Easter is Sunday and with it’s approach I am faced with my yearly dilemma, “How much of the world will I let into the most sacred holiday of the year?” We have never been an Easter bunny family. He sits firmly in the pretend category along with Mickey Mouse, Spider Man and Santa Claus, fun to pretend with but not who we worship and most assuredly not real. But several years ago I cut him out entirely. 

This was a hard thing for me to do, because I loved setting up the house and yard like an off shoot of Wonka’s chocolate factory. It was fun and I love candy. I think setting up a candy wonderland for your kids is something most parents look forward to, but this one year as I listened to my children plan, contemplate and fight over what Easter treats they would be receiving that year and how the hunt would go I was overcome with such a sense of sadness that we were missing the point. That worship of sugar had completely overshadowed the most miraculous event in human history, and I snapped and we went off secular Easter celebration cold turkey.

That was a hard year, but as the years have passed I’ve learned somethings and I think I’m figuring out a balance. The first thing I learned is we all still love Easter candy and a good scavenger hunt. To balance this out I took an idea from an event I read about happening at our local Catholic Church the year we ditched the Easter Bunny. They had a stations of the cross walk they would do in the blocks around the church. I took that idea changed it to fit our needs and now we do a Teachings of Jesus Scavenger Hunt instead of an Easter egg hunt.

I start the kids off with a story about Jesus’s life or a moment from his last week of life and then after we learn and talk about the story or event the kids are given a clue to help them find the next hidden clue/station. At each clue/station there is a treat so the kids still get their candy, and they get to hunt for stuff, but the ultimate goal of the activity and the day is to remember Christ and this helps us to focus a bit more on him. 

At the end of the hunt the kids get their Easter Baskets. What we put in the baskets has changed over the years. As we have gotten more into the habit of focusing on Christ we are putting less filler stuff in the baskets and focusing on things we feel will be more meaningful to the kids, lately its been their favorite candy and a book. This year I’m really excited about the baskets because we are splurging and getting the little girls their own set of big kid scriptures. They have the little paperback ones, but we are getting them nice bound ones that they can mark and keep for the rest of their lives.

This is exciting because they have been asking for them for a while now and I’ve been holding off because I want them to be big enough to read them and study them. With my older kids the nice bound scriptures were something they just got at baptism and I don’t think it really meant that much to them. I’m hoping that having to wait and really desiring the scriptures will make the girls appreciate the treasure they are.

After the kids get their baskets we bear testimony of Christ and express our gratitude for him and then offer the kids the opportunity to do the same.

This year the girls really want to do an egg hunt. Most years the kids will re-hide the candy they get at each station for each other to find for a good part of the afternoon, because let’s face it it’s fun to hide treasures around for others to find. This year I think I’ll make them some eggs and set them aside so they can hide those for each other after we do our Teachings of Jesus Scavenger Hunt. I love that they want to do nice things for each other. I hope it helps them to not focus on what they can get out of the day but how they can emulate the Savior on the day we celebrate His atoning sacrifice for us.