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?

[quote Mrsmch123]@00100001 but that doesn't mean that people who want to do it should be judged on it. It's the whole Santa saga all over again about how Santa isn't ment to bring any expensive items....[/quote]
No, bit you can surely understand why people get a bit cross about the increased expectations of small events such as Easter because other people are buying into the idea that it should be this bug thing of excess?

I’ve always had a special Easter dinner similar to Christmas dinner. Easter egg hunt and a few Easter eggs. Nothing more

@DomesticatedZombie

I tell you what is shit: having the smarties/chocolates in a plastic bag NOT INSIDE THE EGG.

It's miserable.

Some of the eggs had chocolate inside this year

I always had an Easter present from my parents growing up in the 90s- things like a Disney VHS. Aunties and Uncles usually gave us an egg and a couple of pounds. Big egg hunt with extended family.

We do similar for DC now- a gift, a few eggs, egg hunt.

Never underestimate the encroaching Americanisation of our culture and society. Speaking as an Irish person - look what they've done to St. Patrick's Day and Halloween....

BIL married an American girl and now lives in Florida. Easter when their daughters were about 2 and 4, we received photos of them in pretty pastel dresses with decorated Easter baskets containing eggs, posies and rabbits. Real rabbits. Went back saying lovely photos, nice pet rabbits, what are their names. Response - oh, they're not our rabbits, we just rented them for the day to take photos. Poor bunnies.....

I don’t get it either. My kids had one egg each from us then some from family, think they got 5 each which is a bit ridiculous but only smallish ones. No decorations or anything. We visited a farm yesterday and there was an Easter event thing.

@MargaritasOnMe

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 am late 30’s and definitely remember it being a thing then too. When we were younger we only ever got chocolate from the Easter bunny but gifts from parents and without fail a new Easter outfit from grandparents.

For us it was church, then usually a lamb roast with Easter eggs only allowed after lunch and a walk. Perhaps an Easter bonnet thing at school but that was about it.

I grew up in the north and Easter was always a big thing in my local area. Good Friday the kids used to get dressed up in new clothes and were allowed to the pubs and working mens clubs for family days. We always used to get Easter shoes too. The young adults went out drinking on GF and Easter Monday
Egg hunts were also common and big family roast dinners.
There weren’t presents etc but everyone got plenty of eggs.

Oh yes and staining/painting eggs too!

I was born in the 80s and into a regular churchgoing Christian family. Easter was every bit as big a deal to us as Christmas. We'd do all the lovely Easter stories at Sunday school and decorate eggs, make bonnets etc for home. We'd see family for a big roast dinner and us kids would all get a new outfit for church. I loved those outfits, they were always really treaty and special as opposed to the practical stuff that could be handed down from child to child. And we'd get an egg or too each as well.

@Bagelsandbrie

I have been wondering this. I grew up in the 80s and we thought we were having a good Easter if we got more than one egg and one had smarties inside it now there’s Easter trees / Easter crafts / egg hunts all kinds of shit. I thought my wow factor as a mum only had to peak at Christmas and now this. No thanks.

Easter trees were around 40+ years ago in Germany, a few twigs of willow, for preference, and foil wrapped eggs dangling, maybe a few wooded chichs, rabbits, eggs but that was it, cost almost nothing.

Unless you are a Christian its just commercialised or performative twaddle
The kids had chocolate and a hunt round the woods with their cousins that was as far as i could go

People selling tat on Facebook have a lot to answer for!

The highlight of Easter besides the chocolate eggs when I was young was mum putting red food colouring into the saucepan of water so our boiled eggs came out with pretty pink shells.

We kids were easily pleased back then (mid 1950s-mid 1960s)

@00100001 Respectfully, I think you're being a slightly bit dismissive.

"increased expectations of small events such as Easter"

To a lot of people growing up, Easter wasn't a small event. To some it is still a large part of their religion. And for others who don't find it religiously important anymore, it can still be culturally important.

There shouldn't be the pressure put on parents to buy tat and crap for their kids. But I've only really seen this on social media. I've never come across this in real life.

@Figgygal

Unless you are a Christian its just commercialised or performative twaddle The kids had chocolate and a hunt round the woods with their cousins that was as far as i could go

Even as a Christian, I find it a bit difficult to fathom. Spiritually it's the most significant time of the year for me (far outweighing Christmas), and I also love much about Spring which tbh is often what Easter traditions seem to relate to rather than the Easter story per se, but even still I can't easily find a way to translate the joy/profoundness of the resurrection to something as bloated and kid-centric as some of this Easter stuff.

My children get a 'normal' Easter egg each plus a handful of tiny ones scattered around the flat (next to toothbrushes etc) for them to find in their day to day life. We did a National Trust egg hunt this weekend too. Nothing more gift-like, and (beautiful as some friends' dyed egg photos are) I couldn't find the time or brainspace to fit in any special crafty stuff - it's hard enough for me to juggle normal weekend parenting with trying to religiously observe the events of Maundy Thursday onwards.

I was born in 1980 and we did Easter egg hunts in the garden and a roast lamb dinner and a big walk for as long as I can remember. Still do the same thing now with my DC: one “main” egg from us, another from grandparents, and an assortment of little ones to find that then get eaten by relatives over the course of the holidays…

No tat, no tree, no gifts. Lots of crafts though but that’s more out of “need activities to entertain children” and, like nursery, I will tie a craft to any event, however tenuous.

Easter gifts are not new. My mother (aged 85) used to get a new pair of gloves and a summer hat every Easter. When she was a child there was rationing, so there was much less emphasis on chocolate.

Easter to me means I can get some diy done.

@00100001 well no. It's not up to me to police how other feels about what I do/spend on my child.

YANBU. It seems the further most people get away from religious literacy, the more they embrace commercialised tat.

Our Easter remains hot cross buns, church, roast lamb, simnel cake, Easter egg hunt, a bouquet of daffodils for decoration, and usually a walk or playing in the garden. Long may it continue.

I suspect it’s actually like this for the majority - ignore the idiots with more money than sense on social media.

@SliceOfCakeCupOfTea

Does no one else roll decorated hard boiled eggs down a hill?

We did this yesterday!

My kids are early 20's, we did hunts for them but only one big egg, no Easter bunny nonsense. They did get a new dress each, and we had roast lamb with my parents