While Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, Easter is my favorite holiday. I could celebrate every month and not get tired of it. However, I don’t do a lot of decorating for the holiday, but I like to add a few touches to my seasonal spring decor. This year, I also wanted to create little goodies for my friends. I was thinking about how the moms (and some dads) are always making Easter special for their kids and families, but where’s their basket of treats? So, I decided to create just a little something special for those who are often forgotten (as well as our neighbors!).

Only two rooms in our home got some Easter decorating touches. In our living room, I filled a planter with Spanish moss and then added a few speckled plastic eggs. I also found some little gold ducks at the Target Dollar Spot that add some whimsey as well. I like the neutral items because they naturally work with the style of the space, and they’re interactive for our youngest daughter. She can mess with the eggs, move the gold ducks around and it’s not only fine, but encouraged. She has quite the imagination and I love hearing her play when she thinks no one is watching.

The other room with some commercial Easter touches is the dining room. This was a natural choice since we’re hosting Easter lunch and it’s an easy space to decorate as well. I love the idea of decorating the entryway for holidays and seasons, but I don’t always get to it and our entry is so quickly bypassed that sometimes I think I may be the only one who notices changes to the space. Our dining space has evolved over the last three years and I have even more plans for it! But for Easter, I stacked my apothecary cabinet on top of the console and had fun layering it with planters, faux plants, and some moss bunnies from The Dollar Tree.

I found similar bunnies at Hobby Lobby for much more than $1.25, so I felt pretty good about adding such an affordable Easter decoration that fits so well with my style. I still have the real tree branch from the Downton Abbey party, but I added faux leaves to it for a nice spring vibe. Otherwise, I just used what I already had and then added some plastic speckled eggs because what screams ‘Jesus’ more than eggs!? Just kidding.

So, even though I don’t count the kitchen as being decorated for Easter, it is the space where we keep Quinn’s Easter garden. She had a playdate with her most cherished friend and they each made an Easter garden. It’s such a fun tactile craft, it’s meaningful and a significant remembrance, and it’s really easy to put together. We planted wheat grass, which is always fun to watch grow, and when we’re done with the garden, I can use the tray as it was intended, as a plant saucer. The kitchen island is also a great place for a floral or stem arrangement, so I added some real pussywillow branches to a vase.

Did you know that you can buy bulk egg cartons? Well, you can, and I did for my Easter gifts. You can find colorful ones, but I just went with kraft brown and then filled them with color. My teenaged daughter, Sawyer, helped me assemble these and it was so much fun. I hope they make their recipients feel special. The live succulent plant is a little risky, but I’m hoping all the dirt stays in place. I designed the tags using Canva.com, and closed the cartons with satin ribbon. Inside, there is a mini jam, mini succulent, chocolate, jellybeans, an eggshell candle, a plastic egg with a tattoo, and a fuzzy little chick. I hope these Easter cartons give you inspiration to upcycle your empty cartons and get crafty.

While my kids are still young and willing, we will carry on the tradition of decorating eggs. This year, we skipped the dye and tattoos, and used this fun decorator call Egg Mazing. It comes with permanent markers, so be careful or use washable ones if you’re concerned. It takes two double A batteries and is pretty quiet. We all had fun and it was cute watching my youngest daughter, Quinn, come up with various designs for different people. Here’s a video demonstration.

While Easter is my favorite holiday, it is also a reminder of not living near our family in Oregon. I have so many years of wonderful memories of getting together, hunting for eggs, and sharing lots of laughs. While I reflect on Christ’s resurrection and feel grateful and hopeful, I will also be thinking about our family. I hope that everyone celebrating this holy day gets to be near at least some of their family. He is risen!