It’s nearly time for the most difficult holiday to celebrate with family as a college student; Easter. I haven’t celebrated Easter at home with my family since I was in high school, and my roommates have always gone home, leaving a very lonely Lily in the dorms or in our apartment. This year, however, we’re all busy and my friends have been forced to remain in Iowa City.

Because of this, we decided to mesh some of our traditions and stir up some fun, especially since many of the Easter activities around the city are more geared toward children, which honestly makes a lot of sense since most 21-year-olds aren’t looking for an Easter egg hunt.

But we apparently aren’t your average 20 and 21-year-olds, so we’re bringing the fun ourselves.

Yes, we are planning an Easter egg hunt. I would also like to add that I have made about a million plans besides the egg hunt that my roommates don’t know about, so you readers will be more prepared for the weekend than they will be.

For the egg hunt, we don’t actually have any of the supplies, but Saturday evening will be a craft night. We’re going to go all out; plastic eggs, little prizes, holographic grass, and Cadbury eggs. Now if the Cadbury eggs don’t get you excited, I don’t know what will.

We don’t know the location of all of the pre-planned Easter egg hunts, so we may also have to have a research break, but we’ve found a park that we assume will be relatively empty and perfect for our Easter escapades.

I’ve also planned a savory charcuterie board to kick off some of the festivities, with different expensive cheeses and deviled eggs, because just because we are doing a children’s activity doesn’t mean we can’t be sophisticated while we do it.

To go along with our deviled eggs, I believe that we should be dyeing some eggs. Egg dyeing is one of my favorite Easter traditions, which I hope to pass on to my dear roommates. Although we don’t have many of the supplies, I’m on the hunt for a low-budget egg dyeing regimen.

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Looking ahead, I’m here to officially report, from the Apple weather app, that the sun is supposed to be shining brightly on our merriment, albeit a bit of a chill in the air. Despite the possible meteorological setback, I will almost always advocate for a picnic.

I will admit, us girls were completely overtaken by the 2020 fads of Gigi Hadid’s pasta and the viral tomato feta pasta, so I’m rooting for one of those to be our meal of choice. We did have a Hadid pasta picnic not too long ago, so perhaps we’ll switch it up with the feta pasta, which I highly recommend.

I will also never stop pushing for more sides. In an effort to pressure my peers with my agenda, I hope to make, or buy from Trader Joe’s, a few dips. I love anything that goes well with a flat pretzel, from buffalo chicken to hummuses.

Similarly, I will be attempting to make a corn and chickpea salad, as I have also happily fallen into the hands of the marinated bean salad trends.

Will we have meat-based protein? Who knows. Because this Easter is going to be all about joy and whimsy, not hitting protein goals. I also hate cooking meat, so don’t be surprised if you hear a tale about three girls who didn’t eat any ham or lamb this weekend.

I would not be opposed to having a bit of a reading moment while we’re at the park. My roommates and I all have books that we’re reading right now, so it might be peaceful to just sit back and relax in the sun while finally getting a moment to read for fun rather than for an assignment. 

To end the night, we’ll obviously be watching “Hop,” the incredibly underrated 2011 film starring James Marsden and Russell Brand. We have special popcorn that we make, a recipe a la my father, which needs M&Ms added and Peeps on the side. I also think I can push for a little ice cream sundae action to truly make the night perfect.