Forget Christmas, it’s all About the Easter Tree
With Easter approaching this weekend, to coincide with an easing in lockdown restrictions, the nation is keeping everything crossed for good weather and time to enjoy a good old socially distanced gathering in the garden!
While we can’t control the weather, especially over a long weekend, we do all appear to be making up for it in ensuring that Easter is packed full of special treats, and it’s fair to say we’re invested… in all senses!
Who remembers the desperate scramble for Easter eggs last year as we entered strict lockdown measures and the aisles were stripped bare, bringing about an Easter egg shortage? Well this year, we’ve gone into overdrive for Easter eggs, with sales climbing by ￡48m, an increase of almost 50%, to ￡153m, according to Kantar.
M&S even took the early decision to extend its Easter range this year, to include plant based and gluten free eggs, as well as floral gifts, and has since reaped a whopping 3000% increase in sales of gifts, compared to 2020, and Easter egg sales currently sitting at +86%.
And don’t get us started on hot cross buns. With new flavours enticing shoppers to these sweet, sticky delights, we’ve already spent ￡37m on our hot cross bun fix this year – whether that’s traditional, super sweet chocolatey varieties, or dipping our toe into the savoury category with Marmite hot cross buns stealing the show, and my personal favourite... chili and cheese. Yum!
While we know that Easter eggs and hot cross buns are absolute essentials to see us through the four-day weekend… Sainsbury’s is also reporting that searches for Easter trees on its site have increased by 977%, when compared to the same period last year. Searches for Easter decorations are also up 948%... so a combination of good treats, the rule of six and outside dining have certainly brought out the decorating bug in us all.
While Easter decorating may be a relatively new, and somewhat unusual, trend in the UK, those in the Nordics, and Germany have made Easter trees a tradition for centuries, by decorating trees indoors and out, with painted eggs and feathers to celebrate the occasion.
Perhaps Easter is just the excuse we all needed to flex our decorating skills in line with home makeover trends, and looking to celebrate the small things, following in the footsteps of Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Halloween, which have typically been seen as smaller scale occasions in the UK.
With the rule of six coming into force, all that hard work in the garden is sure to have been worth it – and before welcoming others to bask in our handy-work, we’re making the final touches! Asda has reported sales of BBQ and garden furniture have increased more than 400% year-on-year as consumers prepare for outdoor entertaining, and Ebay UK has also seen searches for outdoor bars soar 710% while outdoor projectors increased by 416%.
So, who’s planning to share their Easter treats in the garden this weekend? Or decorate a tree? We can but hope that the sun shines!
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