Think of Easter and what comes to mind? Baskets, yes. Egg hunts. To be sure. But for many both young and old it’s a chance to enjoy some fine treats. With Christmas two months past, even the thought is delicious.

Happily, there are dozens of easy-to-make treats that are just right for Easter. If you simply don’t have the time or inclination to prepare anything, not to worry. There are more than enough Easter treats available for purchase on the web to satisfy even the most devoted chocoholic.

- Easter Chocolate Crispy Treats

Ingredients:

40 small Butterfingers
6 cups toasted rice cereal
4 cups miniature marshmallows
3 tbsp butter

Preparation:

Buy a bag of small Nestle’s Butterfinger bars, about 40 will do. Chop up 20 of them into a bowl. Add about 6 cups of toasted rice cereal. Set it aside.

Now, melt 3 tablespoons of butter into a bowl and add in 4 cups of miniature marshmallows. Microwave the butter and marshmallows on high for a couple of minutes. Add the Butterfinger and cereal mixture, then stir it all up.

Pour the results into a 13 in x 9 in baking pan and let it cool until hardened. Crumble the rest of the Butterfingers across the top and then cut the pan contents into squares. Serve like fudge squares. Yum!

- Easter Bunny Cookies

Ingredients:

1 egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Sift the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt onto a large piece of waxed paper. Blend the egg with sugar and shortening until fluffy. Beat in the vinegar and molasses, then roll up the wax paper and stir in the flour mixture until it’s smooth.

Knead the resulting dough into a ball, then wrap and chill for a few hours. Once the dough has cooled long enough, you can preheat the oven to 375 F/190 C.

Roll out the dough onto a floured wooden surface until it’s about 1/8 inch thick. Then use a bunny-shaped cookie cutter to shape pieces to go into the oven. If you don’t have a cookie cutter handy, just trace the outline using a knife.

Bake for about 5 minutes and remove from the oven. Allow to cool before serving.

Shake off those Winter blues with some Easter treats!

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Nothing says ‘I thought about your gift’ better than a personalized item. Luckily, the variety of choices available today is stunning.

There is simple personalization. This involves putting the name of the recipient on the gift.

An Easter basket can easily be decorated this way by having the name embossed or stitched onto cloth that decorates the basket. A sweater with initials is a more subtle method, suitable for someone old or young. Other gifts, like earrings, can easily carry initials, too.

But jewelry and other gifts can have another, slightly more elaborate form of personalization as well. A bracelet - whether a simple strip of silver or a fine work festooned with jewels - can carry two types. The first is just simple personalization, a name or initials. But imprinting or carving a personally meaningful phrase also makes the gift unique to that individual.

That phrase could be something he or she said the day you met. It might be a line from a favorite poem. It might even be a memorable or hilarious bit of dialogue from a TV show. In many cases it is something that the recipient has adopted as a kind of motto.

But that personalization doesn’t have to be limited to words. It can be in the form of a logo, a graphic or a full scene that means something special to the receiver of the gift.

A coffee cup or tea cup is the perfect place to put initials or a name on the bottom. But the side provides a broad ‘billboard’ to contain that perfect personalized image. It might be a photo of the giver or the recipient, or that of a cherished child or pet. It might be the logo of the small business he or she founded.

It might be nothing more elaborate than an image they have selected as a kind of personal symbol. In olden days shields and banners carried a coat of arms. The idea has come down to us and has been modified heavily, but still persists. The image may be one that represents the family or just one that he or she finds personally representative. Today, the item might be no more warlike than a set of towels, but the idea is much the same.

Sweaters are a great gift to implement that type of personalization. A small emblem can easily be personalized and sewn on to a fine item of clothing. Gloves are another opportunity to add a personal touch. There’s lots of flat, open space on the back of the hand where that decorative item can easily be seen and admired.

Stationary presents yet another excellent opportunity to personalize an otherwise mundane gift. The top inch or so of fine writing or printer paper gives plenty of space for a name, a phrase, a logo or an image that represents the person who will use it.

Personalizing your gift tells the recipient ‘This is for you and no one else’. That extra little thoughtful touch is always appreciated.

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Easter Crafts - Great way to get kids ready for Easter. Perfect for preschool, kindergarden, and elementary school children.

Did you ever notice how most kids seem to be fearless when it comes to crafts? They don’t wait until they have become experts to plunge in and make fun things just for the joy of it. For those, young or old, who might be a little shy about their ability, here are a few simple and easy to make Easter items to build confidence.

- Eggshell Shells

Everyone colors eggs at Easter. But eggshells also make great material for a wide range of craft items. Hard boil a few eggs, then color one each in a primary color or make rainbow patterns. Allow to dry, then break off the shell in chunks. You could use raw eggs, but hard boiling them saves the trouble of cleaning, drying or sterilizing.

Now you’ve got a whole pile of colored eggshell pieces. What to do? You could use spray adhesive to glue them to a nice wicker basket. Now something plain has been turned into a festival of color! Or, you could apply them to a small piece of cloth cut in the shape of a vest for a doll. Apply the colored pieces to simulate miniature football shoulder pads. Or make tiny colorful shoes or a little hat for a bunny doll.

- Paper Plate Easter Bunny

Paper plates are another handy everyday item that can be used for simple Easter craft projects. Here’s an ultra-easy way to use them to make a cute little Easter bunny.

Take one paper plate and fold it in half then release. Along the fold, cut about 1/3 in toward the center from each side, leaving 1/3 in the middle uncut. Now you can fold about a quarter of the paper plate down on each side, so the craft will stand up on its own. Paint a pink nose and black eyes onto the center of this portion.

Glue the rim to another paper plate lying flat on the table. Use still another plate to cut out some bunny rabbit ear shapes. Color the interiors pink with crayon, colored marker or hobby paint. Leave the border white, like real rabbit’s ears. Attach the ears to the standing section made earlier by sliding them into the slits made by your cuts and glue them into place.

Now you’ve got a bunny rabbit who is sticking his head up out of his little rabbit warren hole to take a look around!

- Easter Bunny Doll

Easter bunny dolls are fun and simple to make. A few strips of felt and some stuffing are all you need to make a great looking stuffed toy. Make sure the dog doesn’t get it, though!

Cut up some old rags and curl them into arms and legs. Or, curl them around cotton balls for extra fluffiness. You can tie the rags into place with small bits of colored thread. Tie the legs at the ankle, knee and upper thigh. Tie the arms at the wrist, elbow and just above and below the shoulder. That gives the limbs definition.

Do the same to make a torso, neck and head, and those all-important ears. The limbs can easily be sewn onto the torso, or tied together by overlapping cloth parts and securing with thread. Then you can paint the face with hobby paint, or glue some colored eggshell bits on for the nose and eyes.

Easy!

Easter Crafts - Great way to get kids ready for Easter. Perfect for preschool, kindergarden, and elementary school children.

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Halloween and Christmas are not the only holidays that provide a great opportunity to bring out the fun decorations. You can liven up your home inside and out on Easter with all sorts of things.

Outdoors

Few people string lights up outdoors for Easter. But a great way to greet guests on this special day is to have a string on the front door in the shape of a colorful egg or bunny. You can even make a nice design in the shape of an Easter lily.

It’s no accident that Easter is close to the beginning of Spring when the Earth comes alive. This ancient festival began as a celebration of fertility and new beginnings. You can help show that by planting some Easter flowers in yellow, red and blue - all traditional colors.

While you’re decorating the outside of the house, maybe you’ll want to trim the edge of the yard. That thin strip between the grass and the sidewalk is the perfect place to put some tall stalks in Easter colors. From each corner you could hang an Easter animal - a bunny, a goose, a squirrel all of whom get very active in Spring.

Don’t forget about those outdoor deck lamps. They’re the perfect place to hang a few Easter decorations. Stuffed faux-chocolate bunnies are one option. A wreath made of pine cone branches decorated with colored eggshells is a possibility. How about a goose that quacks whenever someone walks by? Motion activated toys are easy to find on the web.

Indoors

Any flat surface provides a chance to put out lots of decorations - whether made yourself or purchased. Have a favorite bunny doll that your child made at school? That would go great on the stair railing. Maybe you made a wall decoration in the shape of a giant egg from thin colored plastic of the sort available at hobby sites. Display it proudly.

If you have some table space, you can have it do double duty for decorations and goodies that are themselves decorative. The living room coffee table is the perfect place for a bowl full of gingerbread cookies in the shape of Peter Cottontail. Right next to it there’s a nice empty spot for that stuffed rabbit you helped your son or daughter make last weekend.

Since it’s early Spring, be sure to scatter some pine cones around. Surround them with some trimmings from the pine tree to add a lovely smell and some color. In the middle, you can put a bowl filled up with muffins in the shape of a bunny rabbit mound with a hole in the middle.

Maybe you have one of those robot vacuum cleaners that runs around the floor? That provides a flat, yet mobile surface on which to exercise your creativity. Some double-sided sticky tape is the perfect adhesive to attach a bunny who plays the cymbals.

Announce Easter and the coming of Spring with some fun!

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Decorating Easter eggs is an ancient tradition. As a symbol of fertility, they’re perfect for bringing to mind the coming Spring and new life. But egg decorating is so much easier when your eggs are prepared properly.

Here is a list of the things you’ll need to carry out this simple procedure:

- Large pan
- Vinegar
- Paint brush
- Watercolors or dye

The first overall goal is to hard boil your eggs. It’s not mandatory, since it is possible to paint on or dye fresh eggs. You can even pierce them and blow out the egg. But they’re much less fragile hard boiled.

Take care not to cook your eggs by placing them in already boiling water. The temperature difference makes it almost certain that the shells will crack. Instead, place the desired number of eggs into cold water and put the pan on the stove. The water should just cover the eggs.

Adding a teaspoon of white vinegar will allow the dye to soak into the shell a little better, covering them more evenly and thoroughly.

As the water heats, the inside of the egg heats gradually, hardening the contents. Edible eggs can be done in as little as five minutes. But eggs meant for decorating should be given a few extra. Don’t overcook, since that too can lead to cracking. But make them extra firm to stand up well to handling.

Turn off the heat and allow the pan to cool gradually until both the water and eggs are room temperature. This takes about 20 minutes.

Now remove the eggs carefully from the pan and place them gently into a bowl. Put the bowl into the refrigerator and let them harden further for at least an hour.

Remove the bowl and let the eggs reach room temperature again. Now they’re ready for decorating.

Watercolor paint is one excellent way to paint the eggs with any design you want. They soak into the shell well, but it may take several coats to get an even appearance, if that’s desired.

Dye kits are another, very convenient way to decorate your eggs. Many have multiple colors, stencils and other drawing aids.

To make a solid color is simplicity itself. Just place the egg into a small cup with the dye and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Remove and allow to dry on a paper towel or cloth. You will want to toss the cloth or reuse again only for Easter. Don’t expect to get it clean again in the washer.

To make duo-tone eggs, use the little wire holder that comes with the kit and dip one end into one cup for a few minutes. Allow to dry, then dip the other end.

Using stencils, you can mask off and apply a number of colors to a single egg. But, it can get tricky when you try to do more than three. Beyond that, hand painting is the way to go. One way to produce eggs that resemble fine marble is to mix a bit of vegetable oil into the dye. Then, the dye sticks in a marbelized pattern that makes outstanding looking Easter eggs.

Enjoy!

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