Countdown to Easter
So when's Easter again this year?
Days, hours, minutes ticking down. You know, so you don't forget like I did in 2023.
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Easter
April 5, 2026
When Is Easter This Year?
Got asked this three times last week alone. "March or April?" Nobody ever knows. Apparently it's tied to lunar cycles and the spring equinox and some calculation nobody can explain without Wikipedia open.
2024 I completely blanked on buying those Paas dye kits until Good Friday afternoon and every Target near me was sold out. Had to drive to three different stores. Don't wait till the last minute like me.
Planning an Easter Egg Hunt
Ran one at my sister's place in Ohio last spring with twelve screaming kids. Learned some stuff the hard way.
Count Your Eggs
Write the number down somewhere or you'll find a rotten one behind the gutter in July. Happened to my neighbor. Smelled horrific.
Separate the Age Groups
Put the little ones in one zone, bigger kids somewhere else β otherwise my nephew Jake who's 9 will sprint around and collect like forty eggs in two minutes flat while the toddlers cry.
Weather Backup
Easter 2022 it poured rain on us. We moved everything inside the house β hid plastic eggs in closets, under couch cushions, behind the TV stand. Worked fine but way more chaotic than outside.
The Golden Egg Thing
Hide one egg that's wrapped in foil or spray-painted gold with a five dollar bill inside. Kids lose their minds trying to find it and the slower ones still have something to get excited about instead of giving up.
Easter Traditions Around the World
πΊπΈ United States
White House has done this egg roll thing since like 1878 where kids push eggs across the lawn with spoons. Looks ridiculous but in a fun way.
π©πͺ Germany
They put up "Easter trees" β basically tree branches in a vase with painted eggs hanging off them, sort of springtime Christmas tree vibes. My aunt did this one year and it actually looked pretty nice in her living room window.
π΅π± Poland
Monday after Easter is called Εmigus-Dyngus and people throw water on each other. Not just family β like random people on the street. If you're visiting Poland that week, bring extra clothes.
π¦πΊ Australia
Instead of Easter Bunny they have the Easter Bilby because rabbits destroyed their ecosystem and are considered pests. So they sell chocolate bilbies instead which is actually kind of smart.
Easter Week Schedule
It's not just Sunday. There's this whole lead-up and then recovery period and if you don't know what day things happen you end up scrambling.
Thursday β Prep Day
Get to Walmart early and buy eggs, Cadbury mini eggs (the good ones), plastic eggs if you're doing a hunt. By Friday afternoon everything's gone. Dye the eggs this night while the kids make a mess at the kitchen table.
Friday β Good Friday
Banks close, a lot of offices give people the day off. Quiet day, most families just hang around the house or go to church if that's their deal. I usually prep stuff for Sunday brunch and hide eggs if the forecast shows rain coming.
Saturday β Setup Day
Map out where you're hiding eggs. Cook whatever you need for tomorrow. Then once the kids crash for the night you assemble Easter baskets and feel like an undercover operative.
Sunday β The Main Event
Baskets in the morning, maybe church depending on your situation, egg hunt mid-morning, then the big meal around 1pm. Kids eat their body weight in candy. Whatever, it's once a year.
Monday β Recovery
Some countries treat Easter Monday as a holiday too. Good day to sleep in, finish the leftover ham sandwiches, and wonder where that one last egg went that nobody ever found.
Easter Facts
The Date Math
Can land anywhere from March 22 to April 25. Calculated using something called the "Computus" which sounds made up but isn't. Involves lunar phases and the equinox and honestly I just let the computer figure it out.
Chocolate Stats
16 billion jellybeans sold in the US every Easter β somebody counted. Also 90 million chocolate bunnies get made and most people (like 76%) bite the ears off first according to some survey.
Why Eggs and Bunnies?
Eggs meant rebirth or new beginnings or whatever. Rabbits were about fertility because they reproduce constantly. Both symbols existed way before Christianity and just got absorbed into the holiday over time.
Egg Decorating Ideas Beyond Basic Dye
Been doing the same tablet-in-vinegar routine since like 2015. Drop the fizzy tablet in a cup, dunk the egg, wait five minutes, get a pastel egg. Works fine but got old. Last year tried some weirder methods with my kids and they actually turned out cool.
Shaving Cream Marbling
Spray shaving cream (regular Barbasol works) on a cookie sheet, squirt food coloring drops on top, swirl around with a toothpick or fork, then roll the egg through. Wait maybe ten minutes before wiping the foam off. You get this tie-dye swirl effect that looks way better than it should. My daughter Emma made one that honestly looked like a little sunset with orange and pink streaks.
Use hard-boiled eggs not the blown-out hollow ones or they'll roll off the table.
Wax Resist Patterns
Grab a white crayon and draw directly on the egg before you dye it β the wax repels the dye so you get white designs showing through. Can do dots, stripes, write names, whatever. Even my 5-year-old nephew could do this without destroying everything.
You can layer it β dye light color first, add more crayon, then dye a darker color over top.
Natural Plant Dyes
Boil the eggs with red cabbage and you get blue, turmeric gives you yellow, beets make them pink. Takes way longer than the tablets and the colors aren't as bright but they have this muted earthy vibe. More like vintage Easter postcards than neon. Also you can brag to people that it's all-natural and sustainable which makes you sound impressive.
Heads up β your whole kitchen smells like cabbage for hours. Open windows.
Gold Leaf Accents
Dye them whatever solid color, then dab some craft glue on spots and stick gold leaf sheets to it (Michaels sells them for like four bucks). Suddenly your eggs look expensive instead of like something from a preschool classroom. Good if you're putting them in a bowl on the table as actual decoration.
Don't let anyone eat these β gold leaf is technically edible but craft glue definitely isn't.
Not trying to win art contests here. Just trying to do something that feels less boring than the same routine every single year β and maybe not scroll Instagram the entire time you're dyeing eggs. Pick one method and see how it goes.