"When it's April, you are looking at spring colors," said DeLauro, who will attend Easter services at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Forked River. "In March, it's weird. It still feels like winter."

DeLauro, 43, remembers attending Easter Sunday services as a child and seeing people fully decked out.

"Dress, gloves, hats, it's so different from today. People would dress to the nines, including stockings and shoes. Very rarely did you see someone who wasn't dressed up," said DeLauro, who grew up in Bloomingdale, Passaic County. "It was a different time. No one wore jeans on Easter Sunday. ... People got dressed up on Palm Sunday as the preview before Easter."

The early Easter and below-normal temperatures also impacts spending.

DeLauro typically buys an Easter outfit for her daughter - last year, it was a white-lace dress with a pink bow - and a dress for herself. But with no talk of a sudden heat wave, she settled on just purchasing a First Communion dress for her daughter earlier this month at the Dress Me Up store in the Hamilton Mall.

Kelly Goddard recalls wearing either a flowery dress or a skirt with sandals last year for Easter. Sandals are out of the question this year.

"I will probably be in either a skirt with tights and boots or in pants, but definitely not in an Easter-type dress," said Goddard, the director of children's ministries and communications at Beacon Evangelical Free Church in Absecon Highlands.

Pastor Lee Nora Tolbert of the New York Avenue Church of God in Atlantic City will head to her church in time to participate in the children's program at 9:45 a.m. before the main Sunday service starts at 11 a.m. She will be arriving in a coral suit that is salmon-like in color, a darker outfit than the light pink suit she wore last Easter.

"I never wear a dress. I always wear a suit. I guess it's because I'm cold natured. I always have a jacket," said Pastor Tolbert, who added that in March, it's always cooler, rainy and dreary, and you don't feel like wearing pastels. "If it's chilly, I will wear a maxi, off-white winter coat."

Sheila Harvey, special events coordinator of the city of Atlantic City, normally wears dresses on Easter.

Linens, cottons or lighter fabrics might not leave the closet on Sunday because the city will not reach a seasonably warm temperature, Harvey said. The Atlantic City forecast called for partly cloudy skies, a high of 45 degrees Sunday and nine miles-per-hour winds, according to weather.com. The average high temperature on March 23 in Atlantic City is 51 degrees.

After Harvey spends two hours in church, she plans to be outside from noon to 4:30 p.m. on the Boardwalk for Atlantic City's Easter promenade and the annual Easter dress contest.

"That's why I will wear pants. I usually go to Easter Sunday service in a dress. I have been doing that for years," Harvey said.

Debra Gitto is the president of the Ventnor-based Gitto Consulting firm. In southern New Jersey, weather evolves, and this area doesn't all of a sudden experience spring, Gitto said. Women might want to consider wearing a silk scarf around their neck this Sunday instead an open collar, but there are still ways to inject color into the wardrobe through accessories if the spring dresses stay the the hangers for Easter this year.

"I have been out shopping recently. Ralph Lauren's spring line tends to be heavier, heavy cottons and linens. With the layering of what they have available, you can dress warmly enough for an early spring day. ... They (last-minute shoppers) can find something to wear this Easter," Gitto said.

To e-mail Vincent Jackson at The Press:

VJackson@pressofac.com