Easter
is almost here! Having a house full of friends and relatives can be fun
but also a bit stressful. The key to a successful day is to make sure
you are enjoying yourself. If you are relaxing and having fun your
guests will too. One way to distress is to enlist some pint size
helpers to lighten your workload by having them set your Easter table.
Let go of the idea of picture perfect. From the youngest to the oldest
they can all have a job. The pride they feel will show in their smiles
as everyone comes to the table for dinner.
Here some of ideas the we
are using at our house this
Personalized Easter Baskets filled with treats - Jake, age 8 A
small-unfinished wooden basket from Michael's painted an Easter color
personalized with the guest's first name with stickers from the
scrapbook section and filled with Easter candy. Time: Less than 5 minutes each Costs: Around $2.00 each. Age: 8 and up
Hard boiled eggs on silver trays placed around the table - Avery, age 4 Place
little masterpieces of decorated hard-boiled eggs on little silver
trays from the wedding section at Walmart or Michael's. You can color
the eggs ahead of time and let children decorate with stickers and
jewels. Put the trays at each place setting. Time: 30 minutes not including cooling time for the eggs Costs: $3.00 per dozen eggs Age: 3 and up/
Flowers -Morgan, age 11 Make paper tulips and place in vases around the table. You'll need different colored tissue paper, a green pipe cleaner, a paint brush, a
pair of scissors, some green paint and the cup part of cardboard egg
carton. Paint the egg cup green- this will be the bottom of your tuplip
after it is dry poke a hole in the bottom of the egg cup. Cut the
tissue paper into squares, using as many colors as you like, lay the
tissue paper diagonally on top of each other on the table, once you
have all your colors laid down, pick up the tissue paper in the center
and place in the egg cup. Take the pipe cleaner and poke it through the
hole in the bottom on the eggcup. Cut a piece, a strip of yellow tissue
paper to act as the middle of the flower. Place that in the center of
the tulip where the pipe cleaner comes up and then just wrap the pipe
cleaner around it. Fluff the sides and using scissors round the edges
of the flower. Add leaves with green tissue paper if you like. Arrange
in a vases around the room and table.
Time: Less than 5 minutes per flower Costs: $5.00 will make a room full of flowers Age: Age 10 and up
Bunny Tangrams- Nacho Sam, age 10 This is a great way to keep the kids busy while you put the finishing touches on dinner. Tangrams
are an ancient Chinese puzzle that is a fun way for kids to learn math
concepts. Make up a tangram puzzle for each child. Award prizes when
they finish. Have older ones help little ones by working together to
solve. For the template and instructions visit: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11940 Time: Less than 30 minutes Costs: 50 cents each Age: 10 and up
