Is Easter the new Christmas?

[MzDiz]

What is with all the gift buying for Easter? I've never heard of this until this year, and it seems like I can't escape it. When I was growing up, Easter meant sitting WAY too long in church, hunting for eggs when we got home, getting a small basket of candy with maybe a stuffed bunny in it, then dinner with family.
Now I'm seeing commercials and signs in stores about Easter gifts? We went to pick out a small toy for DD8's basket and found shelves picked clean and people with carts overflowing with toys. It looked like December 23rd in there!
What's next? Arbor Day presents? Do we really need another family holiday turned into a consumerism field day?

Ok, rant over.

 

[Tybug]

This year we only did candy and some chapstick. In years past I would add a little stuffed toy or one of those little wind up hopping chicks. But that's it... no actual 'gifts'. That seems a bit overboard to me.

 

[NELSON]

Watching the TV news last weekend, it was hard not to be sickened by all the acts of sadistic cruelty performed in the name of a supposedly peaceful religion. Even more so when one realizes that these Abu-Ghraibesque atrocities were being committed right here on American soil, against our own children, and within the once-sacred confines of the People’s House.

While the nation watched helplessly Sunday, hundreds of innocent toddlers were herded like cattle into an enclosed area and forced to collect brightly painted chicken embryos in a bizarre ritual to appease Bush’s angry consumerist Man-God.

Senseless? Yes. Barbaric? Rooty patootie. But forget for a moment the inhuman conditions that thousands of chickens are forced to endure at egg farms across the country. Put aside your gut-wrenching horror over the millions of unborn baby chickens who are never given a chance at life, hard-boiled inside their colorful shells by a peeResident who wouldn’t fund embryonic stem cell research to save Christopher Reeve’s life. With it’s emphasis on competition and the hoarding of natural resources, the traditional White House Easter Egg Hunt is less a homophobic neo-Nazi rally than an exercise in capitalist greed.

Isn’t it about time that we as a society abandon this primitive ritual in favor of a more community-oriented and earth-friendly alternative? I have the fondest memories of my mother’s annual Fungus Hunts. Every fall, the familiar sounds of Jefferson Airplane floating out of Mother’s van would be the signal for all the children of the neighborhood to go forth into the woods and gather mushrooms. No chickens were harmed. No children were emotionally scarred by an authoritarian male Easter Bunny. Instead, Mother would provide the kids with positive reinforcement by paying them a penny for every mushroom they collected, and a dollar if they stumbled upon one of the many plastic baggies of herbal glaucoma medication she stashed about the yard. The grand total was held in trust until the end of the day, when she would award it not to the child who found the most mushrooms, but to the one she deemed most needy. Although my bad back prevented me from joining in on the fun, the extra cash in my pocket went a long way towards lifting my spirits. At least, until I got the stuffing kicked out of me by the fascist neo-con larvae that were unappreciative of Mother’s valuable lesson about sharing with others.

And isn’t that what Easter is really all about? Sharing? Or is it Christmas? Whatever. Judging by the selfish, consumerist Götterdämmerung at the White House yesterday, it’s a lesson that so-called Christians seem to have forgotten.

 

[MzDiz]

Nelson, you're not helping.

 

[Pam]

Nelson, you're not helping.

Methinks Nelson stashed some of those mushrooms and didn't turn them into Mommy.......

 

[MomofKatie]

The Easter Bunny got DD some chocolate, other candy, and 2 paperback books. Nothing else- she just donated a HUGE box of stuffed animals and toys to the Salvation Army after the Spring cleaning of her room.

 

[DwarfMaster]

My kids each got a new Tooth Tunes toothbrush, a very very little bit of candy and a DVD. We're not big into candy so the DVD replaces it.

What annoys me is.....my Ex-Husband just brought their baskets by. DS10 got a new Playstation PSP, 5 Games, some cheat codes book and candy. DD5 got a CD. She noticed the difference right away. What was he thinking Personally, I think the game system could've waited til the next birthday & is a bit too much for an Easter Basket.

 

[luv2nascar]

to each his own I guess. My kids each got a video. Oldest got a book she had been wanting & a cd. Little one got a barbie, a puzzle, and a colorwonder book. They hunted eggs with quarters and some candy around the house. We were trying to avoid a lot of sugar this year. It was a small haul compared to some kids but then again I don't spend $1000 per kid at christmas either. Under $200 per kid.

 

[snowy76]

What annoys me is.....my Ex-Husband just brought their baskets by. DS10 got a new Playstation PSP, 5 Games, some cheat codes book and candy. DD5 got a CD. She noticed the difference right away. What was he thinking Personally, I think the game system could've waited til the next birthday & is a bit too much for an Easter Basket.

Ahhhh... there's your problem. You're assuming he was THINKING. If he had been thinking, he probably wouldn't be your ex!!

 

[DwarfMaster]

Ahhhh... there's your problem. You're assuming he was THINKING. If he had been thinking, he probably wouldn't be your ex!!

True...VERY true

 

[katerkat]

My mother yelled at me last year because I didn't even get Russ a basket. He was one - who do you think would have been eating all the chocolaIte and jelly beans anyway? Momma doesn't need the calories!

This year, all we're doing is an egg hunt with a friend in the backyard, with some small chocolates and coins in them. I'm a mean, mean mom.

 

[ilovejack02]

Ive always done big Easter , well not as big as xmas .. no video systems or bikes, but there sometimes are video games, dvds, cds, small toys. I buy very little candy, mostly just a chocolate bunny and Mike and Ikes for the little one. I dont buy much during the year, so I tend to make up for it at Easter, xmas and Birthday and Valentines.
My basket when I was young, was pretty big too, but mainly clothes, pjs, undies and LOTS of candy and a book or two along with a bunny and always bubbles.
I am stingy during the year, if my oldest wanted a new video game he had to purchase it with his own money and it will be that way with my youngest. They dont just get they latest and greatest because they say I want, they have to earn it. I do go a tad overboard with the holidays, but its so fun to watch them get so excited.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My mother yelled at me last year because I didn't even get Russ a basket. He was one - who do you think would have been eating all the chocolaIte and jelly beans anyway? Momma doesn't need the calories!

This year, all we're doing is an egg hunt with a friend in the backyard, with some small chocolates and coins in them. I'm a mean, mean mom.

Heck I got called crabbed at here, my sister, and my mother so I gave in this year.

To be honest, I would give up all the holiday's and yes that includes Christmas.
DH agrees with me. We said as soon as the kids are gone, we will just go on vacation "to celebrate".

 

[Gurgi]

I was honestly going to post this same question. I think it is.

 

[jrmasm]

What is with all the gift buying for Easter? I've never heard of this until this year, and it seems like I can't escape it. When I was growing up, Easter meant sitting WAY too long in church, hunting for eggs when we got home, getting a small basket of candy with maybe a stuffed bunny in it, then dinner with family.
Now I'm seeing commercials and signs in stores about Easter gifts? We went to pick out a small toy for DD8's basket and found shelves picked clean and people with carts overflowing with toys. It looked like December 23rd in there!
What's next? Arbor Day presents? Do we really need another family holiday turned into a consumerism field day?

Ok, rant over.

Ok seriously, why do you care what other people do? For some people (not us) it's an excuse to buy new spring toys. Bikes, scooters, swing sets etc. For others its more low key. Stick with your own traditions and quit judging what's in other people's shopping carts.

 

[robinb]

In my opinion, it's all one giant Hallmark Holiday after another. No sooner does one display come down than another goes up. Every one of them an opportunity to buy things.

February: Valentines Day
March/April: Easter
May: Mother's Day
June: Father's Day
July/August: Back to School
October: Sweetest Day & Halloween
November: Thanksgiving
December: Christmas

The only rest we have is January, but we are usually bombarded with cards and gift ads for Valentines Day and after Christmas sales.

 

[becka]

We usually do a book, small toy and candy but this year since DS is pretty much allergic to all candy I just bought little junky party favor type things and stickers to go in the eggs. Even though it was all junky it added up $$$ wise. We did buy the kids a < $3.00 kite for them to share. Usually my rule is that everything had to fit in the basket but the kite was obviously too big.

 

[JunieJay]

Methinks Nelson stashed some of those mushrooms and didn't turn them into Mommy.......

We do one gift in the basket that costs between $10 and $20, usually a DVD. This year it was Happy Feet and Eragon. I wanted to get away from a lot of candy so I did just some Lindt chocolate. Got a few extra things to stick in there - sidewalk chalk, these neat sling shot things I found at Christmas and held for Easter, nerf footballs, and new swimming googles.

Nothing extravagant, but a way to fill up the basket without adding a bunch of candy.

We never got anything but a chocolate bunny and the eggs we found on the Easter egg hunt. That was the tradition for people raised in the 60s and 70s. The gift thing didn't come about until later, and it caught on. I don't really care if someone wants to make Easter the new Christmas, but it won't happen in this house.

 

[aprilgail2]

We do big Easters and big Christmas's. If someone else does small thats up to them but we do what we want. Her 4th Easter she got a playstation2 system, This past Chrsitams one of her gifts was a nintendo D/s so now in her easter basket she gets playstation 2 games and nintendo D/S games along with webkinz and whatever else I throw in there along with the chocolate. Chocolate is not a big treat in this house, I work for a chocolate company and when my duaghter is there its a free for all anything you want you can have so she really doesn't go crazy over it anymore.

 

[Lanshark]

To be honest, I was wondering the same thing.