Easter means so many things: spring, new growth, hope, love and forgiveness. I can’t think of a better reason to celebrate. One of the ways we do that at our house is to host an extended family Easter brunch and egg hunt every year. We typically have between 30 – 40 people and so it is fun, delicious chaos. If you have followed my blog, you know that I am a big believer in traditions, particularly for kids, but even adults rely on these to build security and maintain a solid foundation. It makes you part of a tribe.

Whether your tribe is made up of friends or family does not matter, the benefits are the same. A tribe provides you with a sense of belonging. You have people you know that you can count on. You share an identity and often a history that cements the relationships. It is a support network. And research shows that being part of a community or tribe fosters mental and physical well-being. For a tribe to stay together you have to be willing to overlook irritations that will inevitably come up. You have to be committed to seeing the good in each other and overlooking any petty annoyances. It is all part of the give and take of making relationships work. The benefits are well worth it. So, if you do not have a tribe, start one. It just takes a few dedicated people to get the egg ball rolling.

I credit my mom (A Tribute to My Mom) and dad with starting and keeping our tribe together. They initiated so many of the family traditions that we carry on today and the Easter brunch and egg hunt is one of several. Since I am posting this pre-Easter this year, the pics are from last year’s brunch and egg hunt.

The Easter brunch

How do you feed 30-40 people in your house? With a lot of help from the tribe. Everyone pitches in and brings a dish to share. We have settled into a nice routine where one couple always brings the sausage, one the fruit, one the ham, another couple does the eggs, I make the cheesy potatoes dish, etc. It all works. My creative SIL always brings the bunny decorated cupcakes (featured image above) which is a big hit with the kids.

The Easter egg hunt

The week before Easter Mr. U and I spend a good hour filling plastic eggs with candy. Everyone brings eggs to hide too, but you can never have too many eggs at an egg hunt, right? A few golden eggs are filled with money to entice the older kids to keep hunting after the easy eggs have all been snatched up.

After brunch the adult hiders head outside to get creative with their hiding places. Anywhere within the designated area is open for hiding. No place is too high or too low to hide an egg. As the kids get older, the hiders have to get more creative to stump the finders. Of course, every year they are so creative that we find a well-hidden egg or two later in the summer.

The kids are corralled inside while the eggs are being hidden. Of course, they are trying to peak out windows to get a head start on where to find the eggs. When it gets close, the kids scramble to wait inside the door. We used to try and let the littlest kids out first, but that never really worked. Then we tried asking the older kids to leave the easy eggs for the littles, but that is impossible. Who takes the time to decide if that colorful egg is an easy one or not? Besides, who can pass on picking up an Easter egg right under your feet? Hence, why we just hide tons of eggs. There is more than enough to go around.

I wish you a very happy Easter however you like to celebrate it. It is the mark on the calendar that tells us sunnier days are coming. Enjoy!