In honor of Easter, take a look at this video of Martha Stewart and Conan O'Brien decorating Easter eggs on the 500th episode of her show. Happy Easter!
Yes, those are Peeps masquerading as sushi. This is one of the fabulous photos sent in by readers to the Seattle Times. Mark Tometsko of Seattle sent this one in (it's our favorite). See the rest of the entries here. No Country for Old Peeps is pretty hilarious, as well.
Easter is this coming Sunday and if you want to try something different for the kids' Easter baskets, the folks at Family Fun have some great ideas for fun baskets that you and the kids can make together the day before. This video from The Today Show illustrates some of the creative and fun ideas they have -- we especially like the bunny basket made with cotton balls. Even the littlest child can work on that one. Of course, she'll probably end up with a few cotton balls glued into her hair, but hey -- it's a learning experience. You can get full craft instructions at the Family Fun website.
Just Born is adding a new shape of Peep to its line-up of tasty marshmallow treats. The new addition is called Marshmallow Yellow Tulips. This is the first new Spring shape of Peeps added since the 1950s. Just Born will also be making the popular Chicks, Bunnies and Eggs again this year in time for Easter.
Will Ferrell was recently transformed into a marshmallow Peep. Will Ferrell is the celebrity people think looks the most like a Peep according to a recent survey. Here's a video of Peeps tulips and chicks being made at Just Born's Peeps factory.
It's that Peeps time of the year again. And this year Peeps has some fun new products: cocoa bunnies, green chicks and sugar-free Peeps made with Splenda. Our favorite way to eat Peeps is to place them on a covered plate, then microwave them for just a few seconds. Then you have a fat-free, hot, gooey treat that doesn't have many calories. You'll also be on such a sugar high that you're guaranteed to get lots of work done! Or at least that's what we tell ourselves. But really, we could quit anytime. We don't have a problem. Really.
Peeps make a great starting point for fun Easter projects with children. Pictured to the right is a glorious Peeps creation called Drizzle Pops, which involves Peeps, chocolate and some parental supervision.
You can see the recipe for Drizzle Pops
here (.pdf file).
The BBC reports on the raging conflict between Swiss chocolate maker Lindt and and Austrian chocolate company Hauswirth over who has the right to produce the coveted golden Easter bunny.
But in Switzerland, a row over who owns the right to produce a specific Easter bunny has turned the day a little sour.
Lindt says only it has the right to make its trademark golden Easter bunny, with a red ribbon around its neck.
It is challenging Austrian company Hauswirth, which has been making similar ones for 50 years.
Chocolate company Lindt has been making its bunny since the early 1950s and it is hugely successful. It sells 60m of them every year.
To protect the design, the company copyrighted it in the year 2000.
"Our bunny is magical, majestic even", Lindt's managers say, "and we will protect it."
There is just one problem, other chocolate makers make Easter bunnies too. And the small Austrian company Hauswirth's golden bunnies have, yes, red ribbons around their necks.
The two rivals are now squaring up against each other in court. Lawyers for Lindt say the Hauswirth bunny must change its colours.
They have suggested bronze wrapping instead of gold and a green ribbon instead of red. Hauswirth refused and lost the first round in court, meaning the Hauswirth bunnies could not be sold.
In frustration, the company began giving them away, delighting thousands of children across Austria for whom Easter came early. Now another day in court has been scheduled but not until June.
Let's hope the chocolate hasn't melted by then.
Pictured is a special edition Lindt gold bunny made exclusively for Harrod's.
After perusing photos of the gold foil wrapped chocolate bunnies on both companies' websites, we have to say that Lindt has the cuter golden bunny. Not that we're taking sides or anything.
According to the NRF 2005 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey those celebrating the Easter holiday (March 27th) plan to spend $96.51 on average -- a little less than last year's $107.17. Candy will be the most popular purchase for Easter this year with 85.5 percent of shoppers planning to purchase chocolates and other sweets for the holiday. Food sales will also be strong, with 76.8 percent of consumers celebrating Easter planning to buy food. In addition, more than half of consumers will be purchasing gifts (55.4%) and greeting cards (50.1%) for the holiday. Cadbury is planning on selling lots of Cadbury Creme Eggs. Cadbury Trebor Bassett said if you laid all the eggs made on the Cadbury Creme Egg plant end to end, they would stretch for 12,000 miles. Thinking about Easter candy probably makes you wonder just how do they make those Marshmallow Peeps? Well, the answer can be found in this article on MSN called How Marshmallow Peeps Are Born. MSN writers were lucky enough to go on a tour of the Just Born, Inc. candy plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and they report back on what they found -- lots of sugar, mixing and whipping. Just Born, Inc. is the company that produces 1.2 billion marshmallow peeps, chics and bunnies each year.
Consumers will spend more than $10 billion on food, gifts, greeting cards, flowers, new clothes and candy this Easter according to the National Retail Foundation. A survey by the NRF found that candy is the most popular item and that forty-two percent of people
rank the chocolate bunny as the number one "must-have" candy in an Easter basket. More than 90 million chocolate bunnies, 2 million marshmallow chicks per day, and 16 billion jelly beans will be produced for Easter, according to the National Confectioners Association.
Just Born is adding a new shape of 
It's that Peeps time of the year again. And this year Peeps has some fun new products: cocoa bunnies, green chicks and sugar-free Peeps made with Splenda. Our favorite way to eat Peeps is to place them on a covered plate, then microwave them for just a few seconds. Then you have a fat-free, hot, gooey treat that doesn't have many calories. You'll also be on such a sugar high that you're guaranteed to get lots of work done! Or at least that's what we tell ourselves. But really, we could quit anytime. We don't have a problem. Really.
The BBC 
According to the NRF 2005 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey those celebrating the Easter holiday (March 27th) plan to spend $96.51 on average -- a little less than last year's $107.17. Candy will be the most popular purchase for Easter this year with 85.5 percent of shoppers planning to purchase chocolates and other sweets for the holiday. Food sales will also be strong, with 76.8 percent of consumers celebrating Easter planning to buy food. In addition, more than half of consumers will be purchasing gifts (55.4%) and greeting cards (50.1%) for the holiday. Cadbury is planning on selling lots of Cadbury Creme Eggs. 