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BASKETS &

Area kids hope the bunny brings candy and more for Easter

By LISA CHINN

Date published: 4/11/2004

By LISA CHINN

iT'S LACED with frilly clothes, egg hunts and parades, but Easter is a serious religious celebration.

A basket full of candy's just a bonus when you're a kid.

Nearly 90 percent of adults make Easter baskets for their children, according to the National Confectioners Association. Favorites treats include marshmallow Peeps, chocolate bunnies and jellybeans.

Students at Holy Cross Academy in Stafford County and Sonshine Academy in Spotsylvania County opened up about what else they hope the bunny brings this year.

"Three hundred fifty zillion dollars," 10-year-old Clayton Hardy said with a sneaky smile. But some strawberry-flavored Starbursts would do, he said.

Isabel Steven, 8, dreamed of plowing through a pile of plastic grass to uncover a sparkling diamond--not a ring, just a gem.

Meghan Dornan focused on the edible. She hoped one of the 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies produced each year, according to the NCA, would find its way into her basket. But the 8-year-old is choosy about her chocolate.

"I don't like to get dark chocolate Easter bunnies because my family doesn't really like them, and neither do I," she said.

Presleigh Coleman's mouth watered for a richer rabbit. She wished for a chocolate bunny filled with money.

"I would eat his ears first because the ears are more juicier," said Presleigh, 5.

Seventy-six percent of bunny biters agree. Another 5 percent start by gnawing on the feet, and 4 percent begin by chomping on the tail, said NCA spokesperson Susan Fussell.

Five-year-old Kyle Morton hoped for chocolate eggs filled with Jell-O? Could Kyle be referring to those yolky-looking Cadbury Creme eggs?

The company makes so many of the rich confections that, lined end to end, they'd stretch 12,000 miles, according to the National Retail Federation.

Eight-year-old Caty Scarlett Coleman wanted a giant chocolate egg stuffed with caramel.

"I would share it with my friends, my family and everybody," she said.

Now, that's the Easter spirit, Caty Scarlett.

Pastel-colored marshmallow Peeps have been the most popular nonchocolate Easter candy for the past decade, according to Just Born candy company. The Bethlehem, Pa., firm makes more than 700 million of the chick-, bunny- and egg-shaped marshmallow treats each year.

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Date published: 4/11/2004