With Easter approaching the children kindly received £10.00 each from their great-grandparents to buy themselves some treats. We headed into town to have a look around the shops for toys, clothes and sweets, or whatever took their fancy; and as we were driving the children merrily chatted about what they wanted to spend their money on. My son Gabriele (2yrs) immediately squealed “chocolate please Mummy!” and Millie (7yrs) took a moment to think before saying “I think I’d like some Easter craft please, because it will last longer than chocolate and Nanny and Granddad always have chocolate at their house anyway.” Very wise words for a little lady!
Homemade Easter Calendar
So we decided if the children put their money together they could both have what they wanted, and as a family activity we could make a countdown calendar to put treats into for the lead up to Easter, just like a Christmas advent. To gather the items we needed we visited two stores, the first was the local fabric shop where we bought a large panel of blue felt for the wall hanging, along with several smaller felt pastel shades and some cotton which came to £16.00. Afterwards we went to the pound shop to buy some bags of chocolate coins, miniature eggs and Easter sequins totalling £4.00, spending our £20.00 budget down to the last penny.
It’s not how much you spend that equates to the value of a task, treat or gift, it’s the experience, the enjoyment and the thought that counts. The children adored counting out their money and paying the store assistants, deciding which materials to buy and what treats to fill their calendar with. I’d have liked them to fill the calendar with fluffy toy chicks and puzzles instead of sweets, but rather than them eating an entire bag of chocolate coins in a matter of minutes, this way they will have just one each day and the bag will last two whole weeks.
When we got home Millie presented me with a blue crepe paper Easter bunny she’d made at school and asked me to copy the same design to turn herself, Gabriele and I into Easter bunnies for our countdown calendar. She chose the colour pink for her bunny, blue for Gabriele’s and yellow for mine, as they all differed slightly in size to indicate our ages. We cut our 14 egg shaped pockets to stitch over some green hills, decorating them with the Easter sequins Gabriele had chosen. Adding ‘Happy Easter’ along with a sunshine, clouds, rain, a daffodil, Easter bonnet and a basket of eggs, our countdown wall hanger was complete in just under a day.
We had a wonderful time crafting together, and now we can treasure our personalised family calendar for many years to come. Millie loved designing the eggs and scenery, and Gabriele was so excited to point out shapes, colours and count the bunnies as we went along. Who would have thought a lovely £20.00 treat from their great-grandparents could lead to such imagination, creativity and team work. And each day that leads up to Easter allows the children to think about why we celebrate this occasion, to have patience in counting down the days and to share their treats with one another daily. Happy Easter from the Kisses!
