The Easter weekend is perhaps the first time you and your family will have got together since Christmas. It's a time of celebration and really marks the beginning of spring. And unlike Christmas, which can sometimes feel a little bit pressurized and overwhelming, Easter lunch is a much more relaxed occasion when young and old get together and enjoy the first of the spring vegetables with roast lamb, chicken or turkey. The optimists among us will imagine every day from now on is full of warming sunshine and weeks of outdoor living, but even if it's raining on Easter day, you can make this a special occasion with very little fuss.

If you have friends and family over at the weekend you will want your house to look its best. But who wants to spend hours slaving away to make it look sparkling and clean - it's your holiday too, after all? Concentrate on the rooms your guests are likely to see. In the kitchen always start with the sink. A sparkling sink will always give the impression of a tidy, hygienic home. Wipe down the oven top and counters and then the kitchen floor. You don't want to spend hours scrubbing away though so use Flash with FlashGuard, which helps make cleaning really easy and simple. Use Flash again in the bathroom and go through the whole room in a matter of minutes. Finally in the living room, plump up the sofa, wipe over surfaces with a duster or damp cloth and vacuum the floor. Polish the dining room table and fill a large vase full of glorious yellow daffodils.

Decorate the home with a couple of blossom branches hanging with either home-made shortbread biscuits embellished with the palest icing in shades of pink, yellow and blue or traditionally painted eggs. If you want to involve your children with this you may want to practise a couple of times first!

And if they're too young to help with the decorating, even the smallest hands find it easy to forage for tiny chocolate eggs. Simply give each of the children a small seaside bucket and watch then run. Hide tiny chocolate eggs in the garden if it's not raining, behind flower pots and on top of the watering can. And make sure everyone understands before the hunt begins that not all the chocolate goodies can be eaten before lunch!

Keep the Easter lunch as simple as possible. Lamb is the traditional meat eaten at this time of year, simply cooked with rosemary or thyme. But if you are catering for a lot of people a turkey can go further and is often more cost effective. Don't go mad with the vegetables and there's little roasting to do. Simply boil some fresh new potatoes and some carrots together with broccoli, sweet corn or your children's favourite vegetables. Finish off the feast with a scrumptious home-made apple pie and plenty of custard!