If you’re looking for a thoughtful gift to mark the upcoming Easter festivities, then you’ll need to do a little planning and research into suitable activities and themes. Let’s take a look at the festival and see what they might be.

Why do we Celebrate Easter?

Though Easter owes its existence (and its name) to earlier pre-Christian pagan cultures, it is a Christian occasion. Specifically, it celebrates Jesus’s death, resurrection and ascent into heaven. Jesus was crucified, but then rose from the dead three days later.

Christians commemorate these events through a number of ceremonies over the course of the Easter weekend, from Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified at Calvary, through to Easter Sunday, when he came back.

How Can we Celebrate Easter?

There are many ways to celebrate Easter, even if you aren’t a committed (or even casual) Christian. Easter is a family holiday, so the majority of activities are for children, however it is also traditional to have big family meals, and lots of treats.

If you’re organising entertainment for children, then among the best ways to do this is with an Easter egg hunt. This involves hiding lots of brightly-coloured eggs (usually chocolate ones) within a certain area, so that they can be sought out and collected up. If you’ve got access to a local forest or area of parkland, then this would be perfect, if not then distributing them around your garden is just as good! An Easter egg hunt is also a great idea as it allows children to stretch their legs and get active, whilst working off all the energy from the chocolate!

Another egg-related activity that you might consider is an egg-painting session. This is something that’ll allow children a chance to really be creative, and present their family with gifts. For best results, you’ll want to hard-boil the eggs in question before you get started. Once you have decorated the hard-boil eggs you can then use them for egg rolling. This is a traditional Easter game played all over the world. Different nations play the game differently, but traditionally you roll the egg down a hill and see which one goes the furthest, alternatively, you can play it on a flat surface and roll the egg along until you go over the finish line.

If you are looking for more calmer events to do on Easter, as a family you could do some Easter baking. there are many recipes you can do, including bunny cakes, rabbit biscuits and much more! Find some fantastic recipes here.

Overall, there are lots of fun activities that you can do with your friends and family at Easter. Baking, bonnet making, card making and much more. You are sure to have a great day!

Why are Eggs Important?

You might at this point be a little bit confused. What, exactly, do eggs have to do with Jesus? Over the years, all manner of wacky links have been posited. Some have suggested that the boulder obscuring the entrance to Jesus’s tomb was, in fact, egg shaped. The tradition of egg rolling comes from the stone being pushed away.

The custom of painting eggs at Easter can be traced back to a community in Mesopotamia who painted eggs blood-red in memory of the sacrifice of Christ. The true origin of Eggs at Easter, however, can be traced back to pre-Christian pagan society. For obvious reasons, the egg is symbolic of fertility and new life – and it’s these things that celebrations during spring have adapted to celebrate and encourage. In addition, many orthodox traditions forbid the consumption of eggs during lent, and so consuming them in abundance at the end of lent was essential to prevent those lain at the start from going bad.

Why is Lamb Important?

Traditionally, families enjoy a meal of lamb over the Easter weekend. This tradition also has an obvious cause – spring lamb is readily available during spring, when it wasn’t during winter. The best way to celebrate this abundance is to indulge oneself. But there’s an extra theological dimension to this tradition. In the gospel of St. John, John the Baptist described Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’.

Why are Rabbits Important?

The Easter bunny is a figure that’s synonymous with Easter. Clearly, any animal which breeds prolifically, and which is especially active during the time of a fertility festival, is going to become associated with that festival.

Like the advent calendar, the figure of the Easter Bunny owes its existence to Lutherans, who used it to warn children that they’d be judged and rewarded based on their behaviour. If you have younger children, then the Easter bunny is a must for the special day. You can use the Easter bunny to encourage your children to go to bed the night before Easter at the right time and then watch their faces light up in the morning when you tell them the Easter bunny delivered the chocolate eggs!

What Gifts are Appropriate for Easter?

Easter isn’t an occasion that’s as readily-associated with gift-giving as Christmas, and so you’re not obliged to buy gifts for your friends and family. Any small token that you do provide, therefore, will surely be appreciated: and you’ll be able to select only items that really fit the bill!

Household items that fit with the symbolism of the festival are sure to please. Egg-shaped light shades, like these from Gisela Graham, are certain to go down excellently. If you know someone that is a collector of salt and pepper pots, then you could always treat them to our Easter French hen salt and pepper pots.

As well as small gifts for your friends and family you can decorate your house for the fun event. If you have somewhere suitable for hanging decorations then these clear glass hanging eggs made by Gisela Graham are perfect. Wooly-pink rabbits, sheep and chicks will also surely please – they’ll look adorable when perched on a suitable mantelpiece or bookcase. You might also consider items that’ll help with Easter itself, rather than simply commemorating it; a set of suitable egg-cups is sure to make a round of boiled eggs on Easter morning all the more scrumptious – just be sure to pair yours with a selection of breaded soldiers (and perhaps some asparagus, which will be in season from the end of April until June!).