Sustainable Easter
Easter has become one of my favorite holidays over the years. Even though, commercially, it is coupled with lots of plastic waste. That doesn’t have to be the way that you choose to celebrate!
I know that hunting for Easter eggs filled with candy is a large part of how many folks celebrate, and I am not going to be the one to change that. I’m only in control of me. I would love to tell you a couple of ways that I, personally, have curbed my plastic waste in regards to Easter!
Easter table decorations: dyed eggs in a thrifted basket and local tulips.
First of all, I have not always (nor do I currently) celebrate this holiday without plastic. I don’t believe in trying to pretend I am perfect in this journey. I have plastic eggs that I have had for about 8 years that I keep reusing. I purchased some sturdy, cute eggs at Michaels and some vintage ones at a thrift store. (I see Easter eggs at the thrift store quite often.) Every year, after the holiday, I put all of the Easter grass and the eggs in a grocery bag and store them for the following year. Once my kids are too grown up for Easter baskets, I will donate most of these unless they want to keep them for their kiddos.
Using what we had, we dyed these eggs with turmeric, beets, purple cabbage, and onion skins.
My children and I have been dying eggs with natural and commercial dyes over the years. We usually get together with another family and share the dyes so it makes the whole process more fun and we have less waste. I save scraps from purple cabbage and onion skins all throughout the year in a bag in the freezer, that way I don’t have to go buy all the food ingredients to make the natural dyes. You can also save blueberries that have gone bad and the peels of beets. These can all be used as dye materials. A quick google search will bring up lots of tutorials on naturally dyeing eggs, so I will not go into those details here. Once we have dyed eggs, we like the use these as decorations for our table until Easter morning. On Easter morning, it has become our tradition to hide the eggs along with clues that lead to the next egg—eventually leading the kiddos to their Easter baskets. Searching throughout the woods for eggs and baskets add to the excitement and anticipation. We then host a potluck breakfast with lots of friends outside, around a campfire, and enjoy the beauty of Springtime!
Kiddos enjoying the hunt with clues to their next egg.
As far as actual Easter basket fillers—I started the tradition of getting a book and some items that encourage outdoor play (like camping gear, bug catchers, a field guide, their own headlamp, etc) plus I buy each of my girls a small chocolate bunny (Lindt comes in foil which is nice) and a couple of candies they like including one bag of jelly beans that I fill the aforementioned eggs with. I limit individually wrapped candy if I can. Those boxes of “movie theatre” candy are a good option.
The joy of finding her basket filled. This year I had bought goggles she needed for the upcoming summer.
So here’s my advice—choose something and make it your tradition! It helps to have a little plan in place before the holiday sneaks up on you and the aisles of Target urge you to over-consume things you don’t really need or want. And use what you have first when it comes to baskets, refillable eggs, and grasses (you can really use actual grass from your yard here).
A table full of our favorite plastic-free items for basket-filling at the shop.
We currently have a lovely little selection of items at the shop that I think are great for Easter baskets: caramels, lip balms, stickers, finger paints, recycled crayons, notebooks, and the cutest little soaps you ever did see!
