An Easter Candy Alternative

Greeting, friends. Easter is nearly here, and perhaps because of the recent snow storm on the first day of spring, I can sense the excitement around the Children’s Dentistry of Charlottesville office for spring to finally get here. We’re ready for warmer weather, picnics, blooming flowers, breezy days for flying kites, spring break, and all the good feelings that come from quality time spent with the family during the long Easter weekend and spring season.

Planning for Easter

My wife was making Easter plans with her sister-in-law for the kiddos, and they came up with an idea so clever that I had to share it with you all. As you know, we’re always looking for ways to limit our child’s exposure to candies and sweets without depriving them of the joy of being a kid. I’ve shared this philosophy before in our Halloween blog post.

For this year’s easter egg hunt, my wife got together with her sister-in-law Kelli and came up with a candy-free solution all on her own. When she told me about her plan she was a little sad to not be getting the kids candy at all this year. Still, she was clearly proud of the fact that she had “bought in,” and started coming up with great alternatives without being nagged by her dentist husband!

Toys over candy; a new way to celebrate Easter

So what was this great plan? Easter eggs filled with tiny Lego figurines.

Living in a house with three boys aged 2-7, we’ve amassed a sizable collection of bulk Lego bricks to fuel the boys’ imaginations.

Our two year old has gotten so into the “Guys”, as he calls them, that my wife thought this would be the perfect toy. She went to websites like eBay and Craigslist that sell bulk batches of second-hand Lego figures, and ordered enough for each child to find a few figures.

The next step was even more clever. She sorted through the Easter Eggs that we have and assigned each child a specific color. That way she was able to make sure the youngest got the same number of eggs and figurines as the oldest.

Your own Easter solution

You don’t have to use Lego figurines to better your child’s health over the Easter holiday. Any inexpensive toy that’s small enough to fit in an Easter egg will do. You could also give one toy that’s wrapped like a birthday present, although that doesn’t help to solve the easter egg hunt candy dilemma.

The point that I’d like to make clear is that holidays like Easter and Halloween doesn’t need to give your child a mandate to binge on candy. If your family chooses to treat these holidays as a special occasion where your child is permitted to have candy, then I see no problem with that.

What I’d like to discourage is the allowance of candy regularly and permitting even more than normal on these special holidays. It’s ok to do things non-traditionally; the main requirement is that you make your child’s health a top priority and start getting creative.