We do an easter egg hunt but don't bother with the easter bunny, and we are athiests I suppose so no church.

But what's funny is i LOOOOOOOOOOOVE doing the santa stuff, but when it comes to the easter bunny, we treated it just like a mascot for a sports team basically. Anyway, you can still do a hunt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest no longer believes in the Easter Bunny so we won't have an egg hunt this year. We don't do church, so I'm wondering what else there is to make it special? What do other families do?

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ. You don't observe Easter and "don't do church."

Easter is a pagan holiday.

No, Easter is not a pagan holiday, never was. That is why in Orthodox Christianity Easter is always celebrated after Passover. Jesus was crucified on Passover, and resurrected according to New Testament three days after(symbolism of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit plays into this.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And that is one of the reasons my kids never believed in Easter Bunny. Hence no problem. We celebrate the rebirth of Chris.

Which Chris?

Obviously I meant Christ.

Well, it may as well have been Chris the Winter Hare, after all, we're talking real egg laying bunnies, here.

We did easter baskets and an easter egg hunt LONG after it was age appropriate to do so. It was really fun. Like PP, money in eggs after a certain age.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We never did Easter Bunny but did do a spring egg hunt. Small bag of treats at the end, and they liked the scavenger hunt. Allowed them to still tell friends they got an "Easter basket" and didn't feel so left out.

I'm really confused by this. How does one "do the Easter Bunny" that doesn't involve hunting for eggs, getting treats, or a basket? Seems like you do all the key parts of the Easter Bunny ritual, what do you think you're leaving out?

NP here. I'm guessing the part where you tell the kids the eggs and basket were left by the Easter Bunny?

OP, to answer your question, if you aren't religious ask yourself why you celebrate or acknowledge Easter at all...and then let that be your guide as to what to do. I'm not Christian, but my parents best friends were extremely religious Christians. We celebrated most Christian holidays with them, which meant joining them for a nice meal at which they cooked some traditional (to their culture) dishes after they returned from mass at their Church. DH grew up Christian in a family that isn't all that religious. He is now agnostic, and doesn't feel strongly about any Christian holidays. His family has a lot of secular Christian traditions they observe, but the only Easter thing they seem to do is send Easter baskets (from them) to their grandkids. Having grown up in a very religiously Christian part of the country, I always find it odd how many people celebrate Christmas and Easter as Christians without going to church, but everyone is free to do their own thing. In this case, just do whatever feels right related to Easter for you.

Easter Baskets and Easter dinner at home.

Might do church services this year. It's been a while...

Candy is rare in our house, so I collect a bunch of fun chocolates (like the carrot- and egg-shaped ones), along with sticker sets that come in large plastic eggs and small games. We sit together to ooh and ahh over them the night before and to count them out. Last year, there were 44 pieces to find. I have zero bedtime drama that night. Glory!!

They let me sleep in (it's my favorite part of the game) and then make themselves scarce and talk strategy once I'm up.

I hide everything after I've had a cup of coffee, then sit on the sofa and watch the games begin! They know how many things they're supposed to find. My favorite part is hearing one them find something meant for the other and yelling for them to cover over and collect it. It shows they're a team. I cheer. Sometimes we play hot and cold, when they've almost finished and have just a few more to find.

This year, I got two golden eggs and put five dollars in each. That'll be new! It's the only time of year they get jelly beans or lollipops. We don't consider chocolate "candy" in our house. Hey! It's good for the heart, right?!!

They play the games, trade and count the candies they get to eat (depending on the size, it can be as many as 10), and I enjoy a second cup of coffee. I prepare for the stomach aches and sugar rushes to come. The rest of the candy gets handed out as two pieces for each a day until it runs out.

They've never believed in the Easter bunny or Santa Claus or any of that stuff.

Anonymous wrote:We never did Easter Bunny but did do a spring egg hunt. Small bag of treats at the end, and they liked the scavenger hunt. Allowed them to still tell friends they got an "Easter basket" and didn't feel so left out.

I'm really confused by this. How does one "do the Easter Bunny" that doesn't involve hunting for eggs, getting treats, or a basket? Seems like you do all the key parts of the Easter Bunny ritual, what do you think you're leaving out?

Well, my daughter (not christian) believed the Jesus died and rose as the easter bunny.

We never did Easter Bunny but did do a spring egg hunt. Small bag of treats at the end, and they liked the scavenger hunt. Allowed them to still tell friends they got an "Easter basket" and didn't feel so left out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest no longer believes in the Easter Bunny so we won't have an egg hunt this year. We don't do church, so I'm wondering what else there is to make it special? What do other families do?

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ. You don't observe Easter and "don't do church."

Easter is a pagan holiday.

Nothing. We do literally nothing.

Anonymous wrote:I ask my teens every year if they believe the Easter bunny will bring them candy again, and they sincerely answer yes.

Love this!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At this point no one in our family has children young enough to still believe in the Easter Bunny and, heck, a third of the group isn't even Christian but we never let little things like the details get in the way of a good time so we celebrate Eastover in honor of our Catholic and Jewish contingents.

Everyone gets an Easter basket. Children's baskets have candy. Tween and teen baskets have a chocolate bunny and then kid specific stocking-stuffer types of things. All adults also get a basket with a bunny and person specific stocking-stuffer items.

We have 2 Easter egg hunts: 1 for the kids and 1 for the adults. The kids hunt for eggs. The winner of the kid hunt gets a trophy. The trophy is a banged-up messy 20-year-old thing with a hand-made sign affixed to it declaring the kid to be the winner of the XXX Family Easter Egg Hunt and it is highly, highly coveted. The winner gets to keep it for a year and then brings it back for the next Easter Egg Hunt to present it to the new winner.

The adult hunt is killer and you have to be 12 or over (confirmed or bar/bat mitzvahed). There is big money in the hunt and last year's winner made $201 because he not only got the highest value egg (one egg at $50) but he found the Lucky Double egg that doubles the value of your highest egg.

Sounds so awesome! I want to be in your family!

Thanks! My parents were great role models. We are a big, loud, boisterous group with strongly held opinions and convictions but growing up my dad always said that we will flex, flex, flex so that all are welcome and all are included. And wherever we were in the world as children we always had a huge crowd around our Easter table. We have the hunts because we are as competitive as all get out! That's what my mom always tells newcomers: 'They're as competitive as all get out so you best get out of the way!'. Love the 'they'!

Anonymous wrote:At this point no one in our family has children young enough to still believe in the Easter Bunny and, heck, a third of the group isn't even Christian but we never let little things like the details get in the way of a good time so we celebrate Eastover in honor of our Catholic and Jewish contingents.

Everyone gets an Easter basket. Children's baskets have candy. Tween and teen baskets have a chocolate bunny and then kid specific stocking-stuffer types of things. All adults also get a basket with a bunny and person specific stocking-stuffer items.

We have 2 Easter egg hunts: 1 for the kids and 1 for the adults. The kids hunt for eggs. The winner of the kid hunt gets a trophy. The trophy is a banged-up messy 20-year-old thing with a hand-made sign affixed to it declaring the kid to be the winner of the XXX Family Easter Egg Hunt and it is highly, highly coveted. The winner gets to keep it for a year and then brings it back for the next Easter Egg Hunt to present it to the new winner.

The adult hunt is killer and you have to be 12 or over (confirmed or bar/bat mitzvahed). There is big money in the hunt and last year's winner made $201 because he not only got the highest value egg (one egg at $50) but he found the Lucky Double egg that doubles the value of your highest egg.

Wow, your family celebration is far better than mine ever was! We got $ in a card from my grandparents when we outgrew the baskets or didn't need two Easter baskets, but your egg hunt for $ is so much more exciting. I've been to neighborhood egg hunts but the most they put in the eggs was $1 and the $ was mixed with the candy so there was no big potential for much $.


Glad I was not the only one who got small gifts. I feel weird now after writing my post.