Notes for Easter 2011

My daughter Rebecca said she keeps a notebook for an annual party she has. . .I'm not that organized. So, I decided to make notes about this year's Easter for reference when I'm planning next year's event.

Pizza Friday night was perfect---we had a salad, ordered 4 medium pizzas from Domino's and Jim brought in a large pizza from East Coast---it was exactly the right amount. But, we almost went through all of the beer I bought---6 6-packs. Maybe next year, have each family bring two 6 packs. When I mentioned we were running out of beer, three different groups went out and bought more beer on Saturday, so we had PLENTY of beer for Sunday. We probably went through 12 6-packs of beer: Schlafly's, Blue Moon, Fat Tire, Landshark, Coronas.

The Shermans: Susan, Victoria and Sandra on the other side of the table.Rebecca, Rob Cox, Carol Cox with Graham and Robbie

Saturday most of us went to the Bunny Breakfast which is a great place for us to catch up with old friends in town visiting or just coming back to St. Mark for the occasion. That worked out great.

After Cardinal game in 2009

Last year, the guys went to a Cardinal baseball game, but this year they took the kids on a hike to Castlewood Park while the women stuffed eggs and fixed food for dinner.

On Easter Sunday, we had a little cereal before church at 8:30 AM. Then, we had a big breakfast after church with egg casserole, bacon, sausage, sweet rolls, waffles (store bought). The only problem was the children were hungry before dinner because they only ate waffles. Dinner was ready by 3:30 but the parents had snacked and no one was really hungry. But, they all needed to hit the road so a late dinner was also not a possibility.

With Easter being in late April in 2011, Rebecca suggested we have more of a barbeque on Sunday.

Eli's candy 2009

Last year, we had a ridiculous amount of candy---see above so we decided to have just one bag of candy per family and have small "treasures". Having the treasure chest ticket hidden in the eggs was a great idea (instead of a lot of candy). Actually the little bit of candy we had was not such a good idea because it was so hot that it melted in the eggs. We could include chocolate bunnies or bars of candy in the treasure chest to keep it from melting, too.

Having the kids line up with the little ones first was a good idea, but having the little ones pick from the treasure chest first was a bad idea---they picked the stuff meant for the older kids, leaving them with toys the little ones would have been happy with.

The number of adults in the adult hunt goes down each year. . .We need to re-think having the adult hunt unless we have more "Longs" (i.e. my sister and her "kids") present. Or, we need to include it with the kiddy hunt with the children getting a head start. . .

Jim introduced the idea of a "caddy" this year. He was Davis's "caddy" because Davis's basket became too full and he needed someone to empty his basket for him. Jim put all of his eggs into a big plastic bin.

Any other comments, suggestions, observations?