How do you celebrate Easter?  What does it mean to you?  Do you have some special routines that make Easter special?

When you have your first child, you suddenly realise that there are all sorts of times you will have to make decisions about how your children will

celebrate your traditions. 

Easter and Christmas are prime examples.  You and your partner will have to look at your own childhoods, your beliefs and your current lifestyle and decide what it is that you want your children to remember and what significance these events will have on them.  Your decisions on what to do will set your children's traditions up for life. 

Even for people from similar backgrounds this can be hard if you had different traditions - let alone if you are from different cultures.  You will need to decide how you want to express this event in your new family unit together.

Here is one example.  For us, as Christians, Easter is highly significant.  So we don't want to get carried away with easter eggs and the easter bunny.  Yet we know how much we enjoyed these things - and certainly my husband has fond memories of easter egg hunts as a kid.  So we try and find some way to get across the significance of what we feel easter is about in ways that our children will remember fondly that don't undermine the message.

I have already chatted to a friend who is not a Christian but who feels she doesn't want her children growing up highly commercialised and so is wondering what the options are for making Easter that bit different.  After chatting to her I thought I would write some of our ideas here.

Easter Eggs.  Yum!  I love my chocolate, but I am very aware of where my chocolate comes from.  Normally I buy Fair Trade Chocolate, but it is very hard to find Fair Trade Easter Eggs.  So, I could make some (you can buy moulds online or in craft shops - and you can even get egg moulds and cross moulds) or just give out chocolates rather than eggs.  Done up in a little gift bag or box they can look great.  This year I am doing that for some adults. 

However for the kids I will do what I have done in past years.  I try and buy eggs that have something else with them - a mug or a book - that they can keep after the chocolate is gone.  You could even make this up yourself with something that means something to you - eg a book about easter, a mug with a loving message or a character they love. 

You can also buy non-chocolate eggs - last year I bought soapstone ones, which they have sitting on their bookshelf.  You could mix it up and get them a series of small things rather than one big chocolate egg - maybe a medium egg, a book and a soft toy or decorative egg.

Another idea is to research what other cultures do.  Last year at preschool the children dyed real eggs red and laid them in a bread wreath.  They then looked at the country where this originates and what the meaning behind it is.  This gives it a whole new meaning for them and a new perspective.

Kids love making gifts for people - such as cards, chocolates and baskets.  Maybe they could organise an easter treat hunt for their friends with a craft activity and games afterwards.

This year the kids from our church have practised a little musical about Jesus that they are doing in church.  But, as a practice run they performed it at the local nursing home and handed out chocolate crosses afterwards.  The elderly community loved it.  Have a think about people in your community who need help or joy this easter and find ways of helping them. 

Another idea is to buy something from an aid catalogue - like Oxfam's or World Vision's - a way of giving something a bit different.  Buy someone a chicken or some seeds this easter.

There are so many ways of making easter special and about giving and sharing rather than making the chocolate manufacturers happy.  What are some of your ideas that we could all try?