Author Topic: Seen on FB: friend going completely overboard with Easter bunny haul for her kid  (Read 12691 times)

CloserToFree

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Seen on Facebook this morning: a friend posting a pic of what the Easter bunny brought her toddler daughter.  The display takes up about 5 feet of floor space and includes:
-a princess themed balloon
-pink hat w/ some sort of Disney characters on it
-custom made blanket with her daughter's name inscribed (along with another princess image)
-about 5 different "activity books" featuring various animated characters
-set of three travel sized kid bath products
-set of four large candy eggs
-paper cut out castle set
-t shirt featuring some other animated characters (paw patrol?)
-4 or 5 glitter sticks and markers
-princess themed lunch box (notice a trend?)
-stamp set
-various pieces of assorted candy
-some sort of princess themed board game

Maybe in my pre-MMM life I'd be impressed or jealous of what she was able to put together for her daughter, but now all I can feel is sad.  Sad for her daughter that she's probably going to grow up spoiled and thinking material things bring happiness, and sad for my friend that she spends so much energy, time and resources buying her daughter stuff (no doubt thinking it'll show her love and make her daughter happy).  Thanks for letting me vent here!  Has anyone else seen crazy displays of holiday-driven materialism?

Gone_Hiking

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A lunch box for a toddler?  Good God, is the kid in primary school or a work camp already?

kayvent

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I will never understand how we went from the king of the Jews being hung on a Roman cross to a toddler getting a Paw Patrols t-shirt.

Rowellen

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I just unfollowed someone for the spendy easter post today. She's spendy in general and I've been actively unfollowing anything that upsets the mindset I'm trying to maintain.

MayDay

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It's strange.

We do Easter baskets. Just regular old baskets.  Mostly filled with spring stuff they needed anyway (swim goggles, etc).

The thing that amazes me is seeing the giant baskets some people get- twice the volume at least of normal baskets.

Also, my MIL buys my kid a second basket of junk. Why? So odd.

Dicey

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On the flip side, we did exactly zero today to celebrate E. Bunny. Perhaps it all averages out.

Maybe the FB friend is insecure and this is her way of proving her "worth" to the world.  Dunno. Don't get it.

I'm a red panda

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I don't understand when Easter became a gift giving holiday.
We used to get a chocolate bunny, go on an egg hunt to get a few quarters and a couple pieces of candy.  Now I see kids unwrapping presents!

Two other notes:
1) when did egg hunts become wild scrambles to pick up easily visible eggs spread around?
2) people asked me what I got my daughter: nothing. She's 3 weeks old.

kimmarg

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A lunch box for a toddler?  Good God, is the kid in primary school or a work camp already?

Just finished packing my toddler's lunch box. She goes to day care, we provide lunch. The easter bunny brought her some eggs filled with breakfast cereal and a ball.

KodeBlue

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2) people asked me what I got my daughter: nothing. She's 3 weeks old.
CHILD ABUSE! I'm reporting you to child protective services!

KodeBlue

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Seen on Facebook this morning: a friend posting a pic of what the Easter bunny brought her toddler daughter.  The display takes up about 5 feet of floor space and includes:
-a princess themed balloon
-custom made blanket with her daughter's name inscribed (along with another princess image)
-princess themed lunch box (notice a trend?)
-some sort of princess themed board game

Yeah her mommy thinks she's a princess. I feel sorry for this girl when she finds out the rest of the world doesn't.

MrMonkeyMoustache

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Could be worse. She could be giving her "gender fluid" stuff, and ruin her daughter's life by starting her down the path of majoring in gender studies and working at Starbucks. MOD NOTE: Made sarcastically or not, comments like this are totally unacceptable. Violation of forum rule #1.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2017, 01:26:45 PM by swick »

lizzzi

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Since when is Easter a gift-giving holiday? Christmas is for presents. Easter is for an Easter basket with candy and maybe...Maybe...a small toy or two. (Especially if you don't want to overload the kids with sugar.)

abhe8

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We love giving Easter baskets, but skip the candy and go for more practical gifts. Books, watetbottle, goggles, watering can, sidewalk chalk. And the stuffed lambs. They stay for 40 days and then go away, to reappear next Easter.

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk


Mrs. S

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Just wondering, how many gift exchanging events in a year are celebrated in US/ west. Here I grew up happy about getting gifts on my birthday and a new set of clothes on Diwali. Bonus was when someone would come visit.

joonifloofeefloo

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I will never understand how we went from the king of the Jews being hung on a Roman cross to a toddler getting a Paw Patrols t-shirt.

The gift-giving comes from the pre-Jesus Easter traditions. They didn't have Paw Patrols shirts when these were started, but the eggs, bunnies, gifting, etc, came from the pre-Jesus Easter stuff :)     A lot of people "doing Easter" are celebrating or riffing off the traditional/historical version.

I'm a red panda

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Just wondering, how many gift exchanging events in a year are celebrated in US/ west. Here I grew up happy about getting gifts on my birthday and a new set of clothes on Diwali. Bonus was when someone would come visit.

I'd think the following are common in Christian/pseudo Christian families:
Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's. 

Some people add in St. Nicholas Day. And I've seen a few families do things for St. Patrick's (what did the Lephrucan bring me?).  The tooth fairy seems more elaborate now too, not just a quarter under the pillow. Halloween gets candy, but not really as a "gift"

KodeBlue

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Just wondering, how many gift exchanging events in a year are celebrated in US/ west. Here I grew up happy about getting gifts on my birthday and a new set of clothes on Diwali. Bonus was when someone would come visit.

I'd think the following are common in Christian/pseudo Christian families:
Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's. 

Some people add in St. Nicholas Day. And I've seen a few families do things for St. Patrick's (what did the Lephrucan bring me?).  The tooth fairy seems more elaborate now too, not just a quarter under the pillow. Halloween gets candy, but not really as a "gift"
These folks need to jump on Hanukkah- 8 nights of gifts!

Mrs. S

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Just wondering, how many gift exchanging events in a year are celebrated in US/ west. Here I grew up happy about getting gifts on my birthday and a new set of clothes on Diwali. Bonus was when someone would come visit.

I'd think the following are common in Christian/pseudo Christian families:
Birthday, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's. 

Some people add in St. Nicholas Day. And I've seen a few families do things for St. Patrick's (what did the Lephrucan bring me?).  The tooth fairy seems more elaborate now too, not just a quarter under the pillow. Halloween gets candy, but not really as a "gift"
These folks need to jump on Hanukkah- 8 nights of gifts!

It must be fun being a kid in these families. I have often wondered why the closets and houses are always bigger in the US (compared to what most Asians would regard as adequate) now I know.
( I know cultural and lifestyle factors affect housing a lot)

HairyUpperLip

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A lunch box for a toddler?  Good God, is the kid in primary school or a work camp already?

Just finished packing my toddler's lunch box. She goes to day care, we provide lunch.

Same. Toddlers eat food.

HairyUpperLip

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Two other notes:
1) when did egg hunts become wild scrambles to pick up easily visible eggs spread around?
2) people asked me what I got my daughter: nothing. She's 3 weeks old.

1) When they started giving everyone trophies just for showing up. That's my guess at least. Really sucks how lame it is. Worst part is all the shitty parents that think it's necessary to help their kids snatch all the eggs.

2) Congratulations on the new baby! :)

slugline

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I guess I'm old-fashioned. When I think of gifts for children at Easter I think they should be small ones with religious themes. I've largely given up on mainstream America and Christmas, but I'll be very saddened if Easter gets turned into a orgy of consumerism as well.

Just Joe

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On the flip side, we did exactly zero today to celebrate E. Bunny. Perhaps it all averages out.

Maybe the FB friend is insecure and this is her way of proving her "worth" to the world.  Dunno. Don't get it.

Us too. Well, we shared a dinner with extended family, played some table games, and ate some chocolate. I tested cable TV again. Nope, still bad... ;)

Laura33

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Oh, this isn't new.  Back when I was The Only Grandchild, my doting grandma did up an outdoor Easter egg hunt, just for me.  Followed by an indoor Easter basket hunt.  Yes:  I got to hunt for multiple Easter baskets, each of which was "hidden" under a couch or some such place.  All that chocolate, just for me -- I loved it!  :-)

And yet I somehow still ended up here.  Go figure.  :-)  What I took from it was how wonderful it was to feel special and have a fuss made over you -- not that you needed a lot of "stuff" for that to happen.  That's what I'm working on passing along to my kids.

Chris22

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-a princess themed balloon
-pink hat w/ some sort of Disney characters on it
-custom made blanket with her daughter's name inscribed (along with another princess image)
-about 5 different "activity books" featuring various animated characters
-set of three travel sized kid bath products
-set of four large candy eggs
-paper cut out castle set
-t shirt featuring some other animated characters (paw patrol?)
-4 or 5 glitter sticks and markers
-princess themed lunch box (notice a trend?)
-stamp set
-various pieces of assorted candy
-some sort of princess themed board game

Actually, uh, a lot of that sounds like pretty healthy stuff for a kid.  Activity books?  Markers?  Stamp Set?  Cut out a castle?  That's all GREAT stuff for a kid to be playing with to develop various things like finger dexterity and writing skills and such that she'll need in Pre-K/Kindergarten.  And a board game?  God forbid we encourage game playing with family.  Honestly, that sounds like someone spent 20 minutes and $20 at the Dollar Spot inside Target (ask me how I know).  Nothing in there sounds expensive, except maybe the t-shirt, hat, and blanket, and those are useful items. 

And shockingly, little girls like Princess stuff.  How terrible. 

We can bitch all we want about turning Easter into a "gift giving" holiday, but you know what I used to get as a kid?  About 5lbs of sugary crap.  I'd rather give my kid a few toys than a shitload of candy, to be honest.  And that's basically what we did, 4y/o daughter got a small doll and a board game and some stickers/coloring books, and then a few small pieces of chocolate.  Way healthier than Easter used to be for me and my friends...

Spork

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I will never understand how we went from the king of the Jews being hung on a Roman cross to a toddler getting a Paw Patrols t-shirt.

The gift-giving comes from the pre-Jesus Easter traditions. They didn't have Paw Patrols shirts when these were started, but the eggs, bunnies, gifting, etc, came from the pre-Jesus Easter stuff :)     A lot of people "doing Easter" are celebrating or riffing off the traditional/historical version.

This.  Easter grew out of a pagan spring fertility ritual -- hence all the rabbits and eggs and basing the date on the phase of the moon, etc. 

The name itself is from the goddess Eostre.  (The actual worship of said goddess named Eostre has been argued as fact/fiction... but it goes way back either way.)

partgypsy

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I was raised Greek Orthodox there was maybe a couple years we received baskets, and we never participated in an Easter egg hunts. However for me it was a big holiday full of church, extended family, really good food (and the egg cracking!). As I still have fond memories of the holiday and love to celebrate, I do make up Easter baskets for my 2 girls, both candy and some kind of small gift, like a doll or stuffed animal for the youngest; oldest is getting a book and a favorite Miyazaki dvd.
When they were younger I would hide eggs so they could do a little hunt as well. And of course have the whole house clean and make lots of good food! Honestly I don't care if it's not Mustachian.

Warlord1986

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-a princess themed balloon
-pink hat w/ some sort of Disney characters on it
-custom made blanket with her daughter's name inscribed (along with another princess image)
-about 5 different "activity books" featuring various animated characters
-set of three travel sized kid bath products
-set of four large candy eggs
-paper cut out castle set
-t shirt featuring some other animated characters (paw patrol?)
-4 or 5 glitter sticks and markers
-princess themed lunch box (notice a trend?)
-stamp set
-various pieces of assorted candy
-some sort of princess themed board game

Actually, uh, a lot of that sounds like pretty healthy stuff for a kid.  Activity books?  Markers?  Stamp Set?  Cut out a castle?  That's all GREAT stuff for a kid to be playing with to develop various things like finger dexterity and writing skills and such that she'll need in Pre-K/Kindergarten.  And a board game?  God forbid we encourage game playing with family.  Honestly, that sounds like someone spent 20 minutes and $20 at the Dollar Spot inside Target (ask me how I know).  Nothing in there sounds expensive, except maybe the t-shirt, hat, and blanket, and those are useful items. 

And shockingly, little girls like Princess stuff.  How terrible. 

We can bitch all we want about turning Easter into a "gift giving" holiday, but you know what I used to get as a kid?  About 5lbs of sugary crap.  I'd rather give my kid a few toys than a shitload of candy, to be honest.  And that's basically what we did, 4y/o daughter got a small doll and a board game and some stickers/coloring books, and then a few small pieces of chocolate.  Way healthier than Easter used to be for me and my friends...

I'm with you. I can't muster the energy needed to feel outrage over some kid enjoying her Disney princess haul. And the 'I don't understand how we got to the point of giving stuff' routine rings insincere. People like giving their kids presents. And Easter egg hunts are hardly setting anyone up for a lifetime of consumerism. They're fun.

For my parents, Easter candy was a bribe. You sit through three days of Masses that last 2 or 3 hours, you get Easter chocolate. Maybe the Pope would side-eye that, but I think he understands that wiggly children like chocolate.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2017, 01:20:43 PM by Warlord1986 »

MandalayVA

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When I was a kid Easter meant:

A new spring pastel dress for Mass
Mass, as in the one time my father would go to it
An Easter basket with a big chocolate bunny and little chocolate eggs
Roast lamb, asparagus and spinach for Easter dinner
Eating our candy in front of the annual TV showing of The Wizard of Oz

I think a couple of times I got a stuffed Easter bunny too, but I don't know when Easter turned into Spring Christmas for some people.

Pigeon

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It doesn't sound all that dreadful to me, either.  Largely crafts/activity type of stuff.  I was all OMG, no princess stuff when my kids were little.  They liked princesses.  It was a phase.  I've got one who wants to go into an allied health field and one into CS.  They aren't going to be sitting in a castle waiting for Prince Charming to rescue them as adults.

I always get a chuckle out of the Christians who want to be outraged about people taking the Christianity out of a co-opted pagan fertility ritual.

pachnik

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I've largely given up on mainstream America and Christmas, but I'll be very saddened if Easter gets turned into a orgy of consumerism as well.

I'll be joining you in sadness if Easter goes the way of Christmas with regard to consumerism.  As a child, the Easter bunny visited our house (while we were asleep - kind of like Santa actually) and left behind a little basket with a chocolate rabbit + some candy eggs.  Grandparents coming over for Easter dinner would bring us more chocolate and that was that.  Family fun with cousins and grandparents + some chocolate.  Pretty good times for a kid! 

Spork

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I always get a chuckle out of the Christians who want to be outraged about people taking the Christianity out of a co-opted pagan fertility ritual.
... or a co-opted pagan winter solstice ritual.

MountainFlower

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My kids ended up with a ton of candy this year.  That is because my husband usually finds the stash and eats half of it before Easter, so tend to buy a lot.  We live 30 miles from a grocery store, so I can't just get more.  This year, he didn't find the stash, but  I didn't realize this fully until Easter morning when I saw the piles of candy my kids had and it became clear.  LOL!  It would have made a fine Facebook post for this forum's consideration! 

kayvent

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I will never understand how we went from the king of the Jews being hung on a Roman cross to a toddler getting a Paw Patrols t-shirt.

The gift-giving comes from the pre-Jesus Easter traditions. They didn't have Paw Patrols shirts when these were started, but the eggs, bunnies, gifting, etc, came from the pre-Jesus Easter stuff :)     A lot of people "doing Easter" are celebrating or riffing off the traditional/historical version.

This.  Easter grew out of a pagan spring fertility ritual -- hence all the rabbits and eggs and basing the date on the phase of the moon, etc. 

The name itself is from the goddess Eostre.  (The actual worship of said goddess named Eostre has been argued as fact/fiction... but it goes way back either way.)

I'm sorry mate, you are wrong. Easter grew out of Passover, a Jewish Holiday commemorating their freedom from slavery in Egypt. The timing of the holiday is not based on the moon either. It is based on the moon and sun (the Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar). If Easter was based on the moon, it would gradually drift by a few days each year like Ramadan.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2017, 02:40:48 PM by kayvent »

Dave1442397

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I grew up in the UK but now live in Canada and the whole Easter bunny visiting/easter baskets is new to me now I have kids. As a kid we got numerous large chocolate eggs from various family members, my best haul was about 12 (big extended family)!
For my kids, at present I'm keeping the gifts to bubbles and chalk plus some candy. They did egg hunts at daycare and at a birthday party on Easter weekend so I didn't do one but let them play with the (empty) eggs, which they loved putting in the basket and dumping out.

I grew up in Ireland and had an uncle who worked for Cadbury in Dublin. You can only imagine the excitement when he'd show up with a huge cardboard box full of Easter eggs :)

The whole Easter Bunny/Basket thing was new to me, too. We never went crazy with it - just a small basket with some Lindt Easter Bunnies and some Peeps.

We also did Easter Egg hunts when my daughter was little. We bought some of those plastic eggs and filled them with Hershey kisses, etc. We used the same eggs every year, and the same basket, too.

I might hit the local British store tomorrow. They usually sell all the UK Easter Eggs at 40-50% off this week. Not that I need the calories, but still...

ambimammular

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DH and I hid the candy filled eggs in the backyard, and it was a blast trying to be clever with hiding them. When the excitement died down we switched and had the kidlets try to hide them from us. Then DH and I raced to see who could find more, with the kids teasing us along.  Way fun.

We just get them stuff that they're needing anyway. Last year it was new pool towels. This year sidewalk chalk and a big flat Lego base for building their whatever on. The girls were sooo appreciative.

Prairie Stash

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-a princess themed balloon
-pink hat w/ some sort of Disney characters on it
-custom made blanket with her daughter's name inscribed (along with another princess image)
-about 5 different "activity books" featuring various animated characters
-set of three travel sized kid bath products
-set of four large candy eggs
-paper cut out castle set
-t shirt featuring some other animated characters (paw patrol?)
-4 or 5 glitter sticks and markers
-princess themed lunch box (notice a trend?)
-stamp set
-various pieces of assorted candy
-some sort of princess themed board game

Actually, uh, a lot of that sounds like pretty healthy stuff for a kid.  Activity books?  Markers?  Stamp Set?  Cut out a castle?  That's all GREAT stuff for a kid to be playing with to develop various things like finger dexterity and writing skills and such that she'll need in Pre-K/Kindergarten.  And a board game?  God forbid we encourage game playing with family.  Honestly, that sounds like someone spent 20 minutes and $20 at the Dollar Spot inside Target (ask me how I know).  Nothing in there sounds expensive, except maybe the t-shirt, hat, and blanket, and those are useful items. 

And shockingly, little girls like Princess stuff.  How terrible. 

We can bitch all we want about turning Easter into a "gift giving" holiday, but you know what I used to get as a kid?  About 5lbs of sugary crap.  I'd rather give my kid a few toys than a shitload of candy, to be honest.  And that's basically what we did, 4y/o daughter got a small doll and a board game and some stickers/coloring books, and then a few small pieces of chocolate.  Way healthier than Easter used to be for me and my friends...
Where do you buy custom blankets? You said to ask; I'm asking you to price out your claim of $20, I'm curious how cheap stuff is in the USA. 

The OP posted there was ample candy in there too....4 large candy eggs and various pieces of candy. Are you saying, without seeing, that there wasn't 5 lb of candy? How do you know without seeing it? Rather than contradicting what the OP saw, maybe it was exactly like what only person on this board who saw it described?

infogoon

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I always get a chuckle out of the Christians who want to be outraged about people taking the Christianity out of a co-opted pagan fertility ritual.
... or a co-opted pagan winter solstice ritual.

Keep Saturn in Saturnalia!

I'm a red panda

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I've largely given up on mainstream America and Christmas, but I'll be very saddened if Easter gets turned into a orgy of consumerism as well.

I'll be joining you in sadness if Easter goes the way of Christmas with regard to consumerism.  As a child, the Easter bunny visited our house (while we were asleep - kind of like Santa actually) and left behind a little basket with a chocolate rabbit + some candy eggs.  Grandparents coming over for Easter dinner would bring us more chocolate and that was that.  Family fun with cousins and grandparents + some chocolate.  Pretty good times for a kid!

The name alone is a pretty good claim it came from eostre, whose festival is spring equinox, and is symbolized by a rabbit.

TheGrimSqueaker

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There was a Mesopotamian goddess named Ishtar who was in charge of war, sex, fertility, love and power. Not necessarily in that order. I don't see a connection to eggs or bunnies in the Epic of Gilgamesh or anywhere else-- lions were more Ishtar's style-- however there's definitely a correlation with Aphrodite/Venus.

MichaelB

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I've largely given up on mainstream America and Christmas, but I'll be very saddened if Easter gets turned into a orgy of consumerism as well.

I'll be joining you in sadness if Easter goes the way of Christmas with regard to consumerism.  As a child, the Easter bunny visited our house (while we were asleep - kind of like Santa actually) and left behind a little basket with a chocolate rabbit + some candy eggs.  Grandparents coming over for Easter dinner would bring us more chocolate and that was that.  Family fun with cousins and grandparents + some chocolate.  Pretty good times for a kid!

The name alone is a pretty good claim it came from eostre, whose festival is spring equinox, and is symbolized by a rabbit.

I'm not sure if I have a bone to pick or not. Do you mean that the actual Christian religious holiday grew out of the worship of a Germanic goddess named Eostre? That is transparently silly. Christians were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus long before Germanic tribes were converted. Easter is the English word, but the much older word for the celebration is Pascha, from the Aramaic spelling of the Hebrew word Pesah, for Passover. Because according to the Bible, Jesus' death and resurrection coincided with the Jewish Passover.

Or do you mean that the name Easter, and a lot of the non-religious customs surrounding Easter, grew out of pagan celebrations? As in, "Fine, keep your spring rabbit party--hell, we'll even let you keep the name Eostre--but now you have to make it about Jesus"? Okay, no bone to pick.

Morning Glory

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Maybe she got it cheap with coupons. And the kid might have actually needed the clothes, they grow fast.

I didn't get my 2 year old anything for Easter, or his birthday or Christmas for that matter. He is too young to notice or care, and he got too many toys from other people for Christmas anyway. I asked my parents to get him clothing and some room decals instead of toys for his birthday. He is happy just to play outside with sticks. Mainly I just don't like clutter.  When he gets older I will probably do what my mom did and hide chocolate eggs for him to find. We also got a basket with more candy and maybe a new book or some crayons.

RFAAOATB

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1) When they started giving everyone trophies just for showing up. That's my guess at least. Really sucks how lame it is. Worst part is all the shitty parents that think it's necessary to help their kids snatch all the eggs.

I made the mistake of not anticipating that there would be too many kids and not enough eggs at the public hunt leading to toddlers leaving empty handed.  I made the executive decision to go to the store and buy eggs and candy for another playground that the other kids didn't know about.  After some distraction I got it settled and toddlers got some eggs.  Moral of the story is if you're going to a public egg hunt with toddlers, have a pre made stash in your bag/purse and an accomplice to hide them right out of sight after the rush.

kayvent

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I've largely given up on mainstream America and Christmas, but I'll be very saddened if Easter gets turned into a orgy of consumerism as well.

I'll be joining you in sadness if Easter goes the way of Christmas with regard to consumerism.  As a child, the Easter bunny visited our house (while we were asleep - kind of like Santa actually) and left behind a little basket with a chocolate rabbit + some candy eggs.  Grandparents coming over for Easter dinner would bring us more chocolate and that was that.  Family fun with cousins and grandparents + some chocolate.  Pretty good times for a kid!

The name alone is a pretty good claim it came from eostre, whose festival is spring equinox, and is symbolized by a rabbit.

That is a pretty anglo-centric view of the world that causes a huge anachronism. Christians have been celebrating the holiday since the first century. At that time, English didn't exist. The languages that were around like Latin or Greek referred to the holiday as Passover or Resurrection Day. Even today, outside of English and German, the name for the holiday is their word for Passover (usually a loanword that sounds like pansck) or their word for 'resurrection' is used to title the holiday. The English/German name for the holiday originates in the sixteeth century. Fifteen centuries after the holiday started.

It is comical to use name "Easter" to be evidence that it is a refurbished Eostre; "Easter" is the minority name for the holiday and a recent name at that. (In other words, it is perfectly reasonable to suggest the name Easter is derived from the name Eostre, but to suggest that shows that Easter is a holiday derived from Eostre is wrong as the holiday predates that particular name by many centuries. When translating concepts from one language to another, using loanwords or repurposing words in the destination language is normal. The choice to do the latter does not change the source language's meaning though.)
« Last Edit: April 18, 2017, 07:33:37 PM by kayvent »

joonifloofeefloo

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Or do you mean that the name Easter, and a lot of the non-religious customs surrounding Easter, grew out of pagan celebrations? As in, "Fine, keep your spring rabbit party--hell, we'll even let you keep the name Eostre--but now you have to make it about Jesus"? Okay, no bone to pick.

This is a common understanding, yes.

So, today we have some pagans doing Easter stuff for their reasons -as some of them had always done- some atheists doing Easter stuff for their reasons, some Christians doing Easter stuff for their reasons, some others doing Easter stuff for their reasons...and also plenty of Christians doing passover, celebration of the resurrection, etc, but not doing Easter.

onehair

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My mom used to give us small stuffed chicks, dyed eggs and oranges.  We never liked those pre wrapped baskets they always had some form of candy I completely despised. Like jellybeans ick.....or those gross pastel eggs. I did that for my own kids customized baskets were so much cheaper.  Now that they are all grown, I just got two nice stitched Easter bags for grandbabies at a craft fair and filled them with homemade Fruity Pebbles cookies.

Goldielocks

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Or do you mean that the name Easter, and a lot of the non-religious customs surrounding Easter, grew out of pagan celebrations? As in, "Fine, keep your spring rabbit party--hell, we'll even let you keep the name Eostre--but now you have to make it about Jesus"? Okay, no bone to pick.

This is a common understanding, yes.

So, today we have some pagans doing Easter stuff for their reasons -as some of them had always done- some atheists doing Easter stuff for their reasons, some Christians doing Easter stuff for their reasons, some others doing Easter stuff for their reasons...and also plenty of Christians doing passover, celebration of the resurrection, etc, but not doing Easter.
Jooni -- usually you are right on or have a creative insight, but I think you are just twisted up and so utterly wrong about this one.

Easter (or Paschka, or whatever), is a Christian holiday, that coincides with Passover because the event celebrated is tied to Passover.  in fact, it is the single most important Christian holiday, so getting it twisted up / wrong is kind of a big deal.

Spring equinox (and various pagan celebrations) is a completely different thing, on a different date, pagans / celts etc. are not doing Easter stuff, they are doing their equinox stuff.  So is commercial celebration of Easter that looks a lot more like a commercial celebration of Valentine's Day than anything else.  The fact that the commercial celebration grabbed onto a date that was already a national holiday,  (because it was such an important religious holiday to so many citizens a century ago), well, that commercial date is just for convenience and marketing / money purposes.

I have never heard of Christians doing passover but not easter... that is pretty much not possible, by definition.

On another note:
As for symbolism -- it is interesting to note that the egg is a classic (orthodox) symbol of Christian renewal and rebirth that resulted from an empty tomb.

Rabbits  - not sure...  They are cute, common in the Spring, and the Peter Rabbit story about handing out treats to his friends was well received in English speaking countries.  Perhaps adapted, like Santa Claus, by those marketing companies.

joonifloofeefloo

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^ I know it can sound crazy at first hearing. I try to be sensitive to people's faiths and practices, so would never say such things lightly.

I'm connected with several groups of Christians that don't do Easter, because of their commitment to certain things (what they call purity, historical accuracy, etc). For me, it's important to honour them as much as any other Christian group, including those that do choose to practice Easter. It's a very interesting perspective to explore, for anyone that wants to Google (anything along the lines of 'Christians that don't celebrate Easter').

Goldielocks

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^ I know it can sound crazy at first hearing. I try to be sensitive to people's faiths and practices, so would never say such things lightly.

I'm connected with several groups of Christians that don't do Easter, because of their commitment to certain things (what they call purity, historical accuracy, etc). For me, it's important to honour them as much as any other Christian group, including those that do choose to practice Easter. It's a very interesting perspective to explore, for anyone that wants to Google (anything along the lines of 'Christians that don't celebrate Easter').

It is simply impossible to not do Easter as a Christian.  That is saying that you don't believe in Christ, which is the key point of being a Christian.

Someone may not participate in the commercialization part (e.g., no chocolate give aways).  Some may even not agree with the traditional christian symbolism of the cross, or argue about details like dates and such., some may prefer to recognize and celebrate "Easter" everyday..... 
« Last Edit: April 19, 2017, 01:19:27 PM by Goldielocks »

joonifloofeefloo

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It is simply impossible to not do Easter as a Christian.  That is saying that you don't believe in Christ, which is the key point of being a Christian.

Someone may not participate in the commercialization part (e.g., no chocolate give aways).  Some may even not agree with the traditional christian symbolism of the cross, or argue about details like dates and such., some may prefer to recognize and celebrate "Easter" everyday.....

It's totally worth a Google, to hear from other Christians about how they do this, and how this decision fits with their faith, belief, and commitments, to see how they intentionally and purposefully choose not to celebrate Easter while absolutely believing in Christ. There are some excellent essays -from people in a variety of denominations- on the topic.

I respect those.

I can't comfortably declare some Christians as "not Christian" if they don't do Easter, especially given the deep and committed thought and exploration so many of them put into that decision of conscience. I celebrate and honour a decision that comes out of that, even if it is different than mine.

I don't feel comfortable defining Christianity for each Christian. I do trust every person fully dedicated to a path to explore their heart, their faith, their scriptures, etc, and determine their practices as they see fit. I can't in good conscience declare a person "not a Christian" if they don't take on the traditions that some of the other Christians do. For me, it is totally okay for there to be diversity within the very large ocean that is Christianity.

kayvent

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^ I know it can sound crazy at first hearing. I try to be sensitive to people's faiths and practices, so would never say such things lightly.

I'm connected with several groups of Christians that don't do Easter, because of their commitment to certain things (what they call purity, historical accuracy, etc). For me, it's important to honour them as much as any other Christian group, including those that do choose to practice Easter. It's a very interesting perspective to explore, for anyone that wants to Google (anything along the lines of 'Christians that don't celebrate Easter').

It is simply impossible to not do Easter as a Christian.  That is saying that you don't believe in Christ, which is the key point of being a Christian.

Someone may not participate in the commercialization part (e.g., no chocolate give aways).  Some may even not agree with the traditional christian symbolism of the cross, or argue about details like dates and such., some may prefer to recognize and celebrate "Easter" everyday..... 

I google'd 'Christians that don't celebrate Easter' like jooniflorisploo suggested and read some of the results. Interesting reads. I disagree with the conclusions but I understand them; the root issue is what to translate the Hebrew & Greek words for Passover as (the German/English tradition is to translate it as either Passover or Easter). If I saw a Christian celebrating Passover I'd label that as Easter and if 'they' saw me celebrating Easter (I don't do any of the chocolate, eggs, or bunnies) they'd label that as Passover. It seems more like a trivial matter of labeling the same thing differently than "not celebrating Easter or Passover".