Easter holidays is celebrated widely around the world. There are a lot of different customs and each nationality has its own traditions, stories and special dishes for Easter.
After being home for weeks now, with new routines like cleaning, cooking extra meals and homeschooling kids, Easter wil be celebrated differently from last year. This year, kids are unable to meet up with friends or join them for outdoor egg hunts. Nice brunches outside are also no option.
However, Easter can be a great opportunity to fight the boredom and engage the whole family in the preparations for food and decorations. Here are some inspiring ideas for parents looking for ways to keep their children entertained and at the same time ignite some festive vibes in your home.
Easter themed art and craft
With shops closed, we won’t be able to buy a lot of Easter decorations this year. Luckily, there are lots of Easter-themed ideas on the internet using paper, plastic, fabric, cardboard and many other recycled materials that you can easily find at home, both for beginners and for advanced artists in the family. The possibilities are endless and the kids will probably surprise you with their art and craft skills. Here are a few ideas that we tried at home.
Carrot eggs
Carrots made with leftover pieces of fabrics is something the whole family can make together. It can be a beautiful decoration for the Easter lunch table or to hang around the house. We used this tutorial to make our carrots.
Tip: For an easier version, just wrap the top with a string.
Deco eggs
A day before Easter, empty a few chicken eggs. How to do that…? Watch this tutorial here. You can also boil the whole eggs if you want an easy option. On Easter day, the kids can decorate the eggs with food colouring, glitter, or gluing stickers or coloured papers. Grab all the decoration materials you can find in your house, put them inside a big container and let the kids release their creativity.
Need some inspiration? Have a look at this video here.
Yarn eggs
To make these beautiful eggs, things might get a bit messy, but that is part of the fun! If you want to know how we made these, please watch this video.
Origami bunny baskets
This an easy and fun craft you can do with any kind of paper, but of course origami paper would be best. We used the instructions from this tutorial on Youtube.
Food
Choose a traditional easy dish you can make with the kids for Easter day and tell them the origin and stories around this dish while you’re preparing it together. This will not only entertain them but also create a bond with family traditions and history about their home country. Another fun option is to try something new, by exchanging ideas with other expat friends and explore recipes from another culture.
Casatiello is the most famous Easter bread in Italy. My family and I always make this special bread in preparation for Easter. You want to try this too? Find the recipe here.
Easter egg hunt
A ‘must’ for kids on Easter day is definitely the egg hunt. For younger kids, it’s simple and fun to hide chocolate eggs, chocolate bars or candies inside the house and let them go around to find them. You can also hide smalls toy boxes like Lego or activity books, if you prefer to avoid sweets. For older kids, a scavenger hunt with clues leading to different locations in the house until they solve all the riddles that will lead them to the final prize, will definitely light their mood and make the Easter egg hunt more engaging.
Books
If you can’t go out to search for chocolate eggs, but still want to give the kids an Easter gift, another good option is to surprise them with an Easter book. They can be bought at online bookstores and will arrive at your home on time before Easter. After the traditional Easter lunch, the whole family can read the book together or even watch an Easter themed movie.
Easter services
For those families who follow religious Easter traditions, many churches around the world will be live streaming Easter services and there are many other virtual celebrations available on the internet that you can join and worship from home. You can also light a candle and create a sacred spot in your home where the whole family can pray together. Virtual family meetings are also the perfect option to connect with your loved ones far from you and bring extra joy to the day.
These are just a few ideas to make Easter fun while staying home this year. It will definitely be different from previous holidays, but with a lot of love and an open mind, we can make this year’s Easter more memorable than ever, despite the restrictions of the coronavirus lockdown. Let’s all celebrate at home and stay safe.
