Natural and Organic Easter Ideas
Easter is the season for egg laying bunnies. Such a unique idea to depict the ultimate symbolism of Spring, fertility and new life. Sometimes we get so used to the concept it is easy to forget it is a fiction.
The Christian Holiday is based on Pagan traditions of Ostara, and is named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre. Given the Pagan’s love and celebration of nature it seems appropriate, regardless of your faith and following, to use natural and organic products and methods when creating Easter traditions. I have a few good ideas, and have combed the web for some great ideas, and bring them to you in one little Easter bundle. Enjoy and Happy Easter!
1. Make Your Own Organic Easter Egg Dyes – This little site, Ugga Mugga, is filled with wonderful dyeing options, as is this clever site, Crunchy Domestic Goddess. The suggestions for egg dying materials range from beets, spinach, blackberries, grape juice and apples to tea, paprika, chili powder, turmeric and coffee. Colorful stuff!
2. Use Natural Materials for Easter Grass – Instead of using plastic grass that lasts years in landfills, the Organic Natural Gift Guide suggests using natural materials to make your own grass, “…make use of shredded paper, cut up strips of colored paper, crumbled colored paper, shredded magazines, Spanish moss, raffia, pine tree branches with pine cones, popcorn—yes popcorn, yarn, ribbon, play silks, whole piece or cut up fabric, “new” small blanket, place setting cloth and or grow your own Easter grass (need approx 7 days to grow your own). See, any of these items can be used in place of the typical plastic grass! And, they all can be recycled for other uses or composted. All easy and accessible!”
3. Create an Eco-Friendly Easter Basket – This adorable little post from Simple Organic is filled with great ideas. It re-emphasizes the use of natural grass options, making your own Easter basket, plastic egg alternatives and creative basket fillers. When you see how cute the shredded paper can be in a basket you will want to use it. Afterwards, you could toss it in a basket outside for birds to scavenge for nesting materials.
4. Gift a Basket of Homemade Health and Beauty Products – Everyday we put numerous varieties of chemicals on our skin, things we would never imagine ingesting, but allow to permeate through our pours. It is difficult to give up all of our favorite (and convenient) products, but it is nice to have some organic options and take a restful time out for your skin. There are a few ideas for homemade care I’ve provided on this site: Grapefruit Lavender Sugar Scrub for soft skin, and Lavender Linen Spray for relaxation as noted in #3 in Simple Spring Cleaning. You can also make a homemade oatmeal scrub by mixing the following: 1/2 Cup finely ground oatmeal, 1/4 cup finely ground sea salt, 1/4 cup finely ground epson salt (you can put all in a food processor to grind), 1/2 cup lavender massage oil (or 1/2 cup grapeseed oil with 15 drops lavender essential oil). There is every type of recipe imaginable on Easy Aromatherapy Recipes. There are also a large variety of homemade, organic products available online. For essential oils I really love Mountain Rose Herbs in Eugene, OR.
5. Set Your Table for Spring – Easter is a celebration of Life and Renewal. There are so many beautiful plants, trees and flowers budding and blooming outside your back door. Snip small branches of buds and leaves (nothing too invasive) and pick a few bulb flowers (Daffodils, Tulips and Hyacinth) and bring them inside for fresh centerpiece arrangements. Remember to keep the arrangements low in the middle of the table (with only a few high sprigs) so guests can see each other and talk easily. Purchase seed packets (or use packaged seeds cultivated from your yard) and label with names for place settings for your guests to take home as small gifts. Burn soy candles for clean-burning, fresh light. Dress the table with bright Spring colors to set the mood for celebration and joy! The Organic French Linens at Rawganique are sumptuous.
Hippity-hoppity, Easter’s on its way!
