The Easter Bunny doesn’t come to our house.
Yep, you read it correctly. (Santa doesn’t either.)
There are a few reasons why my husband and I have chosen not to “do” the Easter Bunny, The Easter Bunny, Santa, Tooth Fairy, etc. are all characters that families tell their children to believe in. They can’t see these characters, the kids learn about them from what their parent’s tell them and one day they find out that it was all a myth.
And then there is God; the kids can’t see Him, they learn about Him primarily from their parents and a naive mind could then think that God is mythical as well. I don’t want my children to grow up wondering if we are going to pull the “God” rug out from under them like we did the Easter Bunny. I think there is great potential for confusion.
The truth about God is the most important thing I will teach my children and I want to avoid things which could confuse them.
We have also chosen not to do the Easter Bunny because we don’t want to muddy the waters when it comes to why we celebrate events and doctrines crucial to our faith in Christ. I want our kids to know why we celebrate Easter. If I am going to say that Easter is all about Jesus, then I need to make Easter all about Jesus and not all about candy, bunnies and (dare I say it?) time with family.
I am not saying that these things (bunnies, candy, family time) and pointing our kids to Jesus are mutually exclusive. If traditions such as an Easter basket or an Easter egg hunt can be used as a fun, memory building way to point my children to Jesus and not distract them from Him, then I are all for it (and I am).
Personally, I’ve found no way to use the Easter Bunny to point to the real meaning of Easter and so Chris and I have chosen not to have him come to our house.
Here are a few ways we have used some of the other common traditions of Easter to teach our kids about the Resurrection of Christ.
Easter Baskets
Last year was the first year we did Easter baskets, and most everything in their Easter basket had a significant reason for being there.
I made some tags for their baskets out of a cute fabric I found at Walmart which has names of Jesus and verses on them. They coordinated with the gingham liner I made to spruce up their thrift-shop baskets I found.
Walmart actually had a few items that had “He is Risen” on it. There was even a Hershey’s chocolate cross.Â
They each got a lamb, and we talked much about how Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!
For this year, I had an idea sparked by the book My Easter Basket: And the True Story of Easter. (I scored at the library this month!)
The book is a cute poem which uses different colors in the Easter Basket to tell the story of Easter. It includes Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, and of course the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Christ; each represented by a different colored item in the basket. Love this!
I want to use this as a basis for the kids’ baskets this year. I plan to have something symbolic for each color in the baskets. And, instead of giving them the baskets on Easter morning, I thought it would be cool to use the basket the week leading up to Easter to tell the story of Christ’s journey to the cross! I’ll save the details of my plan for another post, so stay tuned!Â
Resurrection Eggs
Last year we made our own version of Family Life’s Resurrection Eggs
They did the typical hunt for eggs, then we all went inside and opened the eggs (which were numbered) to see what was inside. We read the scriptures that went with each symbol to tell the story of Easter.Â
- A fun food craft @Impress Your Kids (Lots of other great ideas there, so be sure to check out the side bar.)
- Lots of great Easter book suggestions @ Noel Piper’s Blog
- Treasuring God in Our Traditions
*Disclosure* I am an amazon.com affiliate. If you click on and buy from these links I receive a very small percentage of your purchase.
Linked up with (in)courage Easter Stories
and Impress Your Kids Meaningful Easter.
Amen! Christ-centric… Thank you, Katie.
Thank you for reading and commenting! Honored.
Aww, your little ones are so cute!! Thank you for the great ideas. I am always torn at the holidays because I want to celebrate with the traditions that I had as a kid. But I don't want to erase Christ from the celebration. These are a great mic.
We also have several Christian books that explain the biblical origins of Easter that I like to read with the kids for a few weeks leading up to Easter.
Thanks, Bonnie. Would love to know which books, if you care to share!
Beautiful, you are doing lasting things.
Cha Cha
AMEN! I totally agree with your thoughts on those mythical characters and I have done the same thing in our home. No Santa, No Easter Bunny, No Tooth Fairy etc. At the end of the day . . . a lie is a lie if it's not truth. I remember being DEVASTATED when my parents told me that Santa was not real. And probably most of my life I wondered, as you said, when the "God" rug was going to be pulled from underneath me. I had to find my own way . . . apart from my family . . . because I felt I'd been led astray. I decided that I would never want to do that to my two boys. And I've stood firm on it. Now my two boys, now 10 and 12 see why. They, too, agree that if I had raised them with those beliefs, they would have thought I was a liar. It is pretty black and white. I'm so glad to find another mother standing firm in her faith, regardless of what the world thinks!!!!
Blessings,
Cherie
Thanks for your comment Cherie.
It is a bit of an easier decision for me, as I have no memories of actually believing in any of them. I have good memories of our family holiday, but I guess I was just too smart for my own good at that age. Ha!
All that to say, I know that for many this is a difficult decision, as they have so many magical, treasured memories of Christmas, Easter, etc because of these "myths". I do think, regardless of our childhood, as parents we need to think a bit critically about whether or not to invite them in our traditions or not. I don't think parents are actually setting out to "lie" to their kids, it is just what they know to do and it is all around us so they may think "what is the harm"?
I grew up not believing in Santa or the Easter bunny and have not let my children believe in them either. My parents felt the same way that they were lying to us and they didn't want us growing up thinking God was a lie too. My children don't even seem to miss them! They know the true reason we celebrate such glorious holidays and that is all that matters to me!__I love the idea of all the gifts in the Easter basket reflecting Christ. My kids baskets are usually filled with a little candy and one small gift…but that may have to change and I might be trying to make everything Christ centered such as you. We also do the Resurrection Eggs…such as you! __I did want to ask, where did you get those adorable Christ is Risen pins? Are those made out of the fabric you bought from Walmart? I love them and would like some for us!__Great post…thanks for sharing!
Thanks!
I made the pins. (I had an embroidery business.) I made up the design, and stitched it out! I love them. Made them one year for Christmas also! They love getting to wear them…now I need to go figure out where I stashed them last year!
I have a post coming with a plan for the baskets, so stay tuned!
Very cool ideas! Thanks for sharing the post with me!
We do very similar things around our house. I have a post coming up about the food things we make for Easter – Resurrection cookies and Resurrection biscuits! Right now we are planting seeds (of kindness) that we will hopefully be able to transplant and see bloom this summer.
I love the baskets! 🙂
I love your creativity and the fact that it's all so Gospel-centered!
You left a kind comment on my Scripure and a Snapshot post so I clicked over here to say thank you! So nice to meet another pastor's wife! I love your Easter basket ideas.
Elizabeth http://www.justfollowingjesus.com
What a resource you've put together! Thanks!
No bunny or santa here either. We get a lot of flack for it too, like we are hurting our kids. *gasp* No tooth fairy?? lol
Thank you for this post. I have been looking for ways to help my young children understand that Easter is all about Jesus not the stuff that is marketed. I appreciate the great ideas. My children are still very young and I want to make these important days stand out to them for the right reasons. Unfortunately, I do not remember much emphasis on Christ during the holidays growing up and do not want to pass that on.
You are welcome, Shirley! Stay tuned, as I am working on a detailed plan to use the Easter Baskets alongside scripture readings for Easter week!
Oh my goodness! Your children are adorable!
Thanks so much for linking up with us over at (in)courage. It's wonderful to have you join us!
Thank you for such an encouraging post. I found you over on (in)courage. Looking forward to visiting you more often. Blessings!
I found you through the incourage website. You have a beautiful blog. Thanks for sharing your heart.
Stumbled across your post from Homeschool Village and impress your kids. I have to say I loved your post on Easter. As parents to our 3 young kids, my husband and I have felt burdened about the whole santa claus and easter bunny ideas. I grew up with it, my husband didn't. We don't like to do santa or easter bunny, but trying to explain that to grandparents is hard. I love the first paragraph of your post b/c it explains it perfectly! Thank you so much!! (Your Easter ideas are cute, too!)
Thanks for visiting, Mary!
Appreciate your encouraging words. Hope you and your family have a great, Christ-centered Easter!
Hi. I found your blog via Impress your kids and when I read that first paragraph I let out a loud, joyful AMEN!! We do not 'do' any of those either, and I was oh, SO encouraged to read your post, as it is not an easy way to walk. That is: it is not easy because of people and family's opinions and the barrage of bunnies and eggs and santas in shops. BUT, God has shown me how to just be very matter-of-fact about it with my children, and so it really is no issue for them (They are also still very young, but nontheless, it is not something that really interests them at this stage) I love your ideas. We will also be delivering simple baskets ons Sunday to unbelieving neighbours. A local company has produced a little chocolate lamb that comes packaged in a sweet gift box with a piece of Scripture, and those will make up our gifts. Love to you and yours from Cape Town, South Africa
I really wrestled with this myself. St. Nicholas' origins are Christian and we talk about who he was and what he did, so I don't have a problem with that but the Easter bunny really bothers me especially considering my pagan roots. I have decided to go ahead and tell her that there is no bunny. As it is, I know that she thinks of Jesus when she thinks of Easter but this could change. Yesterday, of her own volition, she drew a bunch of pictures to give to our (non-Christian!) neighbours for Easter. They were pictures of the last supper, the crucifixion etc. I want it to stay that way.
Excellent presentation! I’m happy that you’ve been successful in verbalizing the real importance of Resurrection Sunday (we don’t use the description of “Easter” any more). I have 8 grandchildren and two daughters. For the past 15 years they have provided a “Sin & Blessing Hunt” for the children. The “blessings” are candy, not eggs, and the “sin” is bread with yeast. The children are given baskets for the blessings and paper bags for the sin. They’re told about the Israelites having to sweep out yeast from their homes before passover. After the hunt the children put their paper bags of “sin” into the barbeque grill and we have a small celebratory burning. Your children will appreciate the traditions you make for them.
What a fun idea! Love the symbolism, and how it teaches the kids about Passover. Thanks for sharing.
I love the basket idea 🙂 We DO have the Easter bunny, santa (actually we call him St Nicholas) and the tooth fairy in our house – but we still do ressurection eggs and basket stuffers like books of bible stories etc. I have never done one with the poem and colors of Easter though, love it! Thanks for the inspiration.
I grew up in a very religious family, and we still had the bunny/santa/etc. I can remember being about 4th grade when I “found out” about santa – but I don’t remember ever feeling lied to or having doubts about my faith as a result. Perhaps I am in the minority! I am optimistic that I will be able to handle that future discussion with my boys as well as my parents did with me 🙂
Hi Kate! Yes, there are many God-honoring families out there who do Santa, Easter Bunny, etc. And, I know of many now-adults who were not crushed by the “revealing”. I think God just leads each family to different things. Twins is absolutely a grey area.
I think the key is learning to use whatever culture our kids are in, and point them to Christ—which it sounds like you are doing!
Thank you for sharing!
We chose to allow Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, but told my son that they were real fantasies. We emphasized to him the true meaning of the holidaysWhen he was about six or seven he told me that he had “figured it out.” I had told him that they were real fantasies and fantasy means something is not real, therefore, they are all not real. He figured that we were Santa (but who wrote the letter and how did the footprints get on the hearth), the Easter Bunny (and we must put the basket in his room), and the Tooth Fairy (but what did we do with the teeth we took). He then went on to thin aloud, “Let’s see, what else did you say was a real fantasy? Jesus, “no, you didn’t say He was a fantasy, so He really is real. God, “no, He is real too. Only those three are fantasies.” I explained that I had told him they were fantasies so he would know the difference between them and God.
Kids are way smarter then we think.. they get it you clearly don’t.
I really like your easter ideas for the kids! I may have to incorporate these next Easter. I have a questions where did you get the fabric ornaments that are having on the baskets and the kids clothing?
Thanks, Laura!
I made the tags on the baskets from some fabric I found at Walmart a few years back.
The pins I made as well, out of felt. I used to have an embroidery business.
Happy Easter!
best post. I has been collection in my blog.
Love your ideas! While the Easter Bunny does come to our house, we make sure that our kids know the true meaning of Easter… For example they always get fun, scented body wash and perfume from Bath and Body Works in their baskets to remind them that Christ died on the cross and his shed blood has washed away our sins and that our lives are to be as a sweet smell to Him. They think of that everytime they take a shower and (I hope) the scents will continue to spark that memory as smells are very closely related to memories. We also plant an easter garden every year and the kids look forward to our symbolic “Jesus” being gone on easter morning almost more than aything else because they wait for weeks while the grass is growing and we make such a big deal of it by cheering and praying that the tomb is empty! Thank you for your ideas. We will definitely use them as well this Easter!
I came here from Pinterest but when I clicked the pin a warning came up that the pin would redirect me and it may link to spam or inappropriate content. I recently changed my own domain name so blogger had to redirect my pins so this same thing was happening on all my pins. I contacted pinterest and they fixed it for me. Just thought i’d let you know. Thanks for the easter basket ideas! I featured this in a pinterest roundup on my blog this week!
Thanks, Emily!
I had noticed that, but didn’t think there was anything I could do about it. 🙂 Appreciate the tip!
It’s wonderful to other anti- Santa/ bunny parents!!! I get a lot of heat from my family and husbands family but I believe very strongly that these holidays should be celebrated in honor of God! I give my family the same explain action if not lying to my kids so that when their older they don’t think I’m lying about God! That you for getting this out there and maybe other parents will make the same decision to raise their kids to love and honor The Lord!!!