Right after Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, comes another especially important date that gives us a much-needed break before summer comes and it is time for the bigger holidays.

We are speaking, of course, about Easter. Easter comes at a time that almost announces spring break and marks the beginning of a very merry season of the year filled with sun and nature.

It is no secret that, ever since we were kids, Easter meant many amazing tokens and icons that are forever engraved in our memories that we can later pass on to future generations.

The Easter bunny, cute and fluffy chicks and Easter Eggs are just some of the many symbols that demonstrate the freshness and jolly spirit of this holiday. But what does Easter really mean?

How did it begin and what is the reason why we give each other baskets and gifts? Keep reading to find out all this information and how to find the most thoughtful Easter Day gifts for your friends and family.

What’s the story behind Easter

In its earliest origins, Easter is a Christian tradition that celebrates the resurrection of Christ.

This event takes place during the spring to represent a time of renewal. Although they are now associated with this Christian holiday, nowadays Easter Sunday gifts such as baskets had their origins in pagan celebrations.

Christians reinvented many old traditions such as the one with the baskets because the Spring Equinox was celebrated so close to Easter.

In fact, sporting baskets during springs was usually associated with the Germanic goddess of fertility called Eostre, who happens to also bless the harvest each year.

As an offering to get better crops, people would carry baskets of seeds as an offering to the goddess. If the seedlings pleased the goddess, she would make sure that the harvest was a real success.

The goddess Eostre would carry a basket filled with eggs as a symbol of her fertility, so the mix of seedlings as eggs symbolised a new life, which could be reinterpreted into the Christian tradition of re-birth of Christ. This is basically the origin of Easter baskets.

Why do we give and receive gifts on Easter?

There are also several pagan and Christian traditions that relate to the modern Easter day gifts.

The rabbit, for example, was also associated with the Germanic goddess Eostre. Supposedly, the Easter Bunny used to secretly visit children on the evening before Easter to give them baskets.

When German folks settled in the USA, they brought the Easter hare tradition with them and it caught up.

Since Christians felt like the best way to convert people to the new religion was by adopting some pagan traditions, the Easter celebrations became a thing, mixed with those traditions that came with the Spring Equinox, such as dyeing eggs and filling baskets with them.

Even though it is not true that the Easter Bunny visits during this holiday, it’s always fun to create Easter baskets filled with candies, chocolates and even toys as tokens of fertility.

In fact, you can make things even more interesting by hiding the coloured eggs around the yard or garden and have the kids look for them with their baskets hanging in their arms.

The best Easter Day Gift Ideas

If you’re looking for the best Easter Day gift ideas, you can turn to the classics. A big part of the Easter festivities includes giving children big baskets of goodies in the name of the Easter Bunny.

The best way to celebrate this day with small children is to start the day with cute baskets already prepared and sent by the Easter Bunny celebrating spring with items such as Peeps candies, chocolate eggs and plush toys of bunnies, ducklings, and chickens.

Right after they have received their baskets of presents from the Easter Bunny, you can have them dress up and run to the garden or yard, empty their baskets, and start looking all around for their Easter eggs.

Your children will have to recollect and carry their prizes in their Easter baskets, which represents birth and a new life. You can even fill the Easter Eggs with confetti or small treats to add as extra presents.

So now that you know the origin of Easter and how it relates to the treats and gifts given to children and even adults, it is only a matter of planning, so you find the best gifts for Easter Sunday and celebrate it both the modern and the classic way.