Easter preparations!

Our family, we really like celebrating.  We do it small.  We keep it simple.  But at the same time we somehow manage to make it a really big shindig :)  Thankfully our kids are still very impressed with small-time gigs.  It doesn't take much more than a whole lot of built-up anticipation and a few "special" things to convince them that whatever the celebration .... it's a big deal! 

So I've been spinning some Easter ideas around in my head - and figured many of you were doing the same.  Let's consider this a little idea swap :) 

Last year the without-a-doubt-biggest-hit was our Easter Garden (click to follow link).  It's an Easter week thing and the basics can be pulled together in about five minutes with a baking dish, raw potato, two pieces of pipe cleaner and a few things from your yard.  (You can definitely get more snazzy with this one but I'm a 'keep it simple' kind of Momma!)

We always enjoy our Resurrection Eggs - and the kids are already begging to get out the Easter baskets and play Easter Egg Hunt (one child hides eggs all over house while the others wait - then "go!" and enjoy the hunt together).  Years ago I both loved and dreaded this simple game.  That was back when I was the only egg hider and my egg seeker (or maybe two) was very limited in search capacity.  Now I have three very competent hiders and three competent seekers, so it's a win-win for me :)   Especially if I just accept that I'll be scouring the house in mid-June and stumble across one final well-hidden egg! 

This year we're going to try a few new things too.  I found this resource (again, click to follow) on the Desiring God website - essentially, start the Saturday before Palm Sunday with seven lit candles.  Each day has a Bible reading (already prepped for you!) and then you snuff out one candle each day til Good Friday when only one candle is lit for the reading and snuffed out for a completely 'dark' Saturday before Easter morning when all are lit again.  Candles are a big attention-getter around here.  I think we'll try to do this at dinner during Easter week.  Prep would be to print the readings and get out seven candles - matching would be nice but in a pinch I'm sure any seven will work :)  

Years ago a family moving back to the U.S. gave us a deck of Easter egg shaped playing cards.  We were way too young at the time to do any card playing, so I turned them into craft supplies instead.  This year we finished off our card stash with a "JESUS IS ALIVE" Easter banner for our porch door.  

We're already several weeks into reading our Easter books and coloring Easter cards and ogling our egg dye kit and all that jazz.  With a baby set to make his/her appearance sometime between now and Easter Sunday I figured an earlier start couldn't hurt! 

What are some of your ideas?  I know lots of our friends do the "tomb cookies" thing.  Any other big hits from your families?