Easter Sunday is just around the corner! Finally, the world is opening up and this Easter looks to be a special one. Our church Easter egg hunt is back on after 2 years of being shut down. If you’re looking for ideas for how to celebrate Easter as a family of faith, I’ve put together 15 fun and easy Easter activities for families.
Easter is the pinnacle of Christian celebrations. Let’s give this celebration the honor it’s due by creating a very special Easter. Read on for tips and ideas that center around the true meaning of Easter – Christ is risen!
How To Celebrate Easter With Your Family
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In parenting in Christ: Training in the Disciplines of Jesus, the discipline of celebration is a featured lesson. By celebrating Christ’s victory and sacrifice we honor God and set our minds and hearts in the right direction. Here’s some ideas for your family on how to keep Christ in the celebration.
In our family, a typical Easter would start with getting ready, driving to church, and then gathering with friends. We would usually do an Easter brunch and an egg hunt. Not only this we’d go out to other egg hunts around town leading up to Easter.
On Easter day we would invite our neighbors and friends from near and far. If family was in proximity, they of course were invited, too. So doing Easter at home isn’t all that different for us. In fact, we’re grateful to have some more freedom and safety around outdoor gatherings, especially.
Take a moment to consider what you did last year. What did you like? What would you like to do more of or less of? Last Easter we were trying to figure out the pandemic still. But now we are in a more knowledgeable place. Think through what you’re comfortable with in regards to whom you celebrate with and how. Write them down and make them traditions!
Before Easter
With so much going on in the world, I’m a fan of the idea of building up anticipation. Let’s direct our families towards the hope that is ahead. That’s what Easter is about!
Celebrate Passover
The Passover meal is a Jewish holiday and the last meal that Jesus celebrated with his disciples before being crucified. We now understand that Passover celebrates our salvation through the coming sacrifice of Jesus, the lamb of God. Passover honors the time when the Jews were spared from a deadly plague in Exodus by sacrificing a lamb and spreading its blood over their door.
Talking about Passover and the meaning behind it can help bring a greater appreciation and understanding for the anticipation of Christ’s coming and sacrifice. Crosswalk has some good ideas on how to celebrate Passover. Passover is Mar 27- Apr 4th this year, with the Seder supper, usually celebrated on the first night. Read more on the connection between Easter & Passover.
Decorate For Easter
Decorate! Pull out those decorations from Easters past or make some Easter craft decorations. Yes, I realize you may be celebrating Lent. Even so, like Christmas, we can decorate ahead of time to build up anticipation for the day of celebration.
If you are comfortable, pick up or order some durable decorations. I usually buy one or two new ones per year – to keep a good budget while keeping it fresh.
Outdoor Decorating Ideas for Easter
This year a way to connect with your larger community is to decorate outside! Even weeks away from Easter folks have been suggesting re-stringing your Christmas lights up to bring encouragement to others in this time of darkness.
I’m on board! I plan to put up a few Christmas lights & add to the Easter feel with some of the decorations. I’m also going to have the kids decorate with egg-shaped chalk with Easter greetings.
Indoor Decorating Ideas for Easter
Maybe it’s all our recent rainy weather, but I’m still about adding light. After all, we are celebrating that the Light of the world overcame the darkness!
DIY Decorations Kids Can Do for Easter
I’m also a big fan of making your own decorations. Or.. well, I’m a big fan of the idea of making your own decorations. Here are some of my favorite ideas.
Color an Easter Bible Verse
First of all, you can have the kids color – or better yet, color with them!
Have them free draw or download this FREE Easter Bible Verse Coloring page (no sign-up required)! Print off as many as you like and color with the kids.
Put it up on your wall – boom! Decorations.
Easter Sock Bunnies
I love these cheap and easy no sew Easter sock bunnies from Feeling Nifty.! Plus -they’re so cute!
In her tutorial, she will show you how to make this Easter bunny craft with a simple sock, rubber band, some rice, and a marker.
It only takes about 5 minutes once you’re set up & is fun for kids of all ages!
Wine Cork Chicks
No, I’m not talking about the latest mom’s club (which I would totally join, by the way). I’m talking about this adorable and even easier painting craft from crafty morning.
Some Fun Things To Do On Easter
It’s likely you, too, will be doing Easter differently this year. Another word for different is special. Make Easter day extra special this year!
Have some special meals. Do some traditional activities and add in some new ones. Dress up! Dressing up is nearly always a part of celebrating special days and is probably even more of a rarity right now.
Easter Meals
Holidays always include an element of special food! So make Easter special with extra special foods! Here’s a few ideas.
Easter Brunch
Make a special symbolic breakfast. Resurrection Sticky Buns are pretty much like monkey bread, but with the symbolism of the empty tomb.
Cook up some Easter Breakfast Eggs! I recommend adding a tsp of dijon mustard to your deviled eggs and then sprinkling with a dash of pepper for more flavor. Also, I prefer these more natural dyes.
Add bacon. Pork is a traditional Easter food (because through Christ we were given the freedom to eat more, including pork). But also, why not always add bacon? It’s bacon!
Feeling less ambitious? Try these adorable bunny & chick pancakes.
Easter Dinner
Print & set out these Easter Story Napkin Rings by Lacy at CatholicIcing.
A traditional Easter meal usually consists of ham or lamb, cheesy or scalloped potatoes, and some kind of green veggie like asparagus or green beans. I’m a fan of the recipes / meals put together at Favorite Family Recipes. For lamb, this recipe from Alton Brown is the best I’ve ever had.
For dessert, these awesome empty tomb treats… a good fit for the cooking/crafting challenged like me.
Easter Activities For The Kids
Wondering what the kids can do on Easter Sunday? Here are a few activities to help make Easter both fun and meaningful.
Hunt Eggs Differently This Easter
One thing we’ve done over the years that has been a huge hit is a progressive egg hunt. What I mean is that a parent hides the first round of eggs… in the yard, house, or wherever works.
Then the kids hunt. Everyone gets to open and keep or eat the contents of one egg. But then… we count the eggs and the one with the most eggs gets to hide them next. They love hiding the eggs & will keep going for hours!
Since we only have 2 big kid hiders this year, we can only do this if the adults participate. So I guess I’m in!
Create a Resurrection Garden
Gardening is a more beloved activity than ever these days! Bring Jesus into the picture… literally with a resurrection garden.
If you haven’t seen these adorable gardens before, here’s a step by step blog post from Walking on Sunshine on how to create your own resurrection garden.
I did it a few years ago.. it didn’t last long and it could win as a Pinterest fail, but it’s a fun activity – regardless of the result. 🙂
Here’s how Walking on Sunshine’s turned out.
< < <
Play Easter Music
Praise or Christian music of any kind will do, I think. I recently discovered this playlist from Amazon Prime music, which is full of uplifting contemporary / pop Christian songs.
If you prefer classical, this album also streams free on Prime or can be ordered. It offers gorgeous choir and organ music for the days and events surrounding Easter, like good Friday, the crucifixion, arrest, Easter day, etc.
Otherwise, for the kids, the Veggie Tales Easter album seems to be the most popular.
Watch Easter Movies
While making breakfast or after recovering from a bigger meal, it’s nice to sit down and watch a movie together. Here are a few of my favorites.
It’s completely secular, but a lot of fun is the very fictional, Hop. Also free on Netflix right now.
The Prince of Egypt is a good animated movie to share the story of Passover. For Veggie Tales fans, there is a combo pack, ‘Twas the Night Before Easter / An Easter Carol.”
Read the Easter Story
Easter Story Bible Verses
Of course the Bible is the best source of the Easter story. The Scriptures covering Easter can be found are:
Matthew 27-28
Mark 14-16
Luke 23-24
John 19-20
Consider which Bible translation is best for your kids and which parts of the story to get into. If you’d like to have more of a digestible, big picture view of the story, I’d recommend the following books.
Easter Story Books
This first board book, The Story of Easter, is one we’ve had for years. It’s great for the little ones to introduce the Easter story on the simplest level. This Good News It’s Easter book is great for elementary-aged kids. It narrows in on the idea of what good news means. I like the Action Bible for kids aged 9 and up.
Want more book options? Check out Aryn the Librarian’s Top 10 Easter books. If you want more ideas for activities, I recommend Hope & Joy’s 16 Activities to Teach the True Meaning of Easter.
Some Final Thoughts on Celebrating Easter
The truth is that all of Scripture points to our salvation through Christ. The whole Bible is a part of the Easter story! We, adults, need to make sure we get fed by the Word too.
Don’t forget to download your FREE Easter Bible Verse Coloring page here.
I pray that your Easter at Home is light, bright, and hopeful. I pray it’s full of celebration and love. He is risen!
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Melinda Viergever Inman
April 1, 2018Great ideas! I’m tweeting this, too.
Christina Dronen
April 13, 2018Thanks!! 🙂
Marcie Cramsey
April 1, 2018I agree with you, Easter is not celebrated as much as it should be. It is the best time of year for all who follow Christ. It marks our freedom from sin and entrance into eternity with God. You share some great ideas!
Christina Dronen
April 13, 2018Thank you! None are really mine – just a lot of research 😉
Erin Young
April 4, 2018I’ve always wanted to make the Resurrection Sticky Buns. Thanks for putting it back on my radar for this week–better late than never! 🙂
Christina Dronen
April 13, 2018I’ve still been meaning to make mine… the issue is my husband is gluten free – so it’s a bit more daunting. I could just make some for the kids and I though 😉
Christina Dronen
April 4, 2018Thanks All!
I’m thinking of doing a follow up “pinterest fail” version of how my attempts turned out. 😉
Jeanne Takenaka
April 1, 2020Wow, Christina! Thanks for all these great ideas for honoring Easter! I loved seeing the creativity you pulled together. And I’d never considered a progressive Easter egg hunt. We may have to try that this year!
Christina Dronen
April 1, 2020Thanks Jeanne.
We’ve done this egg hunt for years and it’s always a big hit! We’ve also already put out our “Easter lights” and started decorating – earlier than I usually do, but why not build up some anticipation? We decorate long before and even after Christmas!