CBS News
When is Easter Sunday 2024?
Mindy Schauer/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images
The first signs of spring mean Easter is just around the corner.
Whether you’ve got a little one at home hoping for an overflowing Easter basket, or you’re hosting your extended family on Easter Sunday, you’re going to need to know when Easter is this year — and how to score the perfect Easter basket and Easter gifts. Keep reading for everything you need to know to prepare for Easter 2024.
When is Easter 2024?
Get your Easter baskets ready and hide your chocolate bunnies. Easter is Sunday, March 31, 2024. The official end of the 40 days of Lent, Easter is an important day in the Christian faith and celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Best Easter baskets of 2024
When it comes to Easter baskets, make sure you order with enough time for your basket to arrive (and before the top picks sell out). Usually filled with sweet treats and chocolates, you’re never too old to give or receive an Easter basket.
Best chocolate and candy Easter basket: Harry & David Grand Easter basket
Harry & David
Harry & David is known for its elegant gift baskets featuring the perfect combination of chocolates, candies, fruit and savory snacks. The gifting brand delivers once again with its massive (and delicious) Easter basket, which includes a solid milk chocolate bunny, malt ball mini eggs, dark chocolate-covered popcorn, yogurt-covered pretzels, an assortment of chocolate truffles, Robin egg marshmallows and more. The icing on the cake is the four gorgeous pears included in the basket.
This Easter basket comes in a beautiful woven basket and is finished with a hand-tied bow. This five-pound Easter basked is available at Harry & David for $110. Standard shipping takes 4-7 business days.
Best assortment: Cravebox Easter basket for kids and adults
Amazon
If you’re looking for an Easter basket that doesn’t lean heavily on chocolate, this 55-piece Easter basket is a snack lover’s dream. Filled with snack sizes of sweet and savory treats, there is something (and then some) for everyone in this terrific Easter basket.
Available at Amazon, it’s well presented with all the items already placed and standing up for a full dramatic effect. The wrapped basket is placed in an Easter-themed box and sent directly to you.
This 55-count Easter basket is priced at $50. It’s rated 4.3 stars at Amazon.
Best Easter flower delivery services in 2024
One of the best ways to welcome spring and celebrate Easter is with flowers. It’s never been easier to order flowers online.
While you could go with one of the most well-known flower delivery services, you can find better arrangements at competitive prices elsewhere. Use flowers as an Easter gift, a centerpiece or a host gift on Easter Sunday.
Best online flower delivery service: The Bouqs Co.
The Bouqs Co.
As seen on ABC’s competition reality show “Shark Tank”, The Bouqs Co. promises farm-fresh quality flowers guaranteed to stay fresher longer. Their flowers are responsibly sourced and rooted in kindness — to the planet and the brand’s partners. Because flowers are sourced directly from the farms in which they grow, there is no middleman. Flowers are in transit for less time, which means they’ll stay in bloom longer before wilting.
The Bouqs Co. offers free shipping to subscribers, or a $15 flower delivery charge will apply to most deliveries.
Best flower quality and selection: UrbanStems
UrbanStems
We like the quality, variety of offerings, freshness and style of UrbanStems. UrbanStems guarantees same-day or next-day delivery to New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Miami. The online flower retailer does offer coast-to-coast delivery to other cities, but can’t guarantee same-day or next-day delivery.
UrbanStems is a terrific choice if you’re looking for a modern and elevated Easter arrangement, or are looking for arrangements with elegant flowers other than roses.
Order at least 48 hours before your desired delivery date. Delivery costs $10-30 per order.
Best Easter gifts in 2024
An Easter gift doesn’t have to mean sweets or flowers. Whether you’re looking to fill an Easter basket yourself or gift a little one an Easter surprise, Easter gifts can brighten up anyone’s holiday.
Best Easter gift for little kids: Play-Doh egg set
Amazon
This 24-count Play-Doh egg set features colorful, plastic eggs filled with two ounces of bright Play-Doh molding clay. This non-toxic modeling compound comes in a variety of spring pastels, which can be used on an Easter egg hunt, in a gift basket or as an entire gift itself.
Amazon reviewers rate this Easter gift 4.7 stars, praising it as an alternative to the usual sugary Easter treats.
“Opened a couple and they are fun,” says one verified Amazon reviewer. “Nice feel and the two colors are great. These will be a good alternative to candy at the Easter Egg hunt this year!”
Trendiest Easter gift: Squishmallow Mystery Box (5 pc.)
Amazon
If you’re looking to score a terrific Easter gift while earning cool points with the kids in your life, order a Squishmallow Mystery Box this Easter. The Squishmallow Mystery Box contains five 5-inch plushes, each randomly chosen.
These cute plush collectibles make for a terrific snuggle companion or an addition to a growing Squishmallow collection. This TikTok-viral Easter gift appeals to kids who love unboxing videos and mystery packages.
Rated 4.6 stars at Amazon.
Best Easter gift for bath time: Egg bath bombs gift set (12 pc.)
Amazon
This gift set includes 12 pastel-colored egg-shaped bath bombs, perfect for the little bather in your life. Made from 100% natural ingredients, these bath bombs promise to create a whole lot of bubbles, and a whole lot of fun.
Each set comes with a clever set of Easter glasses. Styles vary per set. Regularly $27, this gift is priced at $23 after coupon at Amazon. Rated 4.6 stars.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A Georgia county’s emergency call center was overwhelmed by calls on Sept. 4 about a school shooting at Apalachee High School that killed four people and wounded nine others, records released Friday by Barrow County show.
Local news organizations report many of the 911 phone calls were not released under public record requests because state law exempts from release calls recording the voice of someone younger than 18 years old. That exemption would cover calls from most of the 1,900 students at the school in Winder, northeast of Atlanta.
Calls spiked around 10:20 a.m., when authorities have said that 14-year-old suspect Colt Gray began shooting. Many calls were answered with an automated message saying there was a “high call volume,” WAGA-TV reported.
One man called 911 after receiving text messages from a girlfriend. He was put on hold for just over 10 minutes because of an influx of calls at the time of the shooting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“She hears people yelling outside, so I don’t know if that’s officers in the building or that’s — I don’t know,” he said, adding that she was eventually evacuated out of the school.
Other adults also called 911 after their children contacted them.
“My daughter calling me crying. Somebody go ‘boom, boom, boom, boom,'” one mother said. The 911 operator responded: “Ma’am we have officers out there, OK?”
Parents of students at an elementary school and middle school neighboring Apalachee also flooded 911 seeking information.
“Sir, my daughter goes to school next door to Apalachee. Is there a school shooter?” one caller asked.
“We do have an active situation (at) Apalachee High School right now,” the operator responded. “We have a lot of calls coming in.”
More than 500 radio messages between emergency personnel were also released Friday.
“Active shooter!” an officer yells in one audio clip while speaking with a dispatcher, CNN reported. Another officer responds, “Correct. We have an active shooter at Apalachee High School.”
The shooting killed teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, as well as students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, with seven of those hit by gunfire.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported Thursday that the suspect rode the school bus on the day of the shooting with the assault-style rifle concealed in his backpack.
He then asked a teacher for permission to go to the front office to speak with someone, and when he received it, he was allowed to take his backpack with him, GBI said. He then went to a restroom, where he hid, and then eventually took out the weapon and started shooting, investigators said. A knife was also found on him when he was arrested.
According to investigators, the suspect enrolled at Apalachee High on Aug. 14, and between Aug. 14 and the day of the shooting, he was absent for nine days of school.
The family told CBS News that the suspect’s maternal grandmother had visited the school the day before the massacre to discuss the suspect’s alleged behavioral issues.
The suspect has been charged as an adult with four counts of murder, and District Attorney Brad Smith has said more charges are likely to be filed against him in connection with the wounded. Authorities have also charged his father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, alleging that he gave his son access to the gun when he knew or should have known that the teen was a danger to himself and others.
The 13,000 students at Barrow County’s other schools returned to class Tuesday. The 1,900 students who attend Apalachee are supposed to start returning the week of Sept. 23, officials said Friday.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
