Easter By The Numbers — Dave’s Diary

Easter Sunday is winding down and I hope yours was a good one filled with family, friends, food, fun and a strong sense of the importance of Easter to Christians around the world.

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The website Parents.com put together a last minute look as Easter facts:

 1. For Americans, Easter is the second most important holiday to eat candy, and lots of it! According to the National Confectioner's Association, Americans consumed seven billion pounds of candy on Easter in 2001. So, what's the first most candy-eating occasion of the year? Halloween of course!

2. Nearly 120 million cards will be sent, exchanged, and given this Easter, which means it holds the fourth spot of the largest card-sending celebration in the U.S.

3. Americans buy more than 700 million MARSHMALLOW PEEPS during the Easter holiday, which makes Peeps the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy.

4. Besides chocolate, what other candy pops its head around the corner during Easter time? Jelly beans! An astounding 16 billion jelly beans are made exclusively for Easter. That's enough beans to fill a plastic egg the size of a nine story building!

5. In the early 19th century, the first chocolate eggs were made in Europe. They remain among the most popular treats associated with Easter.

6. In all, 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter every year. And, when taking a bite into one of those millions of chocolate bunnies, 76% of Americans prefer to bite off the ears first, while 5% eat the feet first and 4% eat the tail first.