Eggcelent family fun

Easter is almost upon us! This year Easter is in the 3rd week of April and Easter Sunday is April 20. For some of us, especially those with kids, this holiday represents the day the Easter Bunny comes and delivers chocolate eggs. Traditions vary across the world, but one of the most fun activities to do over Easter is to decorate boiled eggs, hide them, then set the kids off on an Egg Hunt. Here are my tips for doing this in Kansai.

Egg Coloring

Where this tradition came from is unknown but it’s such a fun thing to do with the whole family. You can buy egg coloring kits (as well as Chocolate Easter Bunnies) on the Foreign Buyer’s Club (fbcusa.com) website for under ¥600. These kits usually include five coloring tablets; one wire spoon to hold your egg while dipping into the colors; a magic crayon (you can write on the eggs before you color them and because of the wax the colors don’t adhere); some stickers; and the box, which turns into a very useful egg drying tray.

After you have boiled your eggs and let them cool, you can get started on preparing your dyes. According to the package, you can dissolve your dye tablets in water, lemon juice or vinegar. All of these work fine. Just make sure you have lots of newspaper down and smocks on the kids. This will be messy and there will be spills.

If you want more exotic eggs try buying some colored glitter and drawing patterns on the eggs with glue and pouring some glitter on top to give the eggs a bit of extra sparkle. Messy but fun. If you want something simpler and less messy why don’t you make your hard boiled eggs into bunnies. All you need is: pink pompoms to use as the nose, construction paper for the ears, glue and a permanent marker to draw on the eyes and whiskers.

Egg Hunt

On Easter Sunday morning at our house we have an Easter Egg Hunt. We hide the eggs we have colored and candy from the Easter Bunny. As our kids are still young we print out Easter Bunny footprints and place them near the hidden eggs and candy to give clues. The kids love it! (Just don’t forget where you hid everything! You don’t want to smell out the lost eggs in the heat of August!) If you’d like to join an outdoor Easter Egg Hunt you have your chance this year at Utsubo Park.

Happy Easter!

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Easter Event this year at Utsubo Park

There will be an Easter Egg Hunt, Easter games, prizes and you can meet the Easter Bunny! Sign up and register your child on Facebook (Utsubo Park Easter Egg Hunt 2014). Or email Melissa at: kids.events. osaka@gmail.com
• Date: Sunday April 27 (Rain Date: Tuesday April 29)
• Time: Check-in 9:30
• Fee: ¥2,000 per child

Downloadable Easter Bunny Footprints: blog.lovemae.com.au/2012/03/follow-bunnyprintable.html
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