When did people start going so OTT for Easter?!

[WhackingPhoenix]

I’ve seen absolutely WILD posts on social media (and MN!) this year. Hundreds of eggs, lavish lunches and dinners, extravagant gifts and people generally spending ridiculous sums of money on Easter tat. Has this always been a thing? I had a chocolate egg as a kid and maybe a roast. That was it, surely that is the norm?

@Aimee1987

I have no idea. Didnt even think Easter lunch was a thing but saw a thread where a woman went mad at her husband for asking family round for the day so she had to organise a big sit down Easter dinner and Easter egg hunt when her guests said they were happy to just grab pizza.

Easter lunch has definitely always been a thing. We had turkey and ham when I was growing up.

I remember Easter being very craft-focused - my school had an egg decorating contest and a local social club had an Easter bonnet parade and I took both extremely seriously. I usually came out trumps in the egg decorating (my masterpiece was a whole tennis scene with real eggs as the players and mini eggs as spectators), but the bonnet competition was, I felt, rigged. A lot of those bonnets had a professionally crafted look and were clearly not made by the pre-teen wearer. Some of the fanciest actually came back year after year with minor adjustments (which the elderly judges did not notice, but I certainly did. Still bitter).

I think child-me would regard the shelves of coloured feathers, polystyrene eggs, fake grass, pom-pom bunnies and other Easter specific craft supplies in The Works etc as cheating, as the only Easter specific craft supplies I remember are the little fluffy chicks. Then again, maybe every other child had access to heaps of Easter tat and that was why I was always a runner up in the bonnet parade.

It’s a Sunday so usually was a roast dinner traditionally.

Most of the big celebrators don’t even believe in God / Jesus. It’s pretty odd and feels disingenuous when you don’t do the religious thing. What is the point?

I remember the days when we used to have egg decorating competitions at school. A boiled egg crafted into a spider or Mr Tickle, and the treacherous journey to school trying not to drop it.

That was pretty fun

@hamster I guess lots of people are culturally Christian even if they don’t go to church, they watch nativity’s plays at Christmas and eat hot cross buns on Good Friday.

I'm mid 30s. I definitely remember kids showing off about how many eggs they got, Easter presents (I definitely remember this as when I went home I grilled my mother over how the Easter bunny decides who gets an egg and who gets an egg AND a gift- I thought it was very unfair) and Easter egg hunts, big lunches etc. It's not new. I guess social media is so if you didn't know about it before, you do now!

I think lots of things have become more of a bigger celebration than they were years ago - valentines, mothers day, Easter, Halloween advent etc because there are more decorations and accessories available to buy

Most of the big celebrators don’t even believe in God / Jesus. It’s pretty odd and feels disingenuous when you don’t do the religious thing. What is the point?

Christmas and Easter are also pagan festivals, aren't they? So there have always been some form of non religious celebration or ritual.

I don't think you have to be a Christian to participate in a pagan festival that Christians nicked in order to try to wipe out paganism.

Eostre. The Spring festival I believe.

Amazingly coincidental how Jesus was born around one of the most important pagan festivals and died and was resurrected on another. It's almost ... deliberate

and Christians now try to complain that you shouldn't celebrate either if you don't believe in God. 🤣

I'm 32 and grew up Catholic. We always did a big Easter egg hunt (eggs at each clue) which led to presents (usually a soft toy and a video or an action figure and some stickers or similar).

After that we'd go to church then off to the nearby hill to roll our eggs down and then the grandparents came round and it was just like Christmas day, only with chocolate instead of presents. Sometimes would get an egg and some clothes from grandparents but nothing very expensive.

Easter has always been a big deal and I do the same thing now for DS. He does get slightly bigger presents as his bday is December and I don't like getting him outdoor toys (slides, swings, rollerskates etc) in December when he won't really be able to use them, so I get them for Easter instead.

Don't feel the need to post about it on SM though. I do it for him, no one else.

I don't think it's any different - I am mid 30s and there was definitely tat to buy and kids with ludicrous numbers of eggs when I was a kid.

I think we have lost some traditions - egg and bonnet decorating contests and egg hunts have become more popular. As a parent I would far rather do an egg hunt! More fun and I don't end up with a bonnet no one is ever going to wear again afterwards.

We used to get a little pack of jelly sweet eggs. Followed by church, home to roast lamb, then (weather depending) used to go kite flying or a long walk, followed by hot cross buns and a chocolate egg!
Did the same yesterday Dc love the kite flying!

We had an Easter egg hunt and I cooked a roast dinner 🤷‍♀️ I didn’t bother to take any photos as we were all in pjs / undressed / half asleep as the kids woke up earlier than normal.

Easter is the most important celebration for me (more so than Christmas) and I love the run up to it. I like Lent too.
This was the first year for a couple that we could go to church.
My dc had eggs from family and one from us, which I hid with clues. We had Sunday dinner. My mum used to get catkin in for Easter and put it in a vase. Now it's a silly amount for one stem
I loved Easter yesterday, it really was special

Said the same thing to DH this morning.

I do miss the smarties being inside the egg though, with the brown mug

Hot cross buns on Friday. Yesterday we had one Easter egg each, and a big roast dinner. That's it. Although when dc were little we would do the egg hunt in the garden as well.

I agree it's pathetic.

@whataloadabullocks love the kite flying activity. Your Easter sounds lovely.

I like it when I see posts of people with Easter themed decorations on the table and place settings for extended family or friends to visit for a giant roast.

Or mainly this year BBQs with Easter egg hunts and lots of Easter cakes.

The rest always seems a little OTT for me but I do like that people get together and socialise - especially after the past 2 years.

Our Easter consisted of me chucking an Easter egg at DS (17) at 7am before we left for another day of his Easter swim meet!!!

@IncompleteSenten I don't think Christians believe that Jesus was born in December. I read it was most likely May as shepherd's would not have been out that time of year overnight 🤷‍♀️
It's like Christmas though, there for everyone to enjoy in their own way

I hosted an Easter egg hunt and we did lots of crafts, baking and had a lovely Easter meal but in terms of presents my DC received some book, an Easter bath bomb and 1 chocolate egg.

I did put out some Easter decorations but they weren’t expensive and my DC really enjoyed them.

I remember being about 6/7 one of my friends got a doll for easter AND eggs.
I remember going home and asking dm and her getting very cross with me and telling me you got chocolate at easter and if I was really lucky I got an egg with a cup.
Since it was only the one friend who had a present I just shrugged it off. But just seems an excuse to sell more crap now a days.

Easter was always a big thing when I was growing up. I'm in my mid-40s now and had big roast (always lamb), eggs from parents, grandparents and aunties/uncles. We did Easter cards, decorations and presents too. If we were at home in Scotland then we would decorate boiled eggs and roll them down a hill.

So not at all modern to me

Relatives in Austria cook and decorate real eggs and bake lots of biscuits etc . It’s a big celebration if you’re Christian or Catholic as it’s the end of Lent and 40 days of fasting/giving something up. As a chil I remember cards from Irish family.