To think you don't get presents for Easter?

[NurseRoscoe]

I don't mean a little book, DVD, outfit or soft toy, for a baby too young for chocolate, a child who can't have chocolate for whatever reason or in addition to a small egg if parents don't want their child having too much chocolate.

I have just seen an increasing number of people buying their children £50+ worth of toys, trampolines, iPads, concert tickets etc, some even asking 'is this enough from the Easter bunny?!' I'm not even that old and I thought the Easter bunny brought Easter eggs, not that he had an inferiority complex from Santa Claus?

Have things really changed this much?

Neither DH or I received presents at Easter (DB and I used to get a new outfit), but then neither of us have a birthday six days before Christmas as our DS does.

We made a decision that we would give him a small present at Easter instead of an Egg, and once we had DD obviously we had to do the same for her. Now they're older (11 and 8 this year) they generally get a few books from us, the rest of the family give them eggs.

This year DD is getting tickets to the ballet for Easter because I thought she'd enjoy it and it's fairer to hold off and give the tickets to her as an Easter present rather than just because. DS will get a voucher for an activity to even things up, and they'll still get one book each.

Because our present budget has to cover three events rather than just two (birthday and Christmas) it generally means they each get a little less at either of those to allow for a present at Easter. Last year we did go a little overboard on books for DD, but most years we're more restrained.

I think giving a book and a small egg is becoming more popular with grandparents as I sell quite a few books to GPs this term for that purpose. :)

The tradition of new clothes in Spring is found in many cultures. It's often said to bring good luck.
In Europe, it dates back to pagan times (Easter was originally a German spring festival, and goddess) and also to early Christian times, when people wore their best to celebrate Easter (most important festival) and the end of fasting in Lent.

I am boggling at the idea that a £10 toy is a "token" present, and that a £30 present is a "small gift".

I mean, that's fine if you can afford it, just not what I would consider either "token" or "small"!

I do Easter presents because on of my boys has a January birthday and it feels like for his Christmas and birthday is all over quickly and nothing for the rest of the year. Also because my other son doesn't eat chocolate/sweets so an Easter egg isn't an option.

They have little plastic buckets half filled with fake straw and I put a couple of presents in.

This year my older son will be having a Peppa Pig book, a vTech Toot Toot hippo and a Schleich whale. My little one will be having an In The Night Garden book, a noisy little fire engine and a small Smarties egg. So nothing hugely extravagant.

From their Grandparents they get clothes and books. They also get some chocolate from other family members and friends.

We don't do cards for Easter, let alone presents. Just chocolate! It's just another money spinner for the card industry.

I spent Easter in Poland once and the young people were all carrying beautifully presented baskets with what looked like foodstuff in them. I thought it was lovely and do it for my children. Just a few treats like chocolate, bath stuff, hair bobbles etc.

I think it depends. If my child's birthday was in December or early January, I might decide to give a bigger present at Easter, or a more summery present such as a new bike, which might not get used that much in the winter.

My son's birthday is late November. He has had bigger presents some Easters when it's been more seasonal, and last year I used the last day of SATS as an "excuse" to give him a present so he didn't have to wait until November for it.

But generally we do chocolate eggs. The more the better, they don't go off and don't have to be eaten in one go.

I spend about £5-8 on my dc at Easter.
Ds1 doesn't eat chocolate (!) and ds2 eats far too much :)
So they get a DVD or small gift.
We do an egg hunt which they both enjoy.

DP's kids threw a shit fit last Easter as it was the first one where daddy didn't give them £50....each!

So he usually gave them money HE set this precedent HE got them used to receiving money and suddenly HE stopped.
Your wondering why they think - whats going on ?

Three DCs, 17, 13 & 3. Never bought more than a chocolate egg for Easter.

I don't know anyone who buys actual presents .

Our DS gets one small toy from us and he and his cousins get something tiny at the end of an Easter egg hunt their grandparents organise, but that's it. Godson gets a book because he can't eat chocolate.

We don't, but I do remember being surprised when I was young and read the Enid Blyton Naughtiest Girl books, there was chat in one of those about someone who got a bike for Easter. So presumably it is not totally new (although not saying that EB was representative of average life even in the 40s/50s!).

I don't even get them eggs My mum usually sends them a fiver each to get a book or something, as eggs just sit around for weeks and don't get eaten.

The eggs ARE the presents!

Egg hunts are not restricted to the children though. After the kids have had their hunt, they have the chance to thwart the adults. Someone in the family devised a game for the adults, which was really popular last year: the adults are blindfolded (except the "Easter Bunny" who oversees the game), more eggs are scattered on the big lawn, and the adults crawl and hunt for them. The children try to move the eggs about so the adults don't find them - but they have to be sneaky and silent. If an adult touches one of the kids, the kid is out. (The kids do not have their baskets at this stage!) Kids who are out then tell the adults if they are "warm" or "cold".

Wow I've heard it all now. DS gets an egg. He might get a couple from other members of the family. My Dsis tends to buy him an Easter craft kit (small) as she knows he'll get an egg from us. I would never buy a present... even a small one. It's chocolate or bust.

Last year, on Easter Saturday, DS said, 'I wonder if the Easter Bunny will come?' The WHAT? Cue horrified looks between me and DH. We have never mentioned the Bunny in our house. DS is 6. He gets an egg from us and that's all he had ever had for the previous 5 years. Anyway, I asked him what he meant and he said, 'You know... he leaves eggs in the garden'. On Easter Sunday in the peeing rain DH and I managed to cobble together enough small wrapped eggs and Malteasters from our secret stash the cupboard to lay a small hunt. DS was absolutely delighted.

Later that afternoon we all settled down to watch some Easter Bunny shit film (I forget the title) where the bunny goes round on a sleigh (I ask you) delivering eggs. I said to DS, 'Have you seen this before?'. 'Yes, we watched it at after-school club'. AHA!

AnnieGan - There will have been foodstuffs in the baskets.
It's traditional in Poland at Easter to have boiled eggs, meat, bread, salt and an Easter lamb - made out of butter - all in a decorated basket. They take it to church on Easter Saturday to be blessed before eating the contents.

My own dc used to get too many eggs from family members so would get a new football or book from me along with new clothes and shoes. Now they're all grown up I just get them an egg :)

I'm on the fence. I've got dd (3.5) tickets to see 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea' at the theatre. I would have bought them anyway as a nice treat during the Easter holidays. However, she will get chocolate eggs from both sets of grandparents, great grandma, both aunties, both great aunties, both uncle's too. Everyone ignored me when I asked them not to buy any eggs when she was 10 months old (and got angry when I didn't feed her any of the chocolate). In fact they have ignored me ever since! I don't want to just add to the ridiculous pile of chocolate so I'm going to give her the theatre tickets and a little stuffed Tiger instead. My mum always gave us £10 for Easter when we were kids, we could choose to spend it on eggs or on something we wanted. Easter is a holiday, we will have a big turkey dinner with all of the trimmings, do Easter activities etc. I'm tempted to say piles of presents is ridiculous, but on the other hand, so is piles of chocolate!

Turkey at Easter? That's many shades of wrong.

It's a load of shit really isn't it? . Mine get an egg and a small chocolate bunny each. We do some Easter themed baking- simnel cake, hot cross buns, rice crispie buns with mini eggs etc but I don't get them gifts. Their birthdays are either side of Easter so it'd be utterly bonkers, especially three months after Christmas.

We usually do a gift bag of stuff, new pjs (any excuse for new pjs here) books, summer t shirts, hair stuff, body washes, useful stuff I would buy anyway but maybe a little bit more than I would spend, a big egg each and then chocolate - I get lured in by camper vans full of maltesers bunnies and similar

We do a little present as dd eats enough chocolate and Ds can't/won't eat sweets or choccy. Dd gets eggs from relatives, Ds gets money and we pool it to get him a new game or toy.

We've always done Easter presents as it's how DH and I grew up. We also do an Easter tree, have lots of spring flowers in the house and garden and do Easter egg hunts as well as rolling eggs. We have a huge Easter dinner and tend to spend the day with family. It's not as big as Christmas but similar, on a smaller scale.

I never quite forgave my mum for ordering a big whole-house tidy up on Easter Sunday, with only a small egg to show for it at the end (and this was following the very long Easter Vigil church service the evening before).

I also still rankle at the way weekend free time was systematically eroded as I got older: first with church, which aged 9 I saw as nothing more than an unforgivable waste of valuable weekend time, especially as after the service my parents would spend longer and longer chatting with other adults over coffee.

So as adults we now like to have lots of fun over Easter.

It's really really interesting reading about everyone's traditions so thank you for replying!

I wasn't brought up to be overly religious however my 3 year old son IS showing an interest in the reasons behind celebrations (probably due to preschool) and I plan to encourage this as I want him to make up his own mind, I will take him to church if he wants to go etc.

Not going to lie, I am pretty glad that the majority don't go all out for Easter and it generally seems to be more american though!

My two get ridiculous amounts of eggs from family and friends at easter, so generally I buy them something to share and play with. Admittedly a couple of years ago it was a trampoline, but I was buying it anyway as they needed a new one, so made it into their gift. This year I've stashed away a Playmobil police station (£28 on Amazon instead of £60) so they'll share that. I don't go mad, though, and tend to only spend a small amount on their gift. Big gifts are for birthdays and christmas in our house.