I have a confession about Spring: I don’t actually know what a crocus is. I know that people start to feel the warmth of Spring when the crocuses bloom from the ground, but I couldn’t identify one. It’s probably green? At least maybe the stem?
What I do know is that Spring, to me, is defined by Easter. Whether it’s a late or early Easter, it always carries with it an air of warmth, of sunshine peeking through the clouds, and of new birth. It feels like what crocuses (probably?) look like. It feels like a gift.
That’s why it’s cool that gift-giving is becoming an increasingly important part of Easter. In our family, like many others, we’ve had a Secret Santa-like gift exchange at our Easter gathering for about 10 years now. It started one year because we hadn’t been able to get together for Christmas, so it transferred over. But it was so much fun, we decided to make it a new Easter tradition!
After all, a lot of the fun around Easter is about finding things—eggs, goodies in your basket, and the sunshine in the faces of your loved ones. A gift exchange is similar—it’s about finding the right gift for someone.
All of that starts with a wish list, which can be very simple. So if you want to start a fun new gift exchange tradition this year, here’s how to make an Easter wish list the easy way.
Tips For Making Your Easter Wish List
If you’re having a gift exchange this Easter, you don’t need to stress over making your list. There are easy ways to run a simple Secret Santa (er, Secret Easter Bunny) exchange that everyone can join.
Choose an Easy Online Generator
One reason that doing Secret Santa is easy at Christmas is that people are usually together at, say, Thanksgiving to pull names out of a hat. Easter, however, doesn’t have a prologue. That’s why you want to find an online Secret Santa generator that serves as a virtual hat by assigning names randomly and alerting everyone who their giftee will be.
An online generator makes it easy because it is anonymous, and you can still put in restrictions (such as that partners can’t be matched with each other). Each person gets their giftee—and that person’s list.
But how is that list made?
Build Your Gift List Online
The challenge of doing a gift exchange at Easter is that people aren’t usually thinking about gifts. They aren’t in that mindset. So, it’s crucial to make it simple. That’s why you want an online generator that allows you to build a list online.
The right platform will have an online shopping feature that lets you browse through stores to find what you want. With one click, it goes on your list. A few features that are really important include:
- The ability to shop at multiple stores and multiple sites from one site.
- The ability to filter by product, theme, and other varieties.
- The ability to add or subtract from your list whenever you want.
- An iPhone app or Android app that lets you update and shop whenever or wherever (including adding to your list just by taking a picture!).
These features are wonderful. What is also wonderful is, when you remove your giftee cap and put on your gifter cap, you can purchase the gift right from your giftee’s list. It couldn’t be easier unless the real Easter Bunny delivered it directly to you.
Find Some Easter-Themed Gifts
In my family, we have some years in which we have an open gift-giving plan—just ask for something you want. It’s pretty simple. Other years, however, we do themes. Last year, we made it an Easter/Spring theme.
The online platform and shopping feature made it really easy. All we had to do was filter for “Easter gift guides,” and we were greeted with hundreds of options. These ranged from decorations to books to candy to toys for the kids (because they get gifts, too, of course. We’re not monsters!).
You can do any theme you want. One recommendation: If you have a family full of green thumbs, consider a theme of flowers or plants. It really brings out the main ideas of Easter and Spring: new life and signs of growth.
Create New Easter Traditions
Maybe you’ve started doing a gift exchange at Easter. Maybe you’re just thinking about it. Maybe it’s established. No matter what, you can make it your own. You can have this simple event be influenced by your unique, beautiful, and joyous family. It can be shaped by traditions and can become a new one.
There are so many ways to enjoy your new Easter traditions. Create a candy-based way of selecting the order of opening (who comes closest to guessing the number of jelly beans in a little jar, for example), or print out these fun, free Easter cards, in color or black and white, to get people in the mood.
Just make sure it’s easy. You don’t want to be stressing about gifts. So, find the right platform, start your wish list online, and enjoy celebrating the season with the ones you love. May your traditions bloom like a crocus—whatever that is.
If you’re doing a gift exchange for Easter, you want a Secret Santa generator that makes everything go smoothly. Elfster makes it easy to pair people up, shop for gifts, and start a Wish List. Plus, you can access it all from an iPhone app or Android app.
