when did Easter become a gift-based holiday?

[rodeo65]

My kids have always received one chocolate egg and then 12 plastic "pull apart" eggs hidden with one little mini egg or one jelly bean in each for hunting. This year, though with their first trip to Disney coming up, I think the Easter bunny might substitute a Disney Dollar for the jelly bean. They also usually get one small thing like sidewalk chalk, or a skipping rope for the coming season. Love the gardening toys idea! We do, however, completely separate the "meaning" of Easter from the "celebration" the same as we do for Christmas.

 

[jerseygirl81]

My boys are teenagers now and I still give them a basket with a chocolate rabbit some candy a DVD and a t-shirt. I get a little dollar store toy for my 2 little nieces, $5 gift cards for my 4 teenage niece and nephews for Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks and a plant for my brother and sister who are my DS's godparents and a plant for my Mom. I never wanted to do all this but my sister and sister in law started giving little things to us so I felt the need to recipricate. So I figure it's $50 each basket $10 for the plants 3/$10 (tulips at the Shoprite) $20 for 4 gift cards, $5 dollar store gifts for a total of $135. Linda

 

[NU2WDW]

Easter has become a big-ticket gift giving event for the same reason that Halloween has become a "decorate your house with lights" holiday --- follow the $$$$.

At least Thanksgiving is still relatively simple.

 

[Colleen27]

We're sort of middle of the road. I generally spend $10-20 per kid, mostly on dollar store "spring" stuff like bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and sunglasses. We've moved more towards consumable gifts (and I count sunglasses as consumables since they break/lose them so quickly) as we've cut back on candy. I splurged this year and got them each a new Webkinz because I couldn't resist a BOGO sale on them at the Hallmark next to our grocery, but that's about my upper limit as far as Easter gifts/spending.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We do just baskets. Some candy, some bubbles, stickers that sort of thing. I probably spend $15 a kid max.

We have friends who do "gift" gifts, like a new bike, rollerblades, that sorts of things. Plus they get the basket from both the bunny and mom and dad and some get them from the grandparents. I am noticing it a lot more with my younger 2. I don't remember any of my oldest friends getting that sorts of things and if they did it never was noticed by my DD. Last year my middle DD did mention that she had friends get new bikes from the Easter bunny, I can't remember how we got around it, but we managed but I wonder how this year will go. I got their basets done or this year, and no bikes are in them.

I grew up with one basket, I hope to be able to go a few more years like that with my kids, but I suspect by the time I have grandkids it will be the new "Christmas".

 

[cjnix29]

We do a basket with a dvd, a stuffed bunny, and some chocolate bunnies. For us, it is just about the fun of the surprise. We talk about the real meaning of Easter, and sort of separate the two. My DS's birthday is always right around then, so we play it low key. Normally the stuffed bunny is pretty cheap, less than $10. But this year...had to go for the Easter Stitch. Just too darn cute!

 

[emh1129]

We spend about $10 per child. This includes a chocolate bunny (hollow), sidewalk chalk, balsam wood airplanes, bubbles, jump ropes, jellybeans, and some new plastic eggs to replace the few that cracked last year. Oh, and a small set of Little People for youngest dd ($5)- in place of the candy.

 

[brymolmom]

Hi - My kids get a few things of candy and a couple small 'eastery' things. Got most of it last year at 75% off - stuffed bunny, little bunny shaped bubble thing.

And I totally get why OP is asking the question and making the comment. IMO (and I'm sure it's due to this AND a multitude of other things not SOLELY on getting Easter gifts), this is just another example of why kids EXPECT so much these days. There was just an article in USAToday about kids getting spa treatments, designer jeans and so on...even before they're teenagers. And its not wrong to necessarily do nice things, but yet, it IS wrong to expect things and to feel 'entitled' to them. And don't tell me about your kid who is so grateful for all the things and isn't like that - I am certain it isn't all kids. But you must admit that society's younger people today do expect things (no way would I have thought my mom would buy me a $100 pair of shoes or jeans, even in dollars those days it would have been $50 - but many of today's kids do). Not sure if it'll help - but even though we can afford more, I intentionally keep Easter very minor on 'stuff' (big on Church and family time) and Christmas pretty small (at least comparitively, it is still more than I got - but keep it to about 4 - 6 gifts per kid with most of them very small) and for birthdays - only one gift usuallY (maybe two if they 'go' together) - and I hope that this will help them be truly grateful for what they do get and also to not expect hundreds of dollars spent on them as they get older.

 

[BowlersDoDisney]

My DS (almost 8) asked for a Bible... I think I was about his age when I got one of my own. So a Bible it is along with some treats... like a chocolate bunny, eggs and candy.

 

[Sorsha]

DISCLAIMER: This post is not meant to endorse or criticize any religion, holiday, or celebration thereof. It is for purely educational and/or entertainment purposes.


As an agnostic, we celebrate Easter much differently than most of you do.

it is a very low-key holiday for us. I try, as much as possible, to cover all the traditions and stories of Easter with my children. I want them to always be well-informed. We also learn about Passover and its traditions, and ancient customs and celebrations from which our traditions were derived - see below for some of the ancient customs and celebrations.

My kids get Easter baskets, usually just a few plastic eggs filled with candy, a marshmallow bunny or two, and then usually some outdoor toys... sidewalk chalk, bucket and shovel, sunglasses, etc. This year DD14 is getting a movie she has been begging for, DD8 is getting the next 4 Magic Treehouse books (she loves them) and DD5 is getting a new paint-with-water book and a new coloring book.


OSTARA (pronounced O-STAR-ah) is one of the Lesser Wiccan Sabbats, and is usually celebrated on the Vernal or Spring Equinox right around March 21 (although because of its origins, may instead be celebrated on the fixed date of March 25). Other names by which this Sabbat may be known are Oestara, Eostre's Day, Rite of Eostre, Alban Eilir, Festival of the Trees, and Lady Day. The Christian holiday of Easter is very near this same time, (notice the similarity in name?), and is determined as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.

The name for this Sabbat actually comes from that of the Teutonic lunar Goddess, Eostre. Her chief symbols were the bunny (for fertility and because the Ancient Ones who worshipped her often saw the image of a rabbit in the full moon), and the egg (representing the cosmic egg of creation). This is where the customs of "Easter Eggs" and the "Easter Bunny" originated.

Ostara is a time to celebrate the arrival of Spring, the renewal and rebirth of Nature herself, and the coming lushness of Summer. It is at this time when light and darkness are in balance, yet the light is growing stronger by the day. The forces of masculine and feminine energy, yin and yang, are also in balance at this time.

At this time we think of renewing ourselves. We renew our thoughts, our dreams, and our aspirations. We think of renewing our relationships. This is an excellent time of year to begin anything new or to completely revitalize something. This is also an excellent month for prosperity rituals or rituals that have anything to do with growth.

In the Pagan Wheel of the Year, this is the time when the great Mother Goddess, again a virgin at Candlemas, welcomes the young Sun God unto her and conceives a child of this divine union. The child will be born nine months later, at Yule, the Winter Solstice.

For Wiccans and Witches, Ostara is a fertility festival celebrating the birth of Spring and the reawakening of life from the Earth. The energies of Nature subtly shift from the sluggishness of Winter to the exuberant expansion of Spring. Eostre, the Saxon Goddess of fertility, and Ostara, the German Goddess of fertility are the aspects invoked at this Sabbat. Some Wiccan traditions worship the Green Goddess and the Lord of the Greenwood. The Goddess blankets the Earth with fertility, bursting forth from Her sleep, as the God stretches and grows to maturity. He walks the greening fields and delights in the abundance of nature.

Pagan customs such as the lighting of new fires at dawn for cure, renewed life, and protection of the crops still survive in the Southern Americas as well as in Europe. Witches celebrate Ostara in many ways on this sacred day, including lighting fires at sunrise, ringing bells, and decorating hard-boiled eggs which is an ancient Pagan custom associated with the Goddess of Fertility. In those ancient days, eggs were gathered and used for the creation of talismans and also ritually eaten. The gathering of different colored eggs from the nests of a variety of birds has given rise to two traditions still observed today - the Easter egg hunt, and coloring eggs in imitation of the various pastel colors of wild birds. It is also believed that humankind first got the idea of weaving baskets from watching birds weave nests. This is perhaps the origin of the association between colored Easter eggs and Easter baskets.

There is much symbolism in eggs themselves. The golden orb of its yolk represents the Sun God, its white shell is seen as the White Goddess, and the whole is a symbol of rebirth. The Goddess Eostre's patron animal was the hare. And although the references are not recalled, the symbolism of the hare and rabbit's associations with fertility are not forgotten. The Spring Equinox is a time of new beginnings, of action, of planting seeds for future grains, and of tending gardens. Spring is a time of the Earth's renewal, a rousing of nature after the cold sleep of winter. As such, it is an ideal time to clean your home to welcome the new season. "Spring cleaning" is much more than simply physical work. It may be seen as a concentrated effort to rid your home of the problems and negativity of the past months, and to prepare for the coming spring and summer.

 

[MarriedToAPrince]

I don't get it either. My daughter is only 18 months so I don't want her to have a basket full of candy so I went to the cheapy $1.00 aisle at target and got her some outside toys like a shovel, sidewalk chalk, a little watering can. Stuff like that. Simple, inexpensive and marks the beginning of spring. Easter isn't suppose to be another Xmas in my book. It is suppose to be simple. Oh and we are doing an Easter egg hunt in the backyard for her on Easter Day. She has her fancy dress and new shoes too.

 

[RMulieri]

Don't know when or why it happened but it did I don't do gifts for Easter. DD gets a small bunny, and maybe a coloring book or jump rope. That is pretty much it.My parents never gave us gifts either.

 

[dahrjo]

I used to do a little bit of candy and chocolate, with a DVD or some outdoor chalk, jumpropes, bubbles. Now the kids are a little older so they get 1 or 2 new t-shirts for the Spring/Summer season coming up.

 

[newddmommie]

We are only during 1 stuff animal for DD and a couple of books. My family (being christian) want to teach our DD what easter means (besides the bunny), just like Christmas would still be Christmas even without Santa. It is after all a religious holiday and hopefully she will grow up knowing that.

 

[sherabby]

My son is allergic to chocolate...dairy and peanut allergy. Jelly beans are cross contaminated and I really don't want him having the pure sugar type candy. He gets a few small toys or games in his basket.

 

[PatricenPete]

I have a $50 budget for Easter baskets, but that is for 3 kids. They always get a little basket with some candy, a chocolate bunny and a few $1-2 toys. Last year we were going to Bermuda in May so instead of baskets, they got sand pails and I filled those up with candy. The baskets seem to be such a waste of money, so I am trying to think of somethign to put the candy in this year that the kids will actually use.

 

[missfigment]

I'm new to the basket thing when it comes to my own children . DS is 19 months old....this year i got him a singing dancing chicken from hallmark (last year after easter and half off)...a bunny that clucks....and I might be picking up a new sesame street book. He's too young for candy right now.

As he gets older, we'll do the bunny, a few jelly bean eggs, and maybe something fun like a new book or bubbles...

When I was a teen my mom still liked doing baskets and she's put cute stuff in like a new lip gloss or cute stuff for my hair....chewing gum and mints instead of candy...

To each his own.

I love to shop after the holidays to get discount stuff for next year and save it...so thats what I'll be doing the day after easter

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We do something a little different that may help some of you save a little. My kids leave their baskets out at night (like stockings). That way we don't have lots of extra baskets we don't need and it saves a little $ too. They leave them out and when they wake they are hidden and have to go on a scavenger hunt to find them filled. I didn't do this as a kid, but thought of it early on with my oldest because I was tired of all the baskets. So we got some really pretty cloth Disney ones many years ago (after Easter on a sale) and have been leaving them out each year.

 

[DisneyMOM09]

For us, we try to keep Easter about the religious holiday as much as possible. I do make my girls a small easter basket with a little candy, Easter themed coloring book or activity book, crayons or markers, a small toy and maybe one or two NEED items ( like new bathing suits or a shorts set) something that they will need anyways, but we incorporate it with the gift to make it more exciting. We hunt eggs after church that are filled with various goodies, but that is about all the "gift" they get out of it.

 

[pdy11366]

I swear I remember getting a live chick dyed blue one year for Easter when I was a kid. We would get a hollow chocolate bunny, and do an easter egg hunt. Today, our son gets a new Easter outfit (which he also wears for hie yearly bday portrait) and an easter basket. Last year he got a tiny Thomas train from target and bubbles and such.

Our only "splurge" are chocolate covered fudge Easter eggs from Laura Little's- a candymaker in KC KS. We order one for each grandparent, and one which we three split. Hopefully, as he gets bigger there won't be pressure to go too crazy with the holiday.