Easter Crafts

Making Easter come to life

Easter, with its egg hunts and candy baskets, brings with it all manner of possibilities in terms of craft projects. The entire family will enjoy creating art objects that can be incorporated into the celebration year after year.

Pisanka

The most basic kind of craft project at Easter is the traditional dying of eggs on Saturday night to be hidden on Sunday morning in an Easter egg hunt. While most grocery stores sell color kits involving dye, decals, and drawing utensils, consider jazzing up the annual event with traditional Eastern European techniques. Celebrated for centuries in Slavic countries, the batik-like decorating process known as pisanka produces intricate, dynamically hued eggs. Produced by rolling a boiled egg in liquid, heated wax and etching the waxed surface before dyeing, the process of pisanka produces eggs as exotic and brilliant as jewels.

A tisket, a tasket

Another popular tradition at Easter, the Easter basket, involves giving the recipient a basket full of colorful candies and chocolate. Instead of purchasing pre-packaged candy baskets, personalize the holiday by having each member of the family decorate their own basket. Using paint, fabric, and patches, even young children will be able to add a few special touches to their basket. As an alternative, felt bags, hand-sewn and individually decorated, can take the place of mass-produced items. Useful all year round, these bags can be redecorated year after year. Try adding sequins and bright buttons for a splash of cheer.

A kid in a candy store

In addition, making candy or chocolate by hand adds a personal touch to the proceedings. Preparing your own chocolates can be as simple as melting down store-bought chocolate and pouring it into a mold. For the more ambitious confectioner, a number of recipes exist to create chocolate from its base ingredients or hand roll exquisite truffles.

Rock candy or gumdrops require only ingredients readily available at a corner grocery store. Whatever kind of candy you chose to make, you can wrap them individually in pastel-toned tissue paper and cellophane and give them as gifts. Have each member of the household trade them in a gift exchange.

The big night

Easter dinner can be another opportunity for family projects. Cook dinner together and have every member of the household contribute to setting up a special Easter table, with appropriate religious icons or fresh spring flowers as a centerpiece.

More information on Easter Decorations