recycling easter eggs

We have a tradition of Easter morning easter egg hunts in our backyard. We're fortunate that we live in a climate that makes outside hunts possible this time of year, and we have a beautiful yard to hide eggs!

I fill plastic eggs with stickers, coins, small candies and sometimes small toys. DH & I go out late the night before and toss eggs all over the yard! Last year, I think we hid about 40 eggs.

Every year, after Easter, I gather the eggs into a paper bag and put it in my closet. The following Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent), I put the paper bag out on the back porch so the Easter Bunny can pick it up and re-use our eggs. Since we have some special eggs (sports balls for instance), I knew the boys would appreciate seeing them year after year. Also, we do our best to re-use and recycle in our home.

It has become a tradition over the years to do this, and the boys have been wondering throughout Lent whether or not the Easter Bunny is done filling "their" eggs yet.

This year, they'll find the familiar eggs, plus a dozen camouflage eggs their Aunt Bunny picked up. (yes, we call her Aunt Bunny. It started as a family joke when I was pregnant with C and it became her beloved nickname.) While L won't be running behind them THIS year, she'll be crawling and trying to catch up! I suppose next year we'll have to add some girly eggs to our stash for our toddler!

It is nice that we don't have to buy plastic eggs every year. Those that get broken are thrown away, but the ones in good shape are used year after year.