old basket all to herself, and you should have seen her face light up at the suggestion. She knows the tough time she has, and she just was tickled that all her shoes were in one place.
Imagine that. :)


Did I mention that the book shelf was $5? Yes, FIVE DOLLARS...not as good as this best ever $5, but I'll take it.
Should I admit that these were not the only treasures that I found?
No, I didn't finish my photo shoot. We snagged a few more frugal fashionista items, a Titelist golf bag for my son, a beautiful vase, brand new Hooked on Math and Hooked on Phonics sets, 2 lollipop cookie molds, a few books, and some other what nots. Whew - that was quite the day.
Have I told you how much I love yard sale-ing.

Posted at Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday