Should They Stay or Should They Go?  How Old is Too Old for an Easter Basket?

Do you remember the great “Should teenagers trick-or-treat” debate of 2018? The classic, how old is too old conundrum that swept social media? Having watched that play out, perhaps you find yourself looking at your young human who is not so little anymore, asking a similar question of the Easter basket. At what point is your kid too old to receive a fully functioning basket, brimming with sugary delights? Is that even a thing – being too old?

If the memes are to be believed, there is no such thing as being too old (even if that means taking on a comical interpretation of the classic basket). Then again, for some families, Easter baskets aren't always just filled with jellybeans, Easter eggs, and chocolate bunnies. For some, Easter has turned into Christmas 2.0, and you're wondering: A) How did we get here (oh yeah, right, this was totally self-inflicted) and B) What about the Easter Bunny? Doesn't he deserve a break? Think about the overworked Bunny, people! Or maybe a little C) Won’t she always be my baby? Don’t we all deserve to hold onto this shred of childhood delight?

Isn’t that what becoming a parent is all about (I mean, sort of)? We take the best of our childhood memories and traditions, and we put them into play for our own children. Sometimes while still clinging to those traditions with our own parents – well into adulthood. Whether it's your stocking still being hung with care at mom and dad's or begrudgingly accepting that it really is okay if your mom dyes the Easter eggs on her own. Let's just count our blessings that she will patiently take the call about how-to hard boil eggs Every Single Year. (And make the deviled eggs, just how you like them).

In our family, my mom made up Easter baskets for us kids until the grandchildren multiplied. They filled the stockings for even longer. My mom, through our childhood and beyond, created so many incredible holiday memories. Dad, too. But it was my mom who I remember filling the house with the scent of homemade Easter-shaped cookies. Who made the house smell of Pledge every Saturday (especially the one before Easter), to the sounds of Juice Newton singing from the stereo. It’s those moments, those odd memories that we hope our kids will tuck into their memory banks to be wrapped up in the warm fuzzies as those memories are triggered, and then they’ll take and adapt them into something special of their own with their families.

No, they’re never too old for jellybeans and chocolate bunnies.