One of the most beautiful things in starting a family is carving your own family identity; drawing from what has gone before, learning where you want to go, and setting your own course for the future. And a special part of that process is in creating and following your own family traditions, which can play a large role in forming your little ones’ childhood memories and personal identities.
Family traditions can be a reassuring constant in children’s ever-changing lives, giving them both occasions to look forward to and beautiful memories to cherish. When it comes to Easter, some families already have firm customs and practices based on their cultures or beliefs, while others may have none at all. Whether you want to add to your own ideas or start new traditions from scratch, we hope these suggestions will help to add some sprinkles of fun to your Easter celebrations!
1. Embrace education
For many children, Easter is a wonderful time of magical bunnies, school bonnet parades and copious chocolate. Yet it can also be an important time of learning. Regardless of religion, it can be important to teach children about the history of Easter — how it began, what it is and why people celebrate it. For some, this will involve reading scripture or attending church services. For others, it might involve tapping into the wealth of online resources that help to explain Easter to kids, from Lent and Easter Week to why we associate this festival with eggs and chicks and bunnies.
Click here for a Tell the Easter Story template.
2. Paint Easter eggs
The practice of egg decorating dates back some 60,000 years in Africa, and as far as the 1st Century in Christianity. It is an Easter tradition that is easy to do and fun for the whole family. Whether you’re creating weird and wonderful characters or dyeing eggs with beautiful patterns, this can be a great activity to enjoy. Plus, you can use your decorated eggs in many fun Easter games (scroll down to find out more!). For inspiration, check out these 3 Ways to Decorate Boiled Eggs.
3. Have an Easter hunt
For many kids, this is the most fun part of Easter! And it doesn’t have to be all about sweet treats. Here are some ideas for fun Easter hunts:
- Consider foil-wrapped mini eggs for mess-free hunts (especially for those times when you can’t remember where the last egg was hidden!).
- Follow a trail of bunny prints to find the hidden surprises.
- Hide mini Easter chicks or other prizes instead of chocolate eggs.
- Create a checklist of items for each child, so each collects a fair share. (I stick empty wrappers – no idea where those came from! ? – on pieces of paper for visual clues for the kids to use.)
- Set up an awesome glow-in-the-dark egg hunt for something a little different.
4. Share a family meal
With many places having a long weekend or even longer school holiday over the Easter festival, this can provide a great opportunity for a catch up with family or friends. Whether you keep it simple with a BBQ, picnic or kid-friendly grazing platters, or go traditional with a family Passover meal or Easter Sunday roast, it will be a special occasion to share with loved ones.
5. Make Easter crafts
There is so much Easter craft inspiration to draw from that you can find fun creations for kids of any age to enjoy. Here are some of our favourites:
- Easter Cupcake Case Baskets
- Paper Plate Bunny Ears
- Paper Plate Bunny Basket
- Easter Cupcake Case Nest
- Egg Carton Chick Mask
- Easter Chick Houses
6. Play Easter games
Why not follow the style of US presidents and start your own egg rolling competition? It can be a race to see whose egg reaches the finish line fastest, or a competition so see whose goes farthest.
Another great egg game is called egg tapping or egg knocking. In this game, players go head-to-head in rounds to tap their hard-boiled egg against that of their opponent. The winner is the one who manages to crack the other’s egg but keep theirs intact.
Another super fun idea is to feed the bunny game where the child attempts to throw Easter eggs into the bunnies mouth.
7. Bake Easter treats
From traditional hot cross buns to Easter fairy bread, cute bunny biscuits and rocky road from Easter leftovers, there’s no end of tasty treats to delight in at Easter. Perhaps you have an old family recipe passed down through the generations, or maybe you want to start a new recipe of your own. This is a great time to start a tradition of cooking together as a family.
8. Decorate an Easter bonnet
In many parts of the world, decorating an Easter bonnet and often wearing it in a childcare or school parade, is an annual activity for kids. Decorations range from elegant spring flowers to gravity-defying baskets of overspilling eggs. This is a chance to let kids’ creativity run free and see what masterpieces they can create!
For those of us who only realise they need to create an Easter bonnet the night before the parade takes place, check out these Three Last-minute Easter Hat Ideas.
9. Gift an Easter basket
It can often feel that festivals like Easter are a time of over-indulgence and excess. One positive way to counteract all the things we get is to use the opportunity to think about what we can give. Most of us know someone in our local community who would truly appreciate the gift of a thoughtfully filled Easter basket. And if you can’t think of anyone, it’s always a great ice-breaker to get to know a neighbour or even a beautiful gesture of kindness to a stranger. It doesn’t even have to be full of chocolate eggs. Even a lovely breakfast fruit basket can be a lovely idea.
10. Watch an Easter movie
When all the craziness of a fun- and sugar-filled Easter Day is over, what better way to unwind than snuggling up on the sofa to watch a family movie together? Depending on the age of your child, these are some movies you may wish to consider. Not all are directly about Easter, but all have links with Easter themes or ideas.
- Easter Parade (1948)
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
- Hop (2011)
- The Dog Who Saved Easter (2014)
- Rise of the Guardians (2012)
- The Prince of Egypt (1998)
- Peter Rabbit (2018)
- The Ten Commandments (1956)
We hope these ideas help you to have a fun Easter filled with memorable traditions for your family to share!
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