Easter corsages

Eastertide: Day 5

When I was growing up in the South, it was a common practice for women and girls to wear an Easter corsage to church on Easter Sunday. This was also the one Sunday a year that it was normal to see hats, too. Easter Sunday was special, therefore, it was assumed and appropriate that we dressed differently. 

These beautiful corsages were usually made out of lilies with some ribbon attached. They were made for either the wrist or to be pinned on, and they appeared in the grocery stores during Holy Week. (That's how common they were.)  They came boxed and ready to wear, and they were one of my very favorite aspects of Easter. My father brought them home for us each year. 

When I moved up to the Midwest, however, I didn't find this custom there most likely because of the big difference in temperature on Easter morning. It was usually still quite cold, and not really sunny, hat-wearing, flower-donning weather.  So, when my daughter was old enough to appreciate flowers and such, I decided to make my own corsage but one more appropriate for toddlers. And I threw in a blue corsage for my son, as well, for good measure. 

As you can see from the photo above, they were fairly simple- just made out of different colored foam pieces, a little fake grass and gingham ribbon. I used some straight pins to attach them to my kids' clothes and they looked super cute!  

One good thing about using foam instead of real flowers is that these foam corsages last for years. My kids have long since outgrown these cute corsages, so I've put them away for the next generation. In the meantime, they remind me of my own days of childhood and my father, who passed away several years ago. The longevity of these corsages speaks to me. They remind me that Easter is a promise kept, and that if we follow Jesus, God will do for us what He did for Jesus. The promise kept on that original Easter still holds true today, thousands of years later, long after the Easter lilies have faded.