Last year, during the Octave of Easter, I took my third-grade First Holy Communion class on a trip across the hallway to sing Easter songs for and, after a bit of prompting, with the first-graders. Our repertoire was super simple ("We wish you a blessed Easter," "Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord").

Tomjaw... I am unclear about the 'no longer fast in Lent'... is this the case at your parish?

I totally agree with this:

That is easy to answer, since we no longer fast in Lent, the feasting in Eastertide does not seem very festive!

I know that the regulations differ somewhat by country, but is there anywhere the traditional Lenten fast is still mandatory? In the US, all that is strictly required are two fast days and six additional abstinence days (typically reduced to five if St. Patrick's Day, St. Joseph's Day, or the Annunciation falls on a Friday). A penance of one's own choosing is prescribed for the remaining Lenten ferias, apparently without binding under pain of sin. Seven or eight days of not eating meat and two of skipping snacks really isn't much. The rules in some other countries are even laxer.

I agree with Trenton's sentiments about overemphasis on the Easter Vigil, which others have also written about, but I question the claim that, "in its nature it belongs in monasteries." I would say that the blessing of the baptismal water shows just the opposite. More years than not, our Vigil has been celebrated with as much solemnity as possible, followed by the principal Easter morning Mass as a Missa cantata, even though we had deacon and subdeacon throughout the Triduum. Many of the faithful fulfill their obligation by assisting at the Vigil and then don't come back for the morning Mass. It's a problem! Musically speaking, the Vigil lacks many elements of the Sunday Mass, such as the Vidi aquam, Sequence, Credo, Offertory, and Agnus Dei (I speak of the TLM here; some of these has been added to the novus ordo). How strange in 2020 to have a Low Mass Easter Vigil, where the Dandrieu "O filii" variations were sufficient to cover the Offertory, Communion, and Postlude combined!

I'm careful to include the most familiar carols as prelude, processional, and recessional for the Midnight Mass and the Christmas Day Mass too. There's room for a few more on the Sunday in the octave. Although it's still Christmastide, the Nativity isn't really the liturgical theme once we get into the January feasts, but others keep using Christmas carols up until Candlemas. A final thought: as lovely as they are, candlelit Masses probably foster more of an atmosphere of contemplation rather than unbridled jubilation.

I would say that the blessing of the baptismal water shows just the opposite

You're right of course, Patrick. I suppose I just mean that the odd and elaborate nature of the liturgy lends itself better to a monastic or cathedral chapter sort of environment. The rest of your comments on the vigil I agree with absolutely.