Since having children Easter has become one of my favourite times of the year. I remember F being very tiny indeed but absolutely loving an Easter egg hunt in my Mum’s garden and it just kind of changed the way I feel about it all. I think I used to be quite synical and talk about how, like valentine’s Day, it was just a way for companies to cash in. I definitely remember saying things like ‘We’re not American, why do we have to go over the top for every festival now just like they do, next we’ll be celebrating the 4th July’ and now… Well, let’s just say I HAVE been, with my children, to an Independence Day party in England…

F was 16 months old here and I just remember her thinking it was absolutely brilliant!

Oh who cares? Let’s just embrace all the celebrations I say! If there’s an excuse for decorations and gifts then why not?! Have as much fun in life as you can I say! And for this year Easter is just around the corner and I’m going in BIG!

Last year I made the teachers knitted Easter chicks with chocolate eggs stuffed inside them. They were super cute and I’m going to try and adapt the patter this year to make bunnies but for now, click here for my chick pattern.

When it comes to the inexpensive bits and pieces you need to decorate, craft and have fun with over Easter, you can’t beat Asda. They always do a really great range of things and this year is no exception. I love, love, LOVE the chicky decorated plastic hollow eggs to hide trats in. The multicoloured ones are back as normal but the chicks have it for me this year and I might go into chick over load by filling them with chocolate chicks as well as those darling little fluffy ones! Asda are really fab for all the little bits as well; craft packs which are cheap as chips and stickers, activity books and of course, all the chocolate. Check out their ‘Let’s Do Easter’ event and see all the other lovely things they’re doing!

And because there’s chocolate, lots and LOTS of chocolate, not to mention the other food stuffs (roast lamb with all the seasonal trimmings and hot cross buns being top of my list, we tend to do a proper gift rather than one big Easter egg for the children. The egg hunt usually resuts in enough chocolate to last us to Halloween so I think it’s rather nice to do little gifts as well. I always try to do something festive and seasonal to make it extra special. When J was super tiny his gift was the Happyland farm from the Early Learning Centre with all the farm animals because I always think the farm at Easter is a very special place to be with new lambs. He loved it and it was a great choice for a crawling baby.

This year I am giving him a very special book that we were sent from ‘i See Me’ personalised books. And as part of their special Easter Bundles the book, Snuggle Bunny, which is personalised just for him with his picture and name, comes with one of those gorgeously soft white bunny toys from Jelly Cat! The book is so delightful and talks about his date of birth, gives his full name and as soon as he saw his picture he gasped and said ‘But that’s ME Mummy, how?’ He was so touched by it and has been reading it every night.

You will see that he is sitting in something rather snuggly too! Appropriated from his sister, the Cuddledry Snuggle Bunny towel is amazing! We’ve never used a Cuddledry towel before although I’ve often thought about buying one and now I’m sure we will buy more. In fact I’m going to have to get one for J because F is not very happy about her brother stealing hers at all! I can totally see why, it’s super soft and snuggly, has cute bunny ears on the top and is almost like a dressing gown when in use because it pops up around them ensuring it stays on. It has also washed and dried (quickly) very well and the quality hasn’t been compromised with a wash at all. I’m not sure how they make it work so well but the towel absorbes water in seconds and yet it still feels dry to the touch. WHY haven’t we used these towels before?! Luckily they do them for babies, toddlers and children so we haven’t missed the boat and we think this is a perfect and totally different Easter treat – worth every penny of the £29.99 price tag. If only they did a grown up one too!

We will, I expect, be doing some easter baking and taking a trip somewhere for a day out over the holidays. We’re in Norfolk now and my favourite place to take the children is BeWILDerwood. Now that we’re closer I think we will be buying an annual ass because I envisage visiting rather a lot and easter is a perfect time to go. Last year we were super impressed with their Easter Egg hunt and Easter Bunny grotto where all the kids got to take home chocolate treats and of course, all the amazing fun of the park from the tree top walk ways and super slides, zip wires, Toddlewood, stories, boggle twirling and den building to the Sky Maze, arts and crafts and boat rides not to mention the magic! Oh the magic of BeWILDerwood has to be seen! I’m not sure what they will be doing this Easter but I can guarantee it will be good and I’ll let you know more as soon as I know! For now you can read my review from last year here!

And the baking? Well, I always think an iced biscuit is the easiest thing in the world to make and Easter cookie cutters can be picked up in Poundland for, well, a pound! Icing them is super easy too, you can either flood them with a piping bag, or, for super quick-ness why not buy some ready to roll icing and using the same cutters, cut out the shapes in icing to stick, with water, to the biscuits! You can then use bought icing pens (again the Poundland Jane Asher baking range is great) to decorate them. The thing to remember when making cookies is to chill the mixture in the fridge once made and then after rolling and cutting out to chill the shapes again before before cooking. This stops them spreading and it totally works. The recipe I use is very easy and was given to me by Adelle at BKD.

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