By MADDY VITALE
This year the Easter bunny will hop down the virtual trail in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
But that doesn’t mean the Easter Egg Hunt is off.
“We are just using our creative juices coming up with out-of-the-box ways to make the holidays fun as best as we can,” explained Kristy Pittaluga, a Sea Isle City mother of three, who thought it was a great idea for her hometown.
She brought an idea to Sea Isle’s Public Information Officer Katherine Custer to have a communitywide virtual Easter Egg Hunt, where residents and businesses could display paper eggs in their windows. Then, families could drive around and check out the creations.
Pittaluga emphasized that while this wasn’t an idea of her own, she thought it was an excellent way to save a fun Easter tradition, even though it is a bit unique this year.
“I saw other towns were doing it like Upper and Dennis townships and thought we should in Sea Isle,” she said. “I started texting my friends and I created a word document with the information about it. I asked Kathy (Custer) if she could spread the word and ask people to join in.”
Paper Easter eggs are prominently displayed in front of the Sea Isle City Welcome Center. (Photo courtesy Sea Isle City)
Custer called it a great idea.
“I think an egg hunt that stresses the importance of social distancing is a great idea. It will serve as a diversion for the youngsters in our community, and it will also help people celebrate the Easter holiday with a little whimsy,” Custer said.
Custer continued, “At a time when we are all physically keeping apart from one another, an idea like this will help bring us together and put smiles on our faces, so it is definitely worthwhile. Plus, every household can get in on the act and place an Easter egg in their window, even homes without children.”
All of the paper eggs have to be hung up by Friday, so families could see what other families designed and crafted for Easter, while practicing social distancing.
It has been a fun activity for Pittaluga and her children, Francesa, 8, a second grade student at the Ocean City Primary School, Joey, 3, in prekindergarten at the Primary School, and 2-year-old Vivienne.
Francesca Pittaluga, 8, of Sea Isle City, hangs up a sun catcher paper egg. (Photo courtesy Kristy Pittaluga)
“We haven’t hung them up yet, but we are working on them. We are trying to experiment with ways to make huge Easter eggs with limited supplies. We will use some wrapping paper to cut some out and we can use the comics section of the newspaper,” Pittaluga explained.
The Pittaluga family is taking it one step further in the creativity department.
“We are also using ground-up crayons and wax paper to make a sun catcher into the shape of an egg,” she said.
And while her children are being homeschooled, as are most children amid the coronavirus pandemic, some of what the kids are learning in their lessons are being applied to crafting the paper eggs, Pittaluga said.
“We are blending the colors using science and incorporating some of the home schooling,” she noted. “We tore up lots of tissue paper to use and we are using a mini-laminator to put them into sheets. We are really having fun."
