A Family Tradition: Cascarones!

When I was a little girl, one of my fondest memories of Easter was making cascarones.  For Jillian's first few Easters, I thought she was too little for this, but this year, I figured she would enjoy this family tradition.  So for the past few weeks, I have been cracking only the tops of eggs and saving the shell.  The first time Julian saw the egg carton on the counter, he almost threw them away!  Apparently, cascarones were not a family tradition of his (silly me, I forgot that his Puerto Rican upbringing is not exactly the same as my Mexican one).  Although he thought I was crazy, I saved almost 3 dozen eggs to make with Jillian.

I have to admit, I was a little hesitant to do this activity with Jillian.  I remember from when I was little that the eggs are so delicate and that they break easily.  Easily breakable + 2 year old = recipe for disaster!

But this could not be any further from a disaster...in fact, Jillian LOVED making cascarones!  We set out all the materials for her to dye the eggs...

...and she was so careful with the eggs, putting them in the colorful containers and naming her colors as she turned the eggs over and over.  

When we were all done with the dying, we only lost 4 eggs!  

That night, Julian worked to put the confetti in the eggs...

...and I covered the opening with tissue paper.  Julian still thought I was crazy at this point, but he was happy to help!

Looking a little rough here!

The next day, as part of Jillian's Easter egg-stravaganza, we put all the cascarones in our backyard.  She had so much fun gathering them all up in her basket.

But the real fun began when we showed her what to do with them!

Although she let us do a few on her head, she mostly loved cracking them on mommy and daddy's heads.  

After we were done, she wanted more...guess we'll have to wait till next Easter, Jilly Bunny!  I don't think Julian thought I was crazy anymore after seeing her delight at this new Acosta Easter family tradition!