*Homemade Egg Dye: To mix up a batch of nontoxic dye for dipping white eggs, place 1/2 cup hot tap water, 2 tsp vinegar, and 6 drops food coloring into a small bowl and stir well. Then mix together a few different food colors to produce purple, turquoise, or other hues.
*Easter Bunny Salad: Put a lettuce leaf on the platter. Place a pear half on lettuce, for "bunny's body." Make "ears" out of apple slices. Insert raisins for the "eyes" and "nose." Create "bunny's tail" out of a miniature marshmallow or cottage cheese.
*Edible Easter Baskets: For this Easter party recipe, you'll need 12 cupcakes, white frosting, green food coloring, 12 pipe cleaners, jelly beans and 1 cup shredded coconut.
Frost the cupcakes with the icing. Bend a pipe cleaner into an arch and push the ends into the sides of each cupcake. Make green coconut grass by adding a few drops of the food coloring to the coconut.
Rest jelly bean eggs on top of the grass. Tie a ribbon bow on the pipe cleaner handle at a jaunty angle. Put one cupcake basket by each place setting or give them as gifts.
Easter Party Cake:
*Bunny Cake: Bake 2 cakes in 8" round cake pans. Cool thoroughly. Lay one round on a platter or cookie sheet covered with tinfoil.
Cut the other round into three pieces (see diagram), positioning the two petal shapes above the face for the bunny's ears, and placing the remaining cake below the face for the bunny's bow tie.Frost with icing, then sprinkle a lime of pink crystal sugars down the center of each ear. Cover the face and ears with shredded coconut (about 1 cup).
Place 2 jelly beans for the eyes, a black gumdrop for a nose, a red gumdrop for a tongue, and black licorice for the lips and eyebrows. To decorate the bow tie, squirt on the decorating gel to resemble polka dots.
Easter Party Games
*Easter Egg Hunt: Hide decorated Easter eggs around the yard. Give each child a basket and ask them to find 2 or 3 eggs. It is a good idea to limit the number of eggs for each child so the younger children can have an equal chance with the older ones.
*Egg Roll: Line up hard-boiled eggs on the ground at the starting line. Give each child a large spoon. On the command "Go," the kids start pushing their eggs with the spoons. The first child to cross the finish line wins.
*Pin the Ears on the Bunny: On a white poster board draw a bunny. Make separate ears out of white or pink construction paper and put a piece of folded clear tape on the back of each one. Blindfold each child in turn and see who can pin the ears on the bunny.
*Egg Relay Race: Divide the children into 2 teams. Give the first player on each team a hard-boiled egg and a spoon. He walks fast to the finish line and back, and then hands the egg and spoon to the next player in line. If a player drops the egg he has to pick it up and continue walking. The first team to finish wins.
*Egg Decorating: Provide the kids with hard-boiled eggs, egg dye, brushes, and get them to decorate the eggs.
*Copy Cat: All of the kids stand in a circle. The starting player makes a body movement such as clapping hands, wiggling nose, pinching ears, shrugging shoulders, etc. The next player in the circle copies the starting player's movement and adds a new movement. The third player must copy the first two movements in the order they were made and then add a third movement. Play continues in this manner around the circle.
If a player can't remember a movement or copies a movement incorrectly, he or she is out of the game and must leave the circle. The last remaining player wins.
*Easter Plates: To make a party plate, cut two semicircular ear shapes from the sides of a paper plate. Staple them to the back of another plate, as shown. Make four cuts down the side of a muffin cup and fold two sections to the center to create a bow tie. Staple in place. Add jelly bean eyes. Cut whiskers from a third, smaller plate and teeth from white paper. Place them in the center of the plate with a chocolate kiss nose (until the food is served).*Giggle & Howl: The kids stand "frozen" in a circle and can't move until freed by the "magic handkerchief". When you toss the handkerchief up in the air, they must giggle and laugh out loud until the handkerchief hits the ground - then they have to stop instantly and become frozen again. If any player breaks into a smile, giggle, or howl after the handkerchief hits the ground, he must leave the circle. Continue until there is only one player left.
*Sense-Sational: Prepare all of the touch and sniff items before the party by collecting them in bags and jars. Place the tactile items in zip-lock bags first (don't seal the bags) and then in lunch bags, and put the aromatic items in empty containers - cover the sides of the containers with aluminum foil if the labels don't fully hide the contents.
At game time, the players sit in a circle so the items can be passed around easily. Choose one player to start the game and pass the first "touch" item to her. She must reach into the bag and touch the item without looking at it or saying what it is. (The other kids will love watching her expression of surprise or disgust!)
She passes the bag to the next player who must touch the mystery item without telling what it is. Once the bag has gone around the circle, the kids take turns saying what they think is inside. After everyone has taken a guess, pull out the item so the players can see if they guessed correctly, and begin the next round with a new item.
Play the "sniff" version next. This game is played with similar rules - the players must smell each item with their eyes closed and try to identify it.
*Bunny Hop: For a younger group of kids, turn some fun music. Have the kids form a line and hop around the house like bunnies.
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