For me making gifts is an act of love, so as you can imagine my children get plenty of handmade gifts. It's also become a way of building new traditions for our Franglaise family (French and English) or more precisely, blending two cultures together. We're not religious, so it's more about making our own family traditions that suit us and respect where we come from.
When it comes to celebrations I don't like waste. Doing our best for the environment is high on our the list of priorities, we're 100% not perfect, but we do our best. We've got Christmas pretty much sorted now. The same decorations get pulled out every year, with one or two being added (something we did when I was a child), either hand made or brought (ideally from a small business). For birthdays I've been using the same ones for the last 7 years, but I did notice our shop brought happy birthday banner was looking a little scruffy this year so I might make us a new one. In a way these decorations that get pulled out year after year have become a part of our traditions and family history.
SO Easter, since we're not religious it's based around chocolate and spring, and if I'm honest filling a long weekend with two small children. My partner's family have a tradition of an Easter egg hunt in the garden and other than too much chocolate there's not much on my side.
When my eldest was about 3 I decided to make these pouches to put in the garden for her to find, her own Easter egg hunt. I deliberately made them quite easy to find. But I also made them with the idea in mind that they could be used for a treasure hunt. They're big enough to put a clue and a couple of small chocolates in. I made them to last and be used for years to come, creating a family heirloom and new memories. I actually got my daughter to make some of the fabric, making them even more special.
We used fabric crayons to draw designs. These ones are great for small children because they're like a wax crayon and they're easy to seal. You just have to place paper over the top and iron for 30 seconds (obviously an adult's job). But you don't have to,you could embroider, use ribbon to decorate or just a fabric you like, you could even patchwork them! They could be hung off an Easter tree with small treats in, or even Easter gift bags. The pattern to make them can me found here. It's free until the end of march 2024.
They're small enough to be a good scrap busting project. It's increasingly important to me that we consume as little as possible and thoughtfully.
I con-scribe to the buyerarchy of needs, I saw this info-graphic (from Sarah Lazarovic) ages ago now but love it as a way thinking about purchases. Having grown up in the 90s it was all about new, the future, minimalism, out with the old. Great for capitalism, not so great for the environment. I however grew up in a make do and mend household. The fireplace came from an old manor house, our front doors from my dad's furniture business, the carpet from my Nan's house, antique furniture. Before something was thrown out it was made sure it couldn't be repaired or reused in some way. And that's stuck with me, another tradition I want to pass onto my children.