Every Bunny Loves a Free Craft Project

If you have read Mom & Pop Hardware, you will know that the Easter bunny magically delivered goodies to the Copeland household in galvanized buckets instead of in woven baskets like what normal children got. Coincidentally, these were the exact style of buckets that my mother stocked at B&G Hardware.

On Easter morning, we would wake up to find our metal buckets full of plastic eggs. After a hearty breakfast of chocolate rabbits and jelly beans, our father would take me and my siblings to church while Mom “prepared the ham.” While our Sunday School teachers breathlessly described how Jesus emerged alive from His tomb, the Easter bunny frantically dispersed hard-boiled eggs throughout the backyard—inside downspouts, atop the bird feeder, nestled in the sandbox and in other unsanitary places—where they baked in the warm sun until we got home from church to retrieve them.

Lucky for you, I happen to own a galvanized bucket and have decided to recreate that Easter magic for readers of the Mom & Pop Substack.

For starters, I made some bunnies out of card stock. One is a buck-toothed nerd in a plaid vest and tie, the second is a diva in a kimono, and the third is a raffish rabbit in a Hawaiian shirt.

Next, I put the raffish rabbit in the bucket. See how its paws extend over the edge of the bucket, like he’s hanging on? Cute, right! Admittedly, this isn’t a great picture, because right then, my cat Jam jumped up on the counter—where she isn’t allowed. I HAD TO USE ONE HAND TO KEEP JAM OUT OF THE PHOTO.

Her initial investigation seemed innocent enough. Little did I know that she was merely planning her strategy.

First she went after the bird, which I patiently explained to her was just a prop.

Then she started voraciously eating the shredded grass, which I was extracting from her throat as fast as she could eat it. It was something akin to a magician pulling endless scarves from his sleeve.

Then she thought the grass itself was amusing.

My dad called this view “the old one eye.” (This has nothing to do with the Easter bucket. I just thought you might want to know what my dad called a cat’s butt.)

Then the rabbit was under attack.

Once Jam discovered that the plastic eggs were empty, she swatted them out of the bucket with her paw. Voila! Mario Lemieux!

I gave up on the Easter bucket magic. But that doesn’t mean you have to. Download the template below and make your own Easter bunnies. Just print the PDF onto an 8 1/2 x 11-inch piece of paper and trace the components onto cardstock or cardboard. Color the pieces yourself or use scrapbook paper to create different outfits.