With regards to the latter, it’s not surprising that so many people search online for the correct Easter holiday dates each year as the dates can vary from late March to late April. You can check out the ‘When is Easter‘ question on NZS.com for the relevant dates.

Chocolatey Goodness

To help you with the more tastey side of Easter, you’ll find that most supermarkets will have Easter eggs for sale right now – in fact they often start pretty early! It’s not all that unusual to see Easter eggs in stores right after the previous holiday of Valentines Day in mid February. You can find plenty of supermarkets in the NZS.com directory. Why not find out if there are any smaller supermarkets in your region to help support the smaller businesses of New Zealand?

Even better, perhaps this year you should make your own Easter eggs? Not only will you be likely to save money, you’ll also be able to spend some great family time with the kids during the process!

Flickr image credit: jolienvallins

While Easter is a fun time for kids, adults can indulge in a little chocolate too. Check out the chocolate shops on NZS.com for some inspiration!

If are keen on making your own Easter eggs (it’s easier than it sounds) check out our Easter egg recipes. For those who want to enjoy Easter without the super-sweet tooth, how about some homemade hot cross buns? Easter baking

isn’t restricted to chocolate, so get the oven firing this weekend.

Image from Flickr

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For NZS.com, the largest spike we’ve seen over the last year was in relation to the Olympic Keyword Searches that were being searched on. These searches were across the widest range of user demographics that we’ve seen in some time.

Here’s a helpful list of Easter-related keyword searches which have gained popularity on NZS.com over the last week:

• easter activities
• easter ideas
• easter baking
• easter recipes
• easter crafts
• meaning of easter
• how to make easter eggs
• easter cards
• easter symbols
• easter bun recipe

NZS.com also has a set of useful Easter related Articles: Easter Gifts, Easter Activities and Easter Baking.

If you have a statistics package attached to you website (like Google Analytics, which is freely available) it’s a good idea to look back at Easter 2008 and see if people found your site by searching for Easter related terms. Re-cycling those terms this year within your website copy may help increase your traffic on them.

You might be surprised at the extra opportunities that present themselves by following other seasonal keywords that your visitors are using through-out the year.

This holiday, traditionally a time for remembering the death and resurrection of Christ, is now celebrated as a time of new beginnings… and chocolate.

Chances are, even if you don’t consider yourself religious in any way, you’re probably still celebrating Easter with some of the most ancient symbols of new life – eggs, baby chicks and rabbits. These are all symbols of fertility, life and newfound hope. So, while you’re enjoying some hard-earned chocolate bunnies, Easter eggs and hot cross buns this year – think about the meaning behind all those delicious Easter treats!

This Easter…

Activities for Easter - Get creative with Easter crafts, go on an Easter youth camp, make gift baskets and cards, or throw a themed Easter party.

Easter baking - Nothing beats homemade hot cross buns, and they’re easy for kids to make too!

Make your own Easter eggs – Who knew it was so easy to make

Easter gifts - Give a little something at Easter to friends, family or corporate clients. Try Easter flowers, gift baskets, Christian gifts or the traditional favourite – Easter eggs.

Learn about Easter – Learn more about the traditional meaning and stories of Easter, and celebrate with others at your local church.