Spring into Action

We know you want it. After a long and—in many parts of the country—snowy winter, you are ready for spring. Ready for the warm weather, the longer days, the blossoming flowers and trees, the proximity to summer. You might also be ready to celebrate—not just the spring holidays, but the fact that it’s no longer dark outside when you leave your office.

Spring is a great time to refresh your home and garden, take a day trip, or do some crafts with the kids. It’s also an ideal time to get social. Because most people won’t be traveling until summer, chances are your friends and family are around and, having just emerged from their winter shells, just waiting to be invited over. So what are you waiting for? Shed your winter gloom and start enjoying this sensuous season. Here are 10 ideas to get you started.

1. Paint eggs. Even if you don’t celebrate Easter, there’s nothing that symbolizes the fertility rituals of spring more than eggs. And if you’ve got kids, what’s more fun than coloring and decorating hardboiled eggs together? It’s easy enough to buy an inexpensive decorating kit or use food coloring to dye your eggs pretty pastel colors. But for an extraordinary egg, try something new, like drawing patterns on them with paint pens (try metallic or even puffy-paint versions), glamming them up with glitter, or dipping them in all-natural ingredients (try simmering beets or blueberries with a dash of vinegar). For added fun, wrap eggs in textured fabric or drizzle them with rubber cement before dyeing, then peel off to reveal cool patterns.

2. Cook up some fun. Most people consider autumn the cooking season, but spring is a perfect time to whip up some fun in the kitchen. As the weather warms up and an abundance of fresh fruits and veggies hits grocery stores, preparing light, healthy fare is a snap. Whip up a pasta primavera with fresh asparagus and artichokes, or an orzo dish with sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts. And if you celebrate a holiday this month, pull out those family recipes. This year I’m feeling nostalgic enough to duplicate my Aunt Pat’s Easter meat pie and my Nana’s Italian easter breads, which look like little Easter baskets with colored eggs in the center. If you have kids, they’ll love revisiting these family traditions with you, not to mention bonding with you in the kitchen.

3. Host an egg hunt. Again, whether or not you celebrate Easter has nothing to do with the fun you’ll have watching children—yours or anyone else’s—run each other down in search of plastic eggs filled with cheap treats. After “ready, set, go!” you’ll see big kids sprint around the yard trying to collect more treasures than their cousins or friends, and toddlers stumble over grass patches to get to that one purple egg—which they’ll spend the rest of the hunt staring at and trying to break open. I swear, the egg-hunt spectacle is more amusing than if you’d witnessed Santa himself sliding down the chimney last December.

4. Open up your house. Whether it’s an Easter brunch or a Passover seder, there’s no better time to get social. For a springtime party, invite friends over over for an egg hunt (see #3) followed by a buffet of glazed ham, vegetable quiche, spring greens, lemon cake and mimosas. Decorate the table with an Easter basket filled with colored eggs, sprinkle jellybean confetti on the table, and scatter seasonal flowers such as tulips, daffodils or hyacinths around the house. For more traditional holiday meals, such as a formal Passover seder or a sit-down Easter dinner, shake it up by finding some new recipes to mix with the old standbys.

5. Move the party outside. Now that the weather’s warmer, get out there and get some fresh air. Go on a bike ride or hike. Have a picnic. Fly a kite. Take a day trip. Go on a boat excursion. Mother nature offers many possibilities; you just need to take her up on them. Now that the days are longer, having dinner al fresco becomes possible, and after-supper strolls are more plentiful.

6. Visit a pretty place. There are just some attractions that look great in the springtime. As they gear up for summer, the national parks are flourishing with tulips and wildlife, and it’s a wonderful time to tour the grounds of famous residences, such as the Vanderbilt Mansion & Museum in New York, the Dunsmuir-Hellman Estate in Oakland, California, the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, and lots of places in between. Check your local museums for new outdoor exhibits and your town’s visitors bureau for spring fairs and festivals in cool outdoor locations.

7. Make a basket. Every year, my mother would stay up late the night before Easter to assemble baskets from the Easter bunny, which we’d wake up to on Easter morning. There we’d inevitably find Reese’s peanut butter eggs, chocolate malt eggs, jelly beans and, of course, a chocolate rabbit. Your local stores are overflowing with seasonal treats right now, so get them while they last. If you don’t have kids, present a basket to your partner (what grownup doesn’t get a laugh out of Peeps?) or a neighbor. Or make one for purely decorative purposes. My mother-in-law creates Japanese-style washi paper eggs, which look pretty in small woven baskets. Don’t have a basket? Fill a glass bowl instead with artichokes or lemons to create a vibrant centerpiece for your holiday table.

8. Gear up your garden. After a long winter, your yard is inevitably screaming for a makeover. Prepare your lawn, plant some bulbs, and for God’s sake start planting stuff. Get the kids in on the act by having them help pull weeds or plant seeds. Check the Farmer’s Almanac for the best times to start planting in your area. For added fun, buy a bird feeder or birdbath to attract some feathered friends. Give the children a pair of binoculars and a birdwatching book so they can learn about their native species.

9. Refresh your home. As much as I despise cleaning, I have to admit this is the best season to give your home a mini makeover. Open the windows and let the fresh air in. Clean the curtains and switch to more lightweight bed dressings. Infuse the living or family room with spring color by adding pastel throw pillows or a piece of seasonal artwork. Clean the carpets. Apply some feng shui decorating principles to increase energy flow throughout the house. And finally, bring some of the outdoors inside by clipping spring flowers from your yard and displaying them in pretty vases in every room. If flowers are hard to come by, try some floral-scented room spray.

10. Lighten your wardrobe. Spring fashions are now in stores, and what better way to reward yourself for all that cleaning than with a shopping spree. Warmer weather means shorter skirts, sundresses, sun hats and open-toe sandals. This season, floral prints and pastels are all the rage (see our spring trends report), and cropped tops and shorter shorts mean you might want to get ready to show more skin. But that doesn’t mean you should feel obliged to hit the gym or get a suntan (a big no-no according to our local dermatologist). Just dab on a little self tanner and you’re good to go. Lighten up—spring is here!