Hopping Down the Bunny Trail

Is the Easter Bunny horning in on Santa's territory? I guess Santa's busy at work at the North Pole, so he wouldn't be hanging out at the mall anyway, but is it necessary for the Easter Bunny to take over the space used for Santa's castle?

Everything's a commodity these days, so I suppose it's hardly a surprise that parents want their kids' pictures taken with the Easter Bunny, but how is the conversation supposed to go? When kids sit on Santa's lap, they can ask him for what they want for Christmas, but what do they talk to the Easter Bunny about? The number of eggs they hope to find? The size of the chocolate bunny?

When I was a little kid, probably 8 or 9, my family went to a mall or the equivalent of a big box store at the time, and I was by myself in the toy section. I was looking at something or other, and someone came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned around, I was startled to see the Easter Bunny, who was offering me a spoonful of jelly beans. Yes, it was as creepy then as it sounds now. I guess he was just wandering around the mall giving people candy around Easter. I was never a fan of jelly beans, and I remember saying "No, thank you," though I don't remember if I turned back around to whatever I was looking at or if I left to go find my parents or go to another part of the store. Perhaps the store managers decided that it would be better to give the Easter Bunny a center of operations rather than allow him to wander around the store sneaking up on children.

A quick Google search of Easter Bunnies and malls brings up a handful of sites suggesting that it still might not be an ideal arrangement. The Smoking Gun has a couple of instances of Easter Bunnies being attacked and attacking. A few other sites offer tales of Easter Bunnies stealing credit cards and more attacks. I think I'll just wait for Santa.