Easter Festivities

Miss Etoile "Enjoy" Tin

Easter is definitely up there with one of my favourite holidays of the year.  Not only do most of us get to enjoy a long weekend away from the stress of work but we get to spend some quality time with our families – usually in the spring sunshine – and of course we get to eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!

I have so many great childhood memories of Easter, one of the main ones being egg hunts at my grandparents’ house!  My granddad would find immense enjoyment in hiding little foil covered chocolate eggs in the most obscure and difficult to reach places around the garden and we would spend what felt like hours hunting them down!  Being the youngest by 7 years my sisters would beat me to it every time and end up with a bowl full way before I had even found one, but my g’dad would cheat and give me a few extra right out of the packet!  We would never ever find them all and the adults would forget where they hid them all, so sometime during the summer we would be playing in the garden and would find a melted mini egg stuck to the rose bush or in the cracks of the patio!

Another fond memory I have of Easter is making Easter bonnets which I don’t think is much of a tradition these days!  It’s such a a shame as we used to get so into it and create some really elaborate fancy hats complete with fluffy chicks, colourful feathers and mini eggs to take into school the next day! 

Of course we were always spoilt with chocolate eggs but being the weird kid that I was I never used to eat them and they would sit in the cupboard until they eventually got thrown away.  But as I got a bit older I went through a stage of melting them in a bowl and eating them with a spoon!  I told you I was a bit odd..

I feel like the build up to Easter and the whole celebration of it gets bigger and bigger every year.  We have always spent time with family during the long bank holiday weekend but I don’t remember there being so much merchandise around and we definitely never had an Easter basket like the ones people put together these days!  I hadn’t bothered making Harry an Easter basket in previous years as he has just been too little to get anything out of it, but this year I am fully embracing this Americanised trend!  I will do a separate mini post about whats in his basket soon!

We will be spending the Easter bank holiday with our families and there will be egg hunts on the agenda for sure but it feels like Easter already in our house as we have already started our festivities.
Amara, the online deparement store, have been kind enough to send us some beautiful things from their tableware and baking collection to use this Easter and I chose some pieces from the gorgeous Miss Etoile.  This is such a girly and fun collection stocked with gorgeous cake stands, teacups and saucers as well as milk jugs and tins.

Miss Etoile Egg Cup & Plate Set

Miss Etoile Mini Bird Bowl

For some reason we only seem to have boiled eggs at this time of year so we have been starting our days with boiled eggs and soldiers in these cute little egg cups and we have been nibbling on chocolate mini eggs for days already!!!

Miss Etoile Mini Plate on Stand

Miss Etoile Gold Heart Serving Plate

I had pinned a billion ideas for some great bakes, so we made some little chocolate cornflake nest cakes as I think these are pretty much fool proof and easy to do with a toddler (nothing can get burnt) We also made some shortbread which didn't really turn out as planned and my chicks and bunnies look a little mutated!!!  I tried..

I think the Miss Etoile gold heart serving plate I have displayed them on looks like something straight out of Kate Spade and it could be used as a trinket or jewellery dish as well as something to serve your Easter cakes upon.

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Here are some of my favourite Easter activities to do with a toddler

Easter Egg Hunt:  Mini eggs are cheap as chips if you pick them up in the £1 shop and even the littlest ones will enjoy an egg hunt.  You could even use their Easter baskets as egg holders

Easter Bonnet Competition:  You can find some really cheap wicker hats in crafts shops or make your own with some card or paper.  All you need to do is get creative with paints, glue, chicks and feathers!

Easter Card or Picture Making:  Stock up on the paint and googly eyes and give your relatives some Easter pictures or cards to put on their fridge!

Easter Cake Baking:  You could get really fancy by making a speckled egg cake or like me go simple with some chocolate egg nests

Egg Painting:  Pinterest has some amazing Egg painting ideas whether you paint real egg shells or cheat like me and get some wooden ones!

Easter Colouring Pages: I found some great ones here that you can print out for free at home!


What are your favourite Easter activities??

*This post was written in collaboration with Amara