One Easter-celebrating mom is on the hunt for answers: Are we hiding Easter baskets or not?
Jeannette Zirbel, a first grade teacher, lives in Arkansas with her husband, Jason. As a young boy, Jason would race down the stairs on Easter morning, eager to begin his search for the treasures the Easter Bunny had left for him.
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WATCH HERE“His parents would put them in the dryer or the garage,” Zirbel tells TODAY.com, her voice laced with disbelief. “The first time he told me that, I thought, ‘Well, those pictures must’ve been really bad! Who wants Easter photos in their garage?’”
When Zirbel and Jason became parents — the couple’s two daughters are now grown — she continued her family’s tradition of wrapping Easter baskets in cellophane with a bow and proudly displaying them.
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SIGN UP “After we had our girls, he assumed I was going to hide them, and I said, ‘No way. They’re gonna wake up and think Easter Bunny didn’t come,” Zirbel says. “Can you imagine the tears?”
Instead, they stuck with hiding colorful plastic eggs.
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Recently, Zirbel posed a question on her TikTok account: Did the Easter Bunny hide your basket? She hoped to uncover a geographic pattern. Jason grew up in the Midwest; she is from the Northeast.
"It turns out that it's not a geographical thing," Zirbel says. At least not according to the responses she received on TikTok.
- “Utah — my basket was always hidden and it was the best part of Easter morning.”
- “Mine was displayed every year except 1. It was hidden that year and I was devastated! I thought the Easter Bunny had not brought me anything. The tears…”
- “I’m from MO. Never heard of the basket being hidden. It was always just on the couch when we woke up. Eggs were hidden at grandmas house
- Grew up in AL/GA, never heard of the basket being hidden! My girls use the same basket every year, so they are set out the night before, and the Easter bunny fills them up.”
- “We hide our Easter baskets in Ohio
- Always hidden — from MN.”
- “mine was hidden too! I’m from Illinois. It was definitely fun. We had to find it along with the eggs and then we would bring it to the fireplace and take our nice photo.”
- “My Easter Bunny in the 80s (Pennsylvania) always hid the eggs and the basket. We left carrots out the night before, so we definitely knew it was Easter.”
- “Grew up in NJ. Bunny hid the baskets. Like in the bathtub.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
