The sun is back, bees and birds in the sky and my little finger tells me it’s time for chocolate ducks, hens and eggs to make their way to our lawns. I am sure that you have wonderful children memories of incredible egg hunts performed with siblings and cousins in your parents’ garden or your grand-parents houses when the weather was not cooperative….

Now it’s your turn to organize Easter garden parties and you would like to tend to zero waste while keeping little stars in the eyes of your kids (and family). Here are a few tips.

Egg hunt

Definitely the best part! So you have decided to reduce waste by buying chocolates in bulk and of good quality, keeping away from the yet traditional but terrible industrial ones.

Nonetheless, you are still facing the challenge of hiding them, no really fancying laying them directly in the grass or dirt (this could be rather challenging for the kids to find them though!!!).

First option, nice cloth bags with a handful of eggs, achieving also the objective of reducing the amount of sugar destined to your dear ones. Indeed like any hadn-made reusable item it’s a bit of an investment but which will certainly be amortised over the years.

Second option, collecting items which then can be exchanged against chocolate. For that purpose you can use wooden eggs, dyed egg shells that you would have collected from your cooking, dyed hard boiled eggs or even those decoration that I am sure your mum still has from when she used to make an ‘Easter Tree’ which was quite fashionable some years ago.

In some families, the Easter Bunny does not only bring chocolate but also some presents. In order to stay in zero waste mode, try to inspire him by suggesting some useful/green presents such as seaweed beach toys, sun glasses, beach wear, second-hand books or toys and of course usual zero waste presents such as family activities.

Decoration

If you are hosting the Easter lunch and would like a table decoration as zero waste as possible, there is no secret, opt for ‘natural’ elements such as moss, flowers from your garden, straw, feathers and items collected during family walks, (dyed) egg shells.

Talking of which… rather than using artificial dyes, think of food scraps. Here is a table showing which ingredient to use for each colour.

Hope these few tips will have helped you (and the Easter Bunny) in the zero waste Easter trip…please remember to enjoy this family time fully, and chocolate with moderation

From the Zero Waste team