Easter Prep ~ Part 2 (Religious Prep)

First, Holy Week ideas:

Stations of the Cross:
We meditate on Christ's Passion by going through the Stations of the Cross.  One of the children lights the votive candles across the mantle as we read and meditate on each one.  We've been using the same set that I made years ago.

Pretzels on Good Friday:
Pretzels are a traditional food for Good Friday (or all through Lent).  The criss-cross pattern is symbolic of arms crossed over in prayer as the monks (maybe not just monks??) used to do.  I have several soft pretzel recipes in my folder.
This has a succinct explanation:
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=543

Hot Cross Buns:
These are traditionally made on Good Friday and the cross was just cut into it before baking - not made with a sweet icing (we wouldn't eat a 'sweet' on Good Friday).  They originated in an abbey (St. Alban's) where the monks gave them to the poor.  I can't think of them without unconsciously reciting the children's nursery rhyme of "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns.  One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns." :)  We made some many years ago.  It would be nice to make them again this year.  I saw some in the bakery at Tom Thumb last weekend. Here is a recipe:
http://spoonful.com/recipes/hot-cross-buns
And another with background info.  I like her idea of no icing on Good Friday but saving some to serve Easter Sunday with the icing:
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2009/04/hot-cross-buns-for-good-friday.html

Easter Ideas:

Surprise Exchange of their Crowns of Thorns:
Almost all of the toothpicks have been taken out (see this Lenten post where I mention the crowns).  Since I didn't get any jelly beans they'll find some other goodies in place of their crowns of thorns on Easter (all treats I feel good about giving them).

Take out the Alleluia:
We "hid the Alleluia" during Lent (see same post mentioned above here).  On Easter we can take them out of the envelopes and display them.

Pack up the Stations of the Cross votive candles: 
I think I left them out for a month last year before I finally put them away!  I'd like to actually do it on Easter Sunday as part of the tradition and put a Alleluia sign in their place on the mantle.

Chocolate Bar Wrappers:
I was browsing in the store hoping against hope that there might be some of those dye-free jelly beans from the other post when something caught my eye:  A chocolate bar with a religious paper wrapper.  Hmmm.... We couldn't eat that brand but it gave me the idea to make one for the Enjoy Life chocolate bars that we can eat.  The Unjunked candy bars are another kind we have started eating (and I got a bag of snack sized ones for an Easter surprise) but I like the flatter shape of the Enjoy Life bar for this project.  I have posted a pdf link for the wrappers that fit those bars specifically and also an open office word document in case anyone wants to adjust it to fit a different kind of candy or chocolate bar.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzY-sfWD2RgpMDgzTHpMVEJwWms/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzY-sfWD2RgpRUtaR0FZS2N4ZFk/edit?usp=sharing

We've done the chocolate crosses before and there is more to choose from now to get commercial candy with a Christian theme; however, this was an easy way to make something without petroleum dyes, gmos, artificial flavors, soy... (you get the idea!) into a treat that will also help them focus on the reason that we celebrate Easter.

There are lots of fantastic ideas at Catholic Icing!
http://catholicicing.com/religious-easter-ideas-for-kids/

I printed just the cave and the angels here:
http://catholicicing.com/religious-easter-craft-for-kids-make/

I love the idea of the Resurrection Rolls (Empty Tombs) but we don't eat commercial marshmallows.  I'm not sure how well my homemade ones would do - especially since they've been in the freezer... I wonder how much of the marshmallows are really in them after melting out and if I could just compromise for this (and simply use from dh's stash).  There is a link for a recipe for the roll part here also:
http://catholicicing.com/how-to-make-resurrection-rolls-aka/







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