ryang@creactiveinc.com

The Coronavirus has unfortunately changed many aspects of the way we live our lives, but the beauty of humans is that they are quick to adapt and make the necessary changes to keep on living their lives. 

As the Easter season approaches, here are some tangible ways you could tweak the classic Easter dinner to accommodate fewer people and still enjoy a safe holiday with your loved ones.

Recognize What Everyone Brings to the Table

One important thing that will likely change is that your meal will have to be more self-sufficient; that is, you cannot rely on others to bring the sides or desserts that usually accompany the meal. Your oven and stove will likely be busy ahead of time preparing sides and other ingredients if you want to avoid an Easter dinner with a scant few options.

Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving are holidays where people typically provide a grand dinner, where everyone chips in a bit to the meal. This year, as you prepare for your immediate family only, here are some ideas for Easter dinner that might give you a fresh or new perspective:

• If doing ham or lamb, make sure to use appropriate portion sizes.
• This is the year to try out a different star dish if you want, such as maybe a frittata, prime rib, or a Cornish game hen.
• Make sure to leave room for sides! People sometimes enjoy the multitude of sides more than the actual meal itself.

Keep it Real and Enjoy Time with Your Family 

One of the critical ideas for Easter dinner this year would be to keep things simple. Much of the holiday can be spent posturing and preparing to impress guests with your house, cooking, or home, but this year it is just you and your family.

One way you could try and keep the family feeling is to have a zoom or other type of live meet with your family. In this way, you could see family even if they are far away.

Also, if the situation allows, you can take Easter on the road! If you have family who lives nearby, you could make them their favorite dish, take it out to them, or even plan a delicious exchange!

Support Those Who Need it the Most

If the Coronavirus has done one thing successfully, it has been to decimate and hurt hundreds of small businesses across the world. One way to embrace the holiday season would be to order dessert or a specific side from a local company that could be hurting this time of the year.

If you are interested in shaking up your Easter, you could even skip the cooking and preparation altogether and opt to eat out. It is not usually typical since it is a family holiday. Still, if you don’t have family nearby to visit and don’t feel like cooking, it would make a small business owner’s day if you went and ate at their restaurant.

Every year, thousands of families prepare personalized Easter baskets for their loved ones, but who would dare forget their cute pooch or puppy on such a fantastic day. When designing a basket for a dog, though, you might be confused about what to give them instead of chocolate and candy, so here are some practical items your furry friend will enjoy.

• You Have to Give Them A Toy or Play Item

To truly preserve and remember your dog’s reaction to getting a personalized Easter basket, it is essential to have some items that will make it through the day. In that regard, a toy is one of the best things to include, and here are a few ideas:

• Carrot Rope: The perfect gift if your dog is a tugger, this carrot-shaped rope is excellent for the holidays and is sold in a couple of dog stores as well as online.
• Easter Egg Squeaker Toy: This toy is ideal for dogs who respond to audio stimuli or just enjoy biting down on these rubber toys. Having an egg-shaped one for a holiday is fantastic.
• Bunny and Carrot Puzzle Toy: This toy from Amazon is a fantastic way to challenge your dog mentally and encourage growth. Plus, it’s cute!

• An Edible Delight for your Pet

Your dog is just as likely as a child or friend to get excited if they can find something to eat in their basket. There is a whole slew of items you could add to the basket for them in this regard, but here are a few categories.

One good treat might be a cookie. Dog-safe cookies can be found at nearly every store at a very friendly price, and the bigger stores might even have different flavors!

Another idea for those who enjoy an ironic or satirical aspect of the holiday would be to get your dog some rabbit jerky or rabbit-flavored treat. Really any flavored or savory treat or jerky would be a lovely treat for your dog.

• Get Your Dog Some Seasonal Swag!

A third category to round out your gift basket would be to get your dog a leash, collar, or coat to celebrate the season. Once again, this gift is a practical gift for your dog that they will appreciate when you use it with them.

One useful item for smaller dogs might be a coat or warm fuzzy for them. Smaller dogs can get cold more efficiently during the winter, and when they get older, a coat for an older puppy might be a pretty useful gift.

Another gift might be an Easter-inspired or themed leash for that extra energetic dog. Leashes can get a lot of wear and tear, and it is better to get a new one as a gift than to have the old one break while using it.

No matter what you get your dog, it is sure to make them happy and get them in on the holiday fun. Their happy doggy grin on Easter morning will make it all worth it!

Every year at Easter, people face the same problem: what should I put in this person’s Easter basket?

It is so tough to figure out just the right set of items to please anyone truly, so here are some online stores that provide expertly curated and Easter baskets that you can be proud of.

Personalized Easter Baskets from Harry and David

Harry and David have become synonymous with expert gift baskets, with them going well above and beyond for Easter. Harry and David’s gift basket sets are indeed more geared to adults, but that means that the basket of wine, cured meats, salty cheeses, nuts, and sweet things will only have to be shared between you and any other significant adults.

Harry and David have one shortfall, and that is that their baskets tend to be more on the expensive end. However, the reason for their cost is the high value of the items that you can find in every basket, so don’t hesitate to indulge a bit!

Personal Creations

Personal Creations is a company known for giving everything the extra touch before it arrives at your giftee’s house. There is a multitude of ways you can choose to customize their personalized Easter basket, such as:

• Having their Easter basket have their name written on it.
• You can have their chocolate bunny or sweet treat have their name on the bar or item’s wrapping.
• Some of the stuffed animal options will even allow you to have their name written on their new, snuggly friend (which might seem a little cliché for an adult but will seem sweet and loving to any child who can read their name).

Personal Creations also has the added benefit of selecting adults, children, teens, and loved ones. This can be especially helpful for those who don’t even know where to start since it can give you an idea of the things a particular child or spouse might enjoy.

Etsy

This option may startle and unnerve some people, but Etsy is a thoroughly reliable space to buy customized items. The best way to describe Etsy is like a small-town market, but on the internet, and the website has a slew of vendors who will work diligently to create an Easter basket that will live up to your expectations.

The blessing of Etsy is that you can find a host of people looking to outcompete one another, so you have a little bit of wiggle room this season for how much your items will cost. An extra benefit is that since most of these people maintain their business through stellar customer service if you know how you would like a basket altered or how you would wish to customize it, feel free to email them, and they will respond.

All in all, navigating Etsy itself and making sure you get the best deal is both the challenge and the blessing of this site, but don’t let that stop you from using it!

Teens are such a hard batch to please, especially when it comes to holidays. However, if you are one of the parents or relatives who doesn’t want to just throw in the towel by tossing them some money and shooing them away, here are some phenomenal Easter basket ideas for teens.

Easter Basket Ideas for Teens that Don’t Break the Bank

Often, teens are focused on what is trendy and what is popular with their friends, and it is ironic how often what is modern is also super expensive. However, you don’t have to break the bank with some of the following basket fillers.

• These photo clip strings from Amazon are a fantastic way for your teen to decorate and remember fun events that they have had in the past. Coming in at about 10$, this isn’t a bad deal!
• Teens have not grown fully out of their destructive child-like habits, and this can be seen in the state of their charging cords. Feel free to get them a fun new cord or, even better, a way to protect those cords so that they last longer.
• Funnily enough, stickers have made a comeback both with teen guys and girls; you just have to know what kind they like. A sheet or two trending stickers from their favorite show or quotes from their favorite icon are sure to be a cheap but effective gift this season.

No Need to Reinvent the Wheel

Some parents and family, however, want to try and stick with what is traditional, and that’s perfectly fine! All you have to do is find a way to alter it slightly so that the teen still enjoys the gift.

For example, while painting Easter eggs might be something they used to like to do, they might tell you it’s “not cool,” or they’re “too old” for that. But, if you find a colored egg that looks like it has a Baby Yoda popping out of it, that’s sure to be a winner.

Another Easter basket idea for teens is to shake up the sweets they receive. If you would usually give them a chocolate bunny, maybe consider giving that teen boy a chocolate video game controller like the one from Memory Sweets or consider giving your young lady an edible stick of lip gloss.

Consider Some Clothing

The days of getting your child or grandchild cute socks and bunny slippers may have passed, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want clothes. You can still find some items they would love.

Young ladies seem to enjoy soft and cute socks, so a bunny sock might not be out of the question. On the other hand, boys would probably want some sort of shirt that references videogames, Fortnite, Call of Duty, or any other games or hobbies that he enjoys.

Overall, just remember your child is older, but that they still love gifts and will respect you a whole lot more if you know what a Baby Yoda is — and get them something with it on it!

The sad fact of life is that COVID will still affect us when we celebrate Easter this year. However, that doesn’t have to stop us from enjoying the tradition of Easter crafts; it just means we will have to plan differently for them.

Easter Craft Ideas on the Cheap

Just because a craft doesn’t cost a lot doesn’t necessarily make it cheap. These craft ideas will save the holiday and help the many struggling bank accounts hoping for that next stimulus check sometime soon.

• Easter Bunny Hats: A few pieces of simple printer paper (or colored paper if you’re feeling extravagant), some googly eyes, and some glue or tape, and you have all you need for a paper bunny. These are very fun to do with younger kids, as it lets them imagine what the Easter Bunny looks like.
• Q-Tip Lamb: Here is an idea that those who celebrate the religious implications of Easter will love! A cool idea from One Little Project shows how a bit of ribbon, a bunch of q-tips, glue, and some clothespins make for an adorable Q-Tip lamb.
• Hand Bunnies: This is a little messy, but younger kids will love that. All you need is some paint, colored paper, markers, crayons, or colored pencils, and your kids can make a memento you can pin to your fridge for months to come.

Easter Crafts for the Truly Creative

These crafts will take a little more supplies and a bit more effort, but the payoff is fantastic! These kinds of crafts also have a level of complexity that might make the very little kids frustrated, but it will undoubtedly engage teens and anyone else you can supervise.

One idea to work with is using salt dough to make amulets, Easter eggs, or any other type of item. Salt dough is relatively easy to make, with this craft site providing a basic recipe, and how you use the dough from there is up to you!

You might also consider digging the pipe cleaner out from the garage or that light backpack of school supplies because that will be a mainstay of a lot of Easter crafts ideas. A pipe cleaner can make headbands, little colorful Easter eggs, Easter wreaths, and many other cool Easter crafts.

A final idea of what could be fun would be to upgrade your Easter egg game and do speckled eggs! This requires more paint types to get the right color, but if you do have them, many ways of getting the speckled color are relatively straightforward.

Regardless of what you do with your family, make sure to consider who is going to be there and how you can share the craft with others. During this time, when COVID has kept so many people from their friends and family, it would be a reassuring gift to have a bit of a typical craft with your family, and that is something anyone can enjoy.