Bank Holidays and Chocolate Overdoses

Easter means many things to many people: Christians commemorate the Lord's resurrection, pagans celebrate rebirth and the coming of the spring equinox and the rest of us hard working folk just enjoy any celebration that involves Bank Holidays, long weekends and an excuse to scoff Easter eggs.

For many of the world's most ancient races, the egg has been associated with spring festivities from the earliest of times, representing the rebirth of the earth as winter thawed and spring warmed. Eggs were buried under foundations to ward off evil; pregnant Roman women carried eggs to predict the sex of their unborn children and French brides stepped on eggs before crossing the threshold of their new marriage homes. No matter what our beliefs, Easter is a time for fun, family, chocolate indulgence and carefree Monday morning hangovers.

Expect loads of Easter action, from pipe shows and marching bands, to cheerleaders, maypole dancers and Easter egg hunts at the Edinburgh Easter Festival, now a favourite in the events calendar of the Capital.
On Easter Sunday, Glasgow will see the annual Motorcycle Action Group Easter Egg Run, the largest charity motorcycle run in Scotland, organised to collect Easter eggs and donations for Yorkhill Children's Foundation. The bikes and riders leave from Kelvin Way at 12.30 pm to embark on a forty-minute circular run of the city that ends at the Yorkhill Royal Hospital for Sick Children. Get to Kelvin Way by noon to hand over any chocolate treats you might like to donate.

First things first though: where is the best place to find some seriously decadent Easter loot? The high street is always a good place to start and offers a colourful range in all shapes and sizes, but if you are looking for something a bit different, a quick trawl on the net will provide some tasty ideas. The Simply Fair website offers plenty of guilt-free, karma-pleasing options, from Divine Chocolate mini eggs made with cocoa supplied by the Ghana-based Kuapa Kokoo farmer's co-operative (£3.49) to the Divine Dark Chocolate egg, made with 70% finest Ghanaian cocoa, with an added treat of dark chocolate covered Brazil nuts (£5.99), or, for the organic food obsessives, the Maya Gold Easter Egg (£2.99) a bittersweet dark chocolate delicacy enriched with orange and spices.

Cadbury also offers some cocoa gems, including a chocolate egg in the form of a life-size football or rugby ball (£15.00). If you get the man in your life one of those, the only football or rugby they might manage to participate in will be strictly from the comfort of the couch. That's one way of keeping them sweet.

If celebrating and party-throwing is your scene how about dazzling your guests with a deluxe, whirr free chocolate fountain from the website www.iwantone.com? A chocolate waterfall of sorts that is sure to make Easter dreams come true. Enjoy the sugar rush.