Celebrating Easter Sunday
We’re now half way though the Easter holidays, so my five frugal things this week are all about Easter – the egg hunts, hot cross buns and walks we enjoy every year.
A shed will never be the same
Took advantage of National Trust membership
We started the bank holiday weekend with a trip to Melford Hall, so the children could take part in the Cadbury’s Easter Egg hunt. As we have National Trust membership, we didn’t have to pay for parking or entrance to the house and gardens, but just £2.50 per child for the egg hunt. Otherwise, a family ticket to the house and gardens would have been £20.50.
The children ran all over the place answering the clubes, before carrying off their Easter eggs. Meanwhile I got to enjoy my favourite part of Melford Hall – tiny house living, Elizabethan style, in the form of the octagonal banqueting house. The panelled interior is lovely too, with views out over both the garden and Long Melford itself. I can’t wait to go back when the irises in the long bed are in full flower.
Cashed in on cash back for Easter eggs
Sadly, my children are no longer up for small £1 a pop Cadbury’s chocolate button eggs to celebrate Easter.
My son had set his heart on a Snickers Easter egg, and my daughter is keen on Celebrations, so I was particularly pleased last month when Poundworld in Ipswich was selling two chunky eggs for a fiver. Even better, Snap & Save from TopCashback were offering £3 cashback when buying Easter eggs, so the eggs still ended up costing a pound each.
I know I bang on about cashback, but getting paid a percentage of money you would spend anyway is such an easy way to cut costs. If you have never signed up for a cashback website like TopCashback* or Quidco*, it really is worth giving it a go.
Insufficiently squidy hot cross buns
Baked some home-made hot cross buns
On Easter Sunday itself, we went over to visit the grandparents for lunch and the annual Easter egg hunt. I made my annual attempt at baking some hot cross buns to take as a present, along with a pot of primroses. I delegated the kneading to our elderly Magimix which leapt around alarmingly. Turns out splurging flour and water paste out of both ends of a hastily cobbled together piping bag is not the best route to tidy crosses. I was concerned that the finished buns had the basic consistency of cannon balls, but thankfully they went down relatively well* at tea time.
*By ‘well’ I mean the children rejected them for being insufficiently squidgy, while the adults soldiered on.
Searching for eggs in the orchard
Enjoyed an egg hunt on Easter Sunday
The annual egg hunt in Dedham remains a highlight for my two offspring. With the promise of chocolate, I suspect it will remain so for many more years. Following Granny’s cunning clues, they pursued eggs all round the garden, through Threadneedle Piece and over to the orchard. Easter is particularly lovely time of year, with the primroses sunning themselves and swathes of daffodils everywhere. Once all the eggs had been scrutinised, with careful attention to who got how many of each colour, we even got to pick a big bunch of daffodils to take home.
Big beach huts at Wrabness
Got out for walk in Wrabness
On bank holiday Monday, we went out to walk off some of the chocolate along the shore line at Wrabness. It was bleak but strangely beautiful, picking our way over the sand, between the oyster shells and seaweed, and looking over the Stour estuary to the Royal Hospital School. Luckily the rain held off long enough to blow the cobwebs away. We debated favourite boats and beach houses and threw sticks for a friendly dog, before returning to finish off leftover buns and carrot cake from Easter Sunday. Total cost: nothing apart from petrol, although my daughter has now renewed requests for a boat. Sigh.
So now, over to you. Any thrifty successes to celebrate? Ways to cut the cost of Easter? Do share your ideas in the comments, I’d love to hear.
I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five fabulously frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky.
*indicates an affiliate link, so anything you buy through it will help support the blog, as I will get a small commission at no cost to you. Many thanks!
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We’ve been really cutting down on the amount that we spend on groceries recently. I used to eat a lot of meat, but now I am somewhat cutting down because my wife thinks it’ll be healthier if we have more veggies.
Swapping to a few meat-free meals a week can definitely help cut the cost of your food shopping – good luck bringing that grocery bill down!
The weather has been SO wet and awful that we haven’t done much. Been out to church on Easter Sunday and kids did an egg hunt there (the only one not completely rained off!) then went to Grandma’s who gave us some money so we went down to North Shields to our favourite place, The Waterfront Cafe for fish and chips.
Then went for a walk along the pier. We would normally have gone up to Lord Collingwood Monument but it was FAR too muddy.
Got out cycling ONCE.
Went on the metro to South Shields on the only nice day we have had (£1.30 each for a day pass for the kids and I have my pass) to the park, the theme park and Wetherspoons. Rachel said that was the BEST day of the holidays!
What a pain about the rain! Bad weather can really scupper frugal plans. Glad you had such a good time in South Shields. Used to go to Whitley Bay with my grandparents when I was little.
I remember so well trying to think of ways to fill up the school holidays. I always saved so that we could do a few things that cost money but it was the no-cost or low-cost ones that taxed the brain! One of their favourite activities always took place the last day of each holiday – the tasting game. I’d buy a few treats to go alongside the normal foods and my three blindfolded children (with their consent, honestly) would guess what I popped in their mouth…always with the promise that I wouldn’t put anything in that I knew them to dislike. Easter was great for this, as the eggs came with various chocolate bard and sweets which saved buying extras. Afterwards we would make Rice Krispie or Cornflake cakes with the leftovers. Happy days.
How do you make hot cross buns? I didn’t know they were a thing until I moved to Australia (I get them at the grocery).
Hi Troy – Hot cross buns are basically bread rolls with mixed fruit in them, and a flour and water paste cross on the top. Means you make them much like any rolls, with flour, yeast, keading, time for proving and so on. I used this recipe with a few tweaks like a smaller quantity of sultanas: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mary_berrys_hot_cross_65003