As a child, I always remember having an Easter tree. My mamma would cut a branch from a lilac bush or small tree and put it in a pot or vase. We would decorate it with dyed eggs, Easter grass, handmade paper crosses, and anything else we had around. I got almost as excited about the Easter tree as I would the Christmas tree. It meant Spring was on its way. It meant an enchanted Easter egg hunt in my Grandparent’s apple orchard, and oodles of candy in my Easter basket. I wanted to keep the sunshiny magic of this tradition going for my children.
My daughter and husband went out one snowy morning to cut a few small branches from our lilac tree. (I was hoping the tree would help the snow to melt!) These work well because they have a lot of small shoots which are good for hanging things off of. Also, if you put your branches in water, eventually the buds will begin to open. To add a little more green to my branches, I used hot glue to attach some paper leaves. I just cut-out a simple leaf shape from scrap paper, creased one end, filled the crease with glue, and wrapped it around a branch.
I found these somewhat worn Easter ornaments at a charming little thrift shop in Door County, WI, for ten cents a piece. They needed a little TLC so I cleaned off price tag remnants, glued on a detached wing, and added bows where other parts had worn off. I know there are a lot of these types of ornaments out there. If you don’t want to start scouring thrift shops for these ornaments, (even though you would probably have some luck), craft stores or department stores are sure to have these types of ornaments, or something like these. You can also hang hallowed out died eggs, colored plastic eggs, cut out paper eggs, or anything you have around the house that looks Springy! My daughter loved helping me hang these little ornaments on the tree. (She also enjoyed taking them off and putting them on again over and over 🙂
Next, I printed and cut out these sweet little Easter Tree Tags and hung them with green ribbon. These tags would also be cute hanging from Easter baskets, or little Easter favors.
To finish it off, I tied some simple green-polka dotted ribbon along with some springy raffia around the top of the vase.
This simple little tree brightens my day each time I walk into my kitchen. And, I think it helped melt the snow! We’ve had unusually Spring-like weather the last couple days 🙂
sarahpetersondesigns 