From £400 eggs to live rabbits: the most extravagant Easter gifts

How much would you pay for an Easter egg? While most supermarket versions retail for anything between a fiver and £20, a chocolate maker in Yorkshire is betting on the big spenders. Betty’s of Harrogate might just make the most expensive Easter egg in the land – their “Grande” egg is half a metre tall, weighs 5.4kg and comes in at £395.

Made with Swiss chocolate and decorated with perfectly piped flowers, it has 31,000 calories in it: enough to sustain the average man for two weeks.

According to Julie Ward, product and innovation patissier at Bettys, they usually sell about 10 Grande eggs each year – but the figures may be higher this year as the egg features in a viral TikTok video by content creator Robbie Knox. “We’ve known people use them as Easter wedding cakes,” she told a local paper.

Celebrities are famous for pushing the boat out over Easter. Last year Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury put out a lavish spread for their one-year-old daughter Bambi, including three giant stuffed rabbits, a personalised letter from the Easter bunny, an enormous bouquet of roses, and various chocolates and hampers.

Meanwhile, momager in chief Kris Jenner laid on a lunch for her grandchildren featuring racks of Easter themed clothes and a table filled with custom made rabbit-shaped cakes and treats. Our kids are so lucky to have the best grandma,” said Kim Kardashian on Instagram.

Some will go to even more extreme lengths to make the perfect day, buying live rabbits for the delight of their children. This has led to British pet shop chain Pets at Home putting a temporary freeze on the sale of rabbits over the Easter weekend.

“This is a deliberate action to discourage any impulsive choices about owning a rabbit, given their close association with this time of year,” said a spokesperson from Pets at Home. The halt on sales will be in place across Pets at Home’s 460 UK stores, including London branches like Camden, Wimbledon and Battersea.

While it may seem like a publicity stunt, there is good reason for the ban. Most domestic rabbits can easily live to be 8 years old, and many can live for up to 12 years. But according to animal welfare charity PETA, around 80% of rabbits bought for Easter either get abandoned or die within a year.

For those who want to create the magic of the Easter bunny? Consider investing in a stuffed animal instead, says the charity.