The annual holiday food orgy is underway …

 

FOOD – for the 2021 Holiday Photography Challenge (See sidebar for full list.).

 

Duck and cover! It’s the annual holiday food orgy, and it goes on for months!

 

 The whole thing starts with Halloween and all those tricky treats. Then we have a family birthday or two, followed by Thanksgiving’s abundant feasting. Next up is the whole Christmas, filled with innumerable indulgences. New Year’s Eve follows fast with additional tasty temptations. Not long after, we face Valentine’s Day. (Can you say “Sugar coma”?). St. Patrick’s Day is quick on its heels with still more calorie counts.

 Eventually, Easter arrives, bringing jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, and more.

 No wonder we roll our eyes over the annual approach of swimsuit season!

 

Image/s: Personal photo/s. All rights reserved.

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Easter reminder: Chocolate eggs and holiday treats are BAD for pets!

This warning comes up with every holiday, but it bears repeating, as the Easter Bunny brings baskets of candies, chocolate bunnies, gummy treats, foil-wrapped chocolate eggs, peanut butter eggs, jelly beans, and other sweet tooth favorites.

Chocolate is toxic to pets.

Too many cats and dogs (and other pets) wind up in veterinary emergencies, simply because they ate holiday sweets.  Plenty of pets experience dangerous, unpleasant, or painful symptoms, such as:

• blood pressure drops
  
• breathing problems
• diarrhea
• fever
• loss of coordination
• muscle spasms
• racing heartbeat
• seizures
• vomiting

Some pets even die after eating chocolate, usually from cardiac arrest, coma, or organ failure.

Chocolate’s not the only culprit, when it comes to pet dangers from Easter treats. Sugary and sugar-free treats can be poisonous or sickening as well. Jelly beans and gummy bears pose choking dangers in pets, as well as dental problems and sugar-related illness.

And don’t get me started on Marshmallow Peeps.

Cellophane and foil wrappers and the dreaded plastic Easter grass can be choking hazards. If swallowed, these can cause intestinal blockages.

Colorful plastic Easter eggs may seem to be enticing playthings for pets, but they can break into sharp pieces.

Also, Easter lilies are quite toxic to pets.

At the risk of sounding parental (guilty as charged), here's a pet owner pledge for a pet-friendly Easter celebration.

Pet owners: Repeat after me.

1. We will not give our pets (or allow anyone to give our pets) any chocolate or candy this Easter.
2. If we hide plastic Easter eggs, we will make sure our pets cannot get them.
3. We will keep the Easter baskets away from our pets.
4. We will remove Easter candy wrappers from our pets’ reach.
5. We will dispose of leftover hard-boiled Easter eggs and empty eggshells safely.
6. We will keep our pets out of the kitchen and away from the Easter table during our holiday celebration.
7. We will instruct our Easter guests to stow their purses, gift bags, and other possessions out of our pets’ reach.
8. We will stash the trash away from our pets’ access.
9. We will keep Easter toys and decorations away from our pets.
10. We will forgo live lilies and flowers for Easter decorating, or place them where our pets cannot get to them.

Happy Easter, pet lovers!

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Adapted from public domain image

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10 favorite Easter basket candy picks

Hey, Easter Bunny! What’s in your basket? Easter eggs may be a perennial favorite, but Easter candy can really light up the eyes of any Easter basket recipient.

What are your best Easter basket candy treats each year? Here are our top 10 favorite candies for Easter baskets (listed alphabetically).

1. Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs

The Cadbury Crème Egg is an annual Easter basket essential candy treat. Created to look like a real egg, the foil-wrapped Cadbury crème egg has a milk chocolate shell. Inside is a gooey white and yellow sweet cream filling.

Besides, who doesn’t love those Cadbury egg commercials on television each year, with the clucking bunny and the eggs?

2. Chocolate Bunny

‘Nuff said.

But wait. Let’s be serious. The cheap hollow chocolate rabbits are nothing to write home about. Better to spring for the quality solid chocolate ones, Easter Bunny.

3. Easter M and M’s

No holiday is complete without the appropriately colored M and M’s candies. In the spring, M and M’s come in pretty pastel colors for Easter. Candy-coated chocolate treats (in plain, peanut or other styles), Easter M and M’s come in big bags, as well as colorful plastic Easter eggs.

Why not buy both? The plastic Easter eggs, filled with M and M’s, are great for children’s Easter baskets, while the big bag of M and M’s may be just right for the Easter Bunny himself (or herself).

Hey, the Easter Bunny has a sweet tooth too.

An earlier version of this article originally appeared on a Yahoo property, which is now closed. All publication rights reside with the author.

4. Easter PEZ

Ask any kid. PEZ candies are sweet little hard bricks that come in several colors and flavors. But that’s not why children like them. PEZ candies come with plastic mechanical dispensers that are fun to use. Kids pull back the themed heads (cartoon characters, holiday icons or even superheroes) to pop out the PEZ candies.

Easter PEZ dispensers usually sport cute bunnies, chicks, Easter eggs, or lambs.  Some Easter PEZ dispensers and candies even come enclosed in plastic Easter eggs, ready for tucking into an Easter basket.

5. Marshmallow Peeps

Marshmallow Peeps were once reserved only for Easter. Now the sugar-covered sweet candy treats are available for just about any holiday. But Easter is the top traditional Marshmallow Peep day of all.

Should Marshmallow Peeps be eaten soft and fresh (right out of the package), or are the chewy bunnies, chicks, ducks and other colorful candies better a little older and crunchier? And what is the proper way to eat a peep? (Ask the Easter Bunny.)

6. Reese’s Pieces Carrot

What more needs to be said about a big cellophane cone, filled with orange Reese’s pieces?

7. Smucker’s Jelly Beans

All kinds of candy companies make jelly beans, and nearly everyone has a favorite. Some like ‘em tart or tangy, while others prefer the gritty sweet ones. Classic Brach’s, Jelly Belly, Jolly Rancher, Starburst, and other kinds of jelly beans are fine. But nothing beats the fruity jam-like flavoring of the Smucker’s Jelly Beans, if you can find them.

8. Snickers Minis Filled Eggs

Only at Easter can one find Snickers formed into egg shapes and wrapped in foil. Butterfinger Eggs, Nestle Crunch Eggs, Twix Eggs, and other chocolate candy bar favorite Easter eggs are also available. Stick ‘em in the freezer! For a cool Easter treat.

9. Speckled Robin Eggs

Colorful speckled candy robin eggs are another Easter basket favorite. A crunchy malted milk center, coated with milk chocolate and covered with a hard candy shell make speckled robin eggs a super Easter basket candy surprise.

Brach’s, Hershey, Whopper, and other varieties of speckled robin egg Easter candies are available. Take your pick for Easter baskets.

10. Sweet Tarts Chicks,Ducks and Bunnies

These mouth-puckering sour treats may not be a grownup’s top taste pick, but they sure look colorful and sweet in an Easter basket. And kids can’t seem to get enough of them.

Perhaps every family has its own favorite Easter basket candy contents. What’s nestled in the shredded Easter grass in your Easter basket?

NOTE:  This blogger has no affiliation with any product/s mentioned in this post and received no remuneration from the manufacturer/s or product promoter/s for this post.

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10 favorite Easter basket candy picks

Created by this user, including public domain artwork

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