Spring is a magical time of year, isn’t it? The Dallas Arboretum is in full bloom, the gloom of winter will have left Dallas, and oh yeah – Easter! And of course, we all know that Easter means C H O C O L A T E! Even though our family celebrates the spiritual aspect of Easter, our kiddos all still yearn for a visit from the Easter Bunny on Easter Sunday morning. We’ve had good Easters, sick Easters, and I-don’t-remember-because-I-was-in-a-pregnancy-fog-Easters. But from all of these Easters, I have picked up a few tricks of the trade and discovered a few things you don’t want to risk for a morning that gets so built up.
Here are the top 3 Easter pitfalls for your family to avoid this year:
1. The Pinterest Fail. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? (Pleeeease tell me we’ve all there!) You see this great idea on Pinterest – for instance: using shaving cream and food coloring to color Easter eggs. It’s fun! It’s tactile! It’s Pinterest creative! Then reality hits in, and you realize a dozen other things that were NOT pictured on that addictive little site. It’s messy! The paintbrushes aren’t working! Your kids’ fingers are now stained from food coloring! The whole house, as well as your children, now reek of cheap shaving cream! And of course: it doesn’t WORK!
There are no pictures of these eggs after we wiped off the shaving cream because after we wiped off the shaving cream the eggs were revealed to be….white. Forget you, Pinterest, this year we’re sticking with the old fashioned vinegar, water, and fancy little dissolving tablet routine.
2. Carnivorous Canines. Look at this face. It says, “I love you.” It says, “I’m your best friend.” It says, “One random year I’m going to decide to eat a full dozen hard-boiled Easter eggs!” Do not, under any circumstances, let the fact that your lovely pet has spent the last eight years ignoring eggs leave you to believe that he will do so this year. One Easter morning you may wake up and discover that every egg hidden on the floor has mysteriously disappeared. Put those Easter eggs high enough to avoid your furry friend and low enough for your youngest’s little arms.
3. Sugar Rush Photography. Let’s all play a game! Let’s have your kids wake up early, eat a bunch of sugar and chocolate, and then dress them up fancy and try to take some great Easter morning pictures!
Learn from my mistakes, ladies, I beg of you. After years spent taking snapshots on Easter morning with sugar-cranky kids, I decided a couple of years ago to make a change to our Easter photo plans. Now, we take a few pics of the kids Easter morning searching for eggs and getting into their baskets, and I pick a separate day (one when everyone is in a great mood) to head over to the Richardson Public Library and take some pictures in their wildflower fields. I dress the girls up in their Easter outfits and they get to soak up some sun, pick a few flowers, and frolic amongst the blooms.
Here is our blurry Easter morning photo from a few years ago:
It’s not horrible, but it’s not great, either. Now here are the pictures I took one week later when both the weather and the children were sunny:
With nine Easters under my belt, I hope I’ve learned all of my lessons, but like every aspect of motherhood, I doubt that’s true. So tell me, what are your favorite secrets to having a great Easter this year?
Another thought is how to prevent problem behavior leading up to Easter. Things like preparing your child in advance for crazy schedule changes, big activities, etc. Set clear expectations and be sure there is positive reinforcement built in to your holiday plan!