With Easter fast approaching, parents and grandparents are beginning their preparations for the arrival of the Easter Bunny – a magical creature who can be quite diverse when it comes to giving gifts or simply chocolate eggs.
Across the world, Easter traditions have varied, from the popular Western traditions of Easter eggs hunts, Easter bonnet parades and Australia’s Easter bilbies, to the more religious and unique traditions observed in Europe and elsewhere, such as Spain’s baked pastries with whole eggs inside – shell and all! – and Easter trees or bouquets decorated with little wooden figurines and hollowed-out painted eggs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The new norm for Australia Easter traditions
So, what is the norm when it comes to ‘traditions’ for Australian families during Easter? We decided to do a survey of what were the most popular ways of celebrating Easter with family.
The consensus found that most adults received only chocolate eggs at Easter when they themselves were kids. But it’s these same adults who have changed it up and are not only giving their kids chocolate eggs, but also gifts, which can range from a new pair of PJ’s to small toys.
One tradition did seem to stick across the board, and that was the Easter egg hunt.
Gifts vs Chocolate Eggs
Jess Harris presenter of The OMG Test, which reviews local products, conducted the survey and was not surprised to find that most modern parents are now mixing up their traditional Easter celebrations to include both chocolate eggs and gifts.
Ms Harris, who is a mum-of-four, suggested that if parents were keen to change up Easter traditions and find unique gift ideas for Easter, The OMG Test can be a good resource, adding educational gifts like Bio Dough, a revolutionary, natural and long life dough, and Play like Coco, a fun and playful way for kids to learn and develop core skills, is a great way to gift kids something special without the sugar.
The OMG Test also has alternatives to the same chocolate eggs found in store, such as 100% Australian-made handcrafted confectionery from The Australian Sweet Co., handcrafted chocolates from Love Loco, or edible cookie doh beautifully packaged by the Cookie Doh Co.
Why the change in tradition?
For some parents, the tradition change is based more on rationality, then anything else.
It seems those same parents surveyed that are changing up the tradition are in agreeance. The overall practicality of small gifts and limited chocolate outweighs the sometimes overindulgent abundance of chocolate Easter eggs on Sunday morning.
Parents reported in the survey that they limit the amount of chocolate the kids received, and instead, give practical PJ’s or a small Easter-themed gift along with some small Easter eggs.
“We have a tradition every year where we wake up and have an easter egg hunt,” Ms Harris said, who was also part of the survey. “The kids get to keep the eggs that they find and eat them.
“Then we also give them a small gift to go with their eggs, something small that they’ve asked for recently or even the same thing for all four of the kids that they can enjoy together.”
Another parent surveyed, Dione Foley Rugendyke, said her mum used to gift a plush duck, chocolate eggs and a pair of PJs for Easter.
“When I had children I bought them a heap of eggs, and then they would also get them from their grandparents,” Ms Rugendyke said. “After a few years of me throwing away the Easter eggs they got 12 months later to make room for the new ones, I decided mum had it right. So, I stopped buying Easter eggs and now buy a small gift and some new winter PJs instead.”
It appears that whether it’s an Easter egg, a gift or an Easter egg hunt, modern parents have decided that the best Easter traditions are the ones that suit them and their family.
