Enter to Win a Peanuts #EasterBeagle Prize!

The weather is so strange it feels like summer some days and winter the next. My awesome Ambassadorship with Peanuts has given me yet another awesome prize pack to give out for the spring! I received a super cute Easter Beagle gift pack in the mail a few days ago and my kids have been going on and on about it since then.

Spring is just around the corner, which means we’ll soon be treated to the appearance of daffodils, cherry blossoms—and the Easter Beagle! Yes, our favorite chameleon beagle will be happily hopping from yard to yard, beagle-ears flapping, delivering brightly colored Easter eggs (and a beagle kiss or two) from his Easter basket. Here are some fun facts about the history of the Easter Beagle*:

A Hopping Debut

• Snoopy first appeared as “the Easter Bunny” on April 14, 1968, but Charles Schulz did not give the character the name “the Easter Beagle” until three years later.
• In that first 1968 strip, Linus was the only one to witness “the Easter Bunny” dancing around the front yard and hiding eggs in the bushes—Lucy was too busy watching television to notice.
• On Sunday, April 11, 1971, the Easter Beagle made his official comic-strip debut. Again, Linus was the first one to interact with him (although it’s Lucy who gets the Beagle kiss!).
• As with the Great Pumpkin, Linus is often the Easter Beagle’s messenger in the comic strips, alerting the other characters to the upcoming appearance of the Easter Beagle.
• During his April 2, 1972 appearance, the Easter Beagle delivers eggs to the members of the Peanuts gang…but discovers his basket is empty when he gets to Charlie Brown. This idea was adapted into the animated television special.
• Fortunately, the following year, on April 22, 1973, Charlie Brown does receive an Easter egg—this time from the Easter Beagle’s assistant: Woodstock!

A TV Star Is Born

• The Easter Beagle made his television debut on April 9, 1974, when CBS first aired It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.
• This was the 12^th animated special to be based on the Peanuts comic strip, and the fourth to be associated with a holiday (the others are A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving).
• Much of the special concerns Peppermint Patty’s disastrous (and hilarious) attempts to make Easter eggs—she tries roasting them, toasting them, and putting them in a waffle maker before trying to boil them (and making egg soup!).
• Linus sounds the alert, letting everyone know that the Easter Beagle is coming. Sally, however, is a little suspicious, since the last time she believed Linus’s reports on a famous holiday character, she missed all the trick or treating while waiting with Linus in a pumpkin patch for the non-arrival of the Great Pumpkin.
• This year, It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown will air on ABC. (Date and time to be announced.)

 

This year, the Easter Beagle will have a variety of goodies for you in his overflowing Easter basket, including:

• An irresistible Easter Beagle porch greeter, delivering happiness to every household
• A DVD of It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, offering holiday joy all year round
• Candy! (What Easter basket would be complete without it?) You’ll enjoy chocolate Easter eggs and delicious fruit sugar candies.

Just enter on the giveaway form below! This giveaway will run until 11:59 pm CST on 3/20. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email announcement.