Reader Tip: Spring Holiday Tips

We're about to hit Passover, Easter, and Mothers' Day (or is it Mother's Day?), so I thought we could share some wisdom to help make things easier for each other. I'll go first, then you go. (A reminder that if you don't want to have your email clickable for the whole internets, put a URL, any URL--like www.google.com or www.fake.com--in the "URL" box and it covers whatever email address you enter. Only I can see the email address. If you don't want me to know your email, either, then put a fake one in that box, too.)

Easter:

Instead of that nasty plastic grass that goes in the bottom of kids' Easter baskets (and then ends up everywhere and clogs up your vacuum), use Veggie Booty instead. It's green like grass, but it's edible (providing a nice savory note amidst all the jellybeans and chocolate), safe if a baby gets hold of it, and easy to vacuum up.

You can buy fair trade chocolate eggs (milk chocolate only, unfortunately) from the A Greater Gift catalog. They also sell fair trade Easter baskets made by  a cooperative. (This catalog is also a good source for fair-trade Hanukkah gelt in December.)

If your family tends to get into fights at the Easter dinner table, consider replacing the traditional ham with turkey, so people will fall asleep before they can start fighting. (That tip is courtesy of my mother.)

Passover:

I'm not Jewish, so I've really got nothing here, except that I think I could eat a whole lot of these Raspberry Brownies from One Tired Ema.

Mothers' Day:

If you end up cooking a brunch, make (or buy) a quiche the day before. Then on Mothers' Day all you have to do is heat it in the oven and toss together a green salad and put out some scones and you're set. No stress.

Comments

[Karen K]

If you don't want little kids to eat a bunch of candy at Easter, you can put Annie's Cheddar Bunnies in the basket instead, and explain that the Easter Bunny brought bunnies.

[laura]

Easter:
In order to not have so many daggone boiled eggs around and still allow for the fun of letting Sadie dye them and still allow for the fun of an egg hunt (indoors) without a bunch of junkety plastic eggs filled with junk/ candy... we have her dye them and leave them in a pretty basket for the bunny to hide. He mixes them up with a few plastic eggs which I stuff with: stickers! hair clips! (she needs them anyway and she likes them) and, this year, with a Polly Pocket-- but to drag out the fun, each accompanying accessory will get its own plastic egg.
Fun Easter craft-- get a straw wreath and then hot glue/ Aleene's glue plastic eggs to it. Lets your little one do it (unless you use hot glue) because no matter how crazily they arrange the eggs, the wreath still looks great! Last year Sadie (2.5 at the time) placed all the eggs using Aleene's glue (yeah, not really for kids, but she was closely supervised) and then I went back and tightened everything up with some hot glue and straight pins.
Finally-- to control the overall clutter and junk-- we save the cuter seasonal yet throw-away items (dollar store stuffed bunnies, wind up chicks, etc) and pack them away as decorations for the next year. They don't become part of the regular toy collection. In this way we have amassed a good amount of kid-friendly seasonal decor that my daughter really enjoys getting out each holiday and setting around. And the cheapie items actually stay cute awhile since they are only given love for about 3 weeks a year. I do this with all the holidays that result in the showering of seaonal and cheap items as gifts.
Passover--
When I was a live in nanny I worked for Jewish families, and my major tip was to try to involve them in EVERYTHING. They can really get into throwing out leavened stuff from the pantry, etc. We also made chocolate dipped matzo, which, while not the most delectable sweet ever, will get you thru the holiday tolerably well. I just used some kosher-for-passover chocolate bars, melted them, and let the kids dip the matzo in there and set on waxed paper to set. When I was a caterer I did a LOT of seders, and one trend I thought was way cool was to give everyone a "mini" seder plate at each place setting (as a supplement to the main one.) We usually used salad plates and small plastic ramekins (like for to-go salad dressings.) An older child (5, 6) could probably really get into making those up and the repetition would reinforce the seder plate tradition nicely, I think.
And kids LOVE to help make the haroset. I love haroset-- the flavors and the symbolism, and so I make it this time of year anyway, and my daughter likes to make it with me. Use your food processor instead of hand chopping everything, and even a small child can help with close careful supervision. Passover is such a lovely lovely holiday-- we are fortunate to be invited somewhere for Seder most years...
Mother's Day-- because we live near to our entire family (mixed blessing) my husband's solution is to throw a big cookout/ fish fry on the Saturday before. This way we get the grandmothers and aunts recognized and I still get a quiet all-about-me Mother's Day morning. Its become a great tradition, we have his mother and aunts with their families and my mother, aunts, and sisters in law as well as some couples we are friends with. The men all have to make/ bring something. I usually do some flowers/ coffee cakes as gifts for all the mothers and that is when I exchange gifts with my mom. In Virginia where we live its generally great weather so its a good time.
Last year I did a flower arrangement for each "mom" in attendance just using "found" containers (baby food jars, soup cans, etc) and a mixture of inexpensive flowers from the wholesale florist (daisies, etc) and I used up my odds and ends of ribbon on the containers to dress them up. For the party, my house was filled with flowers, and all the moms had something to take home. This year we are having my grandmother AND my sisters-in-law's mothers so our count is up to 40 people! Yikes! But its fun.

[AmyinMotown]

No outstandning suggestions here, but Veggie Booty? Baby crack. I have been able to enjoy peaceful grownup lunches with friends by bringing "The Booty" as it's known in our house and letting her go to town. She'll glimpse my always-at-the-ready Ziploc of it and practically launch herself at it. I think she'd actually like chcoalte eggs and such less.

[Ariella]

A really fun thing for kids on Passover is to give them specific "parts" to read. My family had a little pamphlet they passed around to everyone eating at the Passover table, and my dad would pick the person to read the next verse.

We're not overly religious, but it was very nice to know why we were eating the meal, and it was fun for the kids to be involved in it. I agree with the above commenter, too, that making the haroset is fun and kids really enjoy it.

The nice thing about a lot of Jewish holidays is that it's very easy to customize them to make them kid-friendly. I don't remember being bored during any of them when I was younger because the adults always made the holidays fun for the young one (I was the only kid in my family).

[Lisa V]

At Easter we get creative with baskets- like last year Scruffy got a dump truck with a choc. bunny and a few jelly beans. I've taken old baskets from previous years and put them in a tutu. Apple got a really pretty box covered in fabric (TJ Maxx 3.99) with her treats in it. Upside down hats work too. As for candy, well that's why my kids get a toy or clothing, because the Easter Bunny only brings a small chocolate bunny for each of them . He/she also leaves a trail of jelly beans from their basket to their bed. Lock your pets up or the trail disappears.

Best Mother's Day ever- Bert hired a babysitter for the day and we went to church, movies and dinner, and looking at book stores and antique stores during the afternoon. We came home for banana cream pie (my favorite) with the kids before bed. It was a great day.

[Mama C-ta]

Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you did, you have a great site here and so many useful tips!

[Mama C-ta]

Sorry I'm such a dummy, I didn't realize you were the same person from your other site! Both of your sites are great!

[Kate]

If anyone is going to be attending a traditional (or traditionally minded) seder with kids, I'd just keep in mind that they will start on the late side (8pm, give or take) and go late. Either encourage a nap--I remember being told to lie down/nap before seders even when I was 8 or 9 years old--or plan for a place (quiet room, with a sleeping bag) for your kid(s) to crash. Oh, and dinner comes after a big chunk of the seder, so a good snack at 5 or 6 pm (assuming your seder starts at 7:30 or 8) is probably a reasonable idea too.

That being said, if your kids are well rested and have something in their bellies, seders are great for them. Most people encourage questions and lots of participation from any age group!

[art-sweet]

Passover Crack: (I can't remember where I found this recipe, but it ROCKS)

MATZAH BRITTLE

Matzah
2 sticks of parve margarine (butter is better if you're not keeping kosher)
1 cup of brown sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips
Cover a cookie pan with foil to make cleanup easier. Line the cookie pan with matzahs, it is ok if they overlap a little. Melt the margarine with the brown sugar until it starts to boil. Pour the this mixture over the matzahs and bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and pour the chocolate bits over the matzahs. After they melt let cool in the fridge for one hour. Break up in small pieces and watch them disappear!