Milk Maid

Chocolate bunnies, chocolate mini eggs, marshmallow animals and peanut butter eggs. Get ready, Easter is this Sunday!

The treats will be abundant and I’m ready for it. Everyday here at the paper, our emails are flooded with different news releases and some are irrelevant to us.

But, on Tuesday morning I received an email from WalletHub that I found very interesting.

It went through and listed the following Easter statistics:

• $18.1 Billion: Total Easter-related spending expected in 2019 ($151 per person celebrating).

• $2.5 Billion: Projected Easter spending on candy.

• $49,000: Price of the world’s most expensive chocolate Easter bunny.

• 59%: Share of people who eat chocolate bunnies ears first.

• 180 million eggs are purchased for Easter.

• 1.5 billion marshmallow Peeps are consumed at Easter.

• 501,000 eggs were hidden in the world’s largest Easter egg hunt that was held in Winter Haven, Florida in 2007.

• 91 million chocolate bunnies are sold in the United States.

• 16 billion jellybeans are consumed, that’s enough to circle the globe three times! I’m a huge fan of Easter bunnies and Easter candy. Personally, my favorite Easter candies are the Cadbury Mini Chocolate Eggs.

Behind Halloween, Easter is the second best-selling candy holiday in the United States. The tradition of chocolate Easter eggs dates back to early 19th century Europe.

The reason is because eggs have been associated with Easter as a symbol of new life and Jesus’ resurrection for centuries. I’m personally not a fan of the marshmallow Peeps, but if 1.5 billion are consumed for Easter, someone must be! It’s currently the top selling non-chocolate Easter candy.

Marshmallow Peeps have been around since the 1950s and are based in Pennsylvania. The original Peeps were handmade, marshmallow-flavored yellow chicks, but other shapes and flavors were later introduced, including chocolate mousse bunnies.

I personally enjoy how creative people get with the Peeps. I’ve seen people and students make dioramas of them and they’re fun. The reason why we indulge in candy at Easter time goes back to medieval times. Easter takes place at the end of Lent and Lent is a period of fasting.

When Easter arrives, people celebrate with a feast and treat themselves after their Lenten fasting. If you end up in a chocolate coma on Sunday, know that you’re not alone, but I won’t be sharing any mini chocolate eggs.

Happy Easter!