Carol Stovold Quality Kidz qualitykidz.co.nz

Easter is usually celebrated with chocolate, often creating a sugar rush in refined sugar and fat and low in nutritional value, which sends children bouncing off the walls. There are many great ways to celebrate Easter with healthier alternatives, which are better for everyone's health, not to mention waistlines.

Remember the other nutrition-related tradition of Easter – fish on Good Friday, preferably not deep-fried though. Enjoy a hot cross bun or two over the Easter weekend, but without lashings of butter.

Don't forget what the Easter celebration is all about. Regardless of your religion, Easter is a time to celebrate life. Get out and enjoy an activity which leaves you and your children feeling alive. Skip, hop and jump like bunnies along a chalked line or create a bunny challenge course with lots of large cardboard boxes to hide in and climb through. Great ways to develop balance skills.

Try making and giving your own non-chocolate Easter gifts. There are many gifts such as flowers, herb plants, books, music and non-expensive accessories. Bake Easter egg shaped healthy biscuits and decorate them. Wrap some in cellophane tied with ribbon to hand out. For breakfast, try scrambled egg nests – shredded potatoes baked in a muffin tin to form crunchy cups, which are then filled with scrambled eggs to make a festive and kid-friendly finger food.

Many kinds of fruit are as sweet as candy, but contain nutritional value. Instead of using chocolate in Easter egg baskets, package your own assortment of fruit, vegetables or nuts in small cellophane bags. Fill Easter-themed bags with plain popcorn and some baby carrots which the children can nibble on. They'll enjoy eating ‘just like bunnies'. For a fun alternative, mix a variety of dry cereal, dried fruit, peanuts, almonds and raisins and call it Bunny Trail Mix – your children will love it.

Ask the grandparents and other relatives who usually bring a treat, to bring an Easter-themed book instead, which your kids can enjoy for years to come. Or get them involved in a treasure hunt by providing some inexpensive toys or treats to stock the ‘bunny store' table. Try this twist on the traditional egg hunt – fill plastic eggs with fun coupons and ‘bunny money' created on the computer. You can draw a map where X marks the spot where you hid the basket, or set up a series of hidden clues for the kids to follow. At the end of the hunt, any ‘bunny money' the kids collect is spent on goodies. You'll wind up spending less than you would on chocolate eggs and having lots of fun along the way.
If you are giving children chocolate, go for quality rather than quantity. The antioxidants in dark chocolate make it a good choice. Combine a new egg cup filled with a chocolate egg or a new special mug filled with chocolates.

However you choose to celebrate Easter with family and friends, these healthier alternatives promise hours of fun, without any lingering negative effects on your health.

Next week – Feeding oneself