We can’t believe it’s almost Easter already! This spring is just flying by. In case you’re just as distracted as we are, here are some links and ways to share Easter or Passover or whatever spring celebration you have with your au pair.
Fun ideas:
- Did you know My Au Pair and Me has a Pinterest account? We even have a Celebrate Spring and Easter board.
- Red Tricycle is a great resource for things to do in your metro area. Most towns and neighborhoods also have local Facebook groups.
- Some of our favorite child art and activity bloggers are Red Ted Art (kids crafts) and A Magical Childhood (crafts and ideas)
What Abbie’s Family is Doing for Easter…
This year we’re keeping it simple and just doing Easter at my parent’s house, about an hour away. I have two sisters, and since it’s hard to coordinate Thanksgiving and Christmas between all our various in-laws, Easter is the holiday that my mom claims as just for our family, no one scattering or sharing the day with in-laws.
Saturday we might go spend the night but probably not as we’re still remodeling our bathroom. Sunday we all sleep in and the Easter Bunny comes and leaves his baskets for the boys during the night. Since we have a bunch of varying tastes in my family, we’re going to just do hamburgers (I know, very American) but it gives my dad a chance to grill with his son-in-laws while the boys get to dye eggs with their aunties, our au pair, and me.
Our current au pair is French, and grew up doing egg hunts. She also introduced us to oreillettes, or little ears, (similar to beignets). They’re usually served during Mardi Gras, but her mom did them for Easter. In France, the Easter Bell (les cloches de Pâques) takes the place of our Easter Bunny. The bells leave go silent on Thursday night and fly to Rome on Good Friday, then return again to ring Easter morning. They both hide eggs and, most importantly, leave chocolate!
Our previous au pair was Japanese. The didn’t really celebrate Easter, although the commercialism of the Easter Bunny (and chocolate!) does show up in stores.
What Maddie’s Family is Doing for passover and easter…
We celebrate with a mish-mash of Passover and Easter. My husband grew up in a Jewish household and I grew up in a Christian household, so the Passover Bunny visits our children.
Last week my mother-in-law invited all the grandchildren over to dye eggs and bake challah. Also, our au pair (who grew up in a Muslim household) attempted to dye eggs with my kids. Fun tip: If your au pair has never dyed eggs before don’t buy the complicated “tie dye” egg kit. They had a great time but ended up tie dying their hands more than the eggs.
This coming Friday we will head over to my in-laws house for an extremely abbreviated “kids” seder. I’m sure we will be enjoying my mother-in-laws amazing leg of lamb, matzah ball soup, latkes, and horoset. The kids favorite part is searching for their color coded plastic eggs filled with specialized prizes and searching for the afikomen. The prize for finding the afikomen is always chocolate bunnies.
On Sunday the Easter Bunny will bring baskets full of treats, toys, and books. This is typically a lazy morning for us. We spend time reading Easter and Passover books to the kids after a breakfast of rainbow hard boiled eggs, matza, and horoset. In the afternoon we will join the neighbors in the annual egg hunt. To top off the weekend, we will have traditional Easter ham, cheesy potato casserole, and finish off the last of the matzah ball soup.
How do you celebrate the season? Join the My Au Pair and Me Facebook group and share your traditions with other host families. We would love to hear from you.
