Egg-cellent Easter Ideas, Auntie!
Written By Savvy Auntie Staff Writers
By Lauren Rogoff
Easter is this weekend, and it just may be your favorite holiday to spend with your niece or nephew, Auntie. After all, you both get to eat lots of candy, engage in fun craft projects, and welcome springtime surrounded by family. If you’re looking for some extra-special ideas to make this Easter your most exciting ever, look no further.
Decorate Easter Eggs
Decorating Easter eggs is one of the most delightful activities you can participate in with your niece or nephew. There are tons of ways to decorate eggs, so make this year’s eggs especially memorable with some beautiful decorations that are easy for even younger nieces and nephews to make. One of our favorites is mosaic eggs: break up and wash pieces of eggshells and then, on either a white or dyed egg, glue on these pieces (ideally dyed pieces) to make a mosaic look – it’s easy, but looks intricate and beautiful. Another favorite is melted Crayon eggs. To accomplish this, use just-boiled eggs (this is Auntie’s job!) so that the eggs are still warm. Then, when you draw on the eggs with Crayons, or sprinkle grated Crayons on the warm eggs, the wax in the Crayon melts, forming pretty, colorful patterns. You can also make an interesting variation on the traditional dyed egg by applying decals on the egg before dyeing (make sure to apply the sticker well, so the edges are stuck down), so that the decal areas are left white while the rest of the egg gets dyed!
Easter-themed Crafts
There are lots of other craft projects besides egg-decorating that will get your nieces and nephews in the Easter mood, and are lots of fun to make together. You can make bunny ears for young nieces and nephews to wear on Easter (all you need is a headband, and either paper or some furry fabric and wire, and the appropriate glue). You can have them decorate baskets to use for their egg hunts – there are even lots of ideas online for how to have them make their own baskets, depending on the age level of your niece or nephew (you’re there to help, of course) – one basket idea is here. Also, see some of our great Easter basket ideas for creating Easter baskets as gifts here.
Easter Egg Hunt
Everyone loves a scavenger hunt, especially when nieces or nephews are searching for delicious treats. Fill plastic Easter eggs with all sorts of fun things, such as temporary tattoos, chocolates, colorful jelly beans, small chicks, M&Ms, and whatever else is festive and will fit inside. You can also choose to fill the eggs with healthy snacks, such as sunflower seeds, trail mix, or granola, etc. Come up with some clever clues that will have your nieces and nephews giggling and running around all over (using up some of that extra energy from sugary treats!). Check out our suggestions for scavenger hunts here.
Cooking With Auntie
There are lots of treats that your niece or nephew can enjoy cooking and decorating with you. We especially love decorating cupcakes, which is tons of fun for a variety of ages. A particularly cute cupcake decoration for Easter is a diving chick, its little tail up as the top of the cupcake. Remember to show the savory side of cooking with an egg breakfast, cooked together with nieces and nephews! Get your niece and nephew in the kitchen with you for more than just candy!
Originally published on April 2, 2012