Ideas to Celebrate Easter While Being Stuck at Home ~ The Organized Homeschooler

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This Easter is going to look different. There is no way around it. Due to the global pandemic, it just isn’t safe to go to church, have a community egg hunt, or visit with extended family. I had the realization last night that, for better or worse, my kids will remember this Easter. I came up with a list of ideas that will let us celebrate Easter while being stuck at home.

Ideas to Celebrate Easter While being Stuck at Home

We can’t really change our current situation. In North Carolina, like many states, we are under Stay At Home orders.

We have two choices:

Be grouchy and wish for what we can’t have
Make the best of it and try to embrace our current season

I want to make the best of it because it is a way to show our children that everything is going to be okay. Hard situations do not need to unravel us. We just do what we can to protect our families and make the most of our time together.

Fifteen years from now I want my children to look back on 2020 and think, “Things were weird that year, but Mom and Dad made it okay.”

We can build treasured memories even in the midst of difficult situations. Who knows? Maybe some of these Easter activities will end up becoming family traditions.

Celebrate Easter Ideas for Kids

Celebrate Easter while you are stuck inside with these fun activities.

Go on a neighborhood ‘egg hunt’

Many of my neighbors have been participating in a ‘bear hunt’ over the past week. Neighbors put stuffed teddy bears in their windows for the children to spot as they go on walks. My kids are 11 and 14, but even they had a great time spotting the bears as we went on our daily family walk.

We can do the same thing with an ‘egg hunt’!

Everyone who wants to participate can decorate the exterior of their house with Easter eggs. Some ideas include:

Stringing plastic eggs from tree branches
Make a garland from plastic eggs
Decorate a paper egg and place in your window
Use window markers to draw Easter eggs in your windows

The easiest way to get your neighborhood to participate is to post about it on your local Facebook or Nextdoor page.

Celebrate Easter while following social distancing rules with these fun activities for kids.

Decorate your walkway with chalk

Soak up the spring sunshine by spending a little time outside with sidewalk chalk. This is something that the whole family, regardless of age, can enjoy.

Draw Easter symbols or write greetings and encouraging messages for your neighbors to admire.

Celebrate with favorite foods

We have always included foods in our Easter celebrations, but this year will be a little different. Normally, I need foods that are quick to prepare so we can go to church and visit with friends and family. This year many of us have the luxury of a little extra time. I’m going to spend some of that time preparing a few special dishes.

Danielle Walker’s Celebrations cookbook is full of delicious gluten-free and dairy-free recipes. There is an entire chapter just for Easter! I will definitely be making a few of the recipes in there.

Recipes can be a way to connect with family, even if you can not be together. Is it just me or do many of your childhood memories involve food too?

Virtually visit family

My daughter told me that visiting her grandmas after church is her favorite Easter memory. My son’s favorite Easter memory was the epic backyard egg hunts we used to host with friends. Clearly, visiting family and friends has always played a big part in the way we celebrate Easter.

We can’t celebrate Easter together in person, but we can visit virtually. I am thankful there are so many ways to digitally connect:

Google hangouts
Facebook video call
Zoom
Facetime
Skype

Attend church online

Church has always played a large part in our Easter celebrations. It will feel very weird not worshipping with our congregation this year!

My family will be taking advantage of our online church services. Like many churches around the country, our services will be live streamed for Holy Week and Easter Sunday.

Online church services mean that we are not limited to just our home church or local congregations. We can ‘attend’ any church around the world, as long as they are streaming services.

New Easter pajamas

It has been a long-standing tradition in my family for everyone to get a new Easter outfit. This was usually a cute new outfit that could be worn to church on Easter Sunday.

This year I am giving my family new Easter pajamas instead!

It is a way to honor the old tradition while adapting it for our current life of staying at home. Maybe we will wear our new pajamas while we watch church online and eat a delicious Easter brunch. That sounds like a pretty awesome Easter morning!

Egg hunt in your house or backyard

Community egg hunts are out, but we can still have fun at home. Hide eggs in your home or backyard. We will probably do both at my house.

My kids are older and enjoy the challenge of a good hunt. They turn it into a competition of who can find the most eggs. We end up hiding the same plastic eggs over and over. When they are tired of finding eggs, we add all of the candy to a communal candy basket.

Backyard egg hunts are a fun option if you have space or lots of hiding spots. Our Washington house had an amazing large backyard that was full of fantastic hiding spots. Our North Carolina backyard is tiny. That is great for maintenance, but not so great for hiding eggs.

I think we might try a glow in the dark egg hunt this year. We don’t have any great outdoor hiding spots, but I think my tween and teen will get a kick out of seeing a sea of glowing Easter eggs filling our tiny backyard.

Make Easter cards to mail to loved ones

Creating Easter cards is a great Easter activity for kids. They can decorate blank cards (purchased or make from folded card stock paper) with whatever craft materials you have around the house:

Markers
Crayons
Watercolor paint
Glue and glitter
Dot markers
Paint sticks

Spread a little Easter cheer by mailing these cards to family members, friends, and even neighbors.

Celebrate Easter at home with kids with these 10 awesome activities. These ideas are a great way to keep kids busy and happy over spring break.

Dye Easter eggs

Dying Easter eggs has been a family tradition since my oldest was an itty bitty toddler and I don’t intend to stop this year.

We usually dye the eggs with white vinegar and food coloring, but there are a ton of other options:

We have a little extra time on our hands this year, so it might be a good time to try a new egg dying technique.

I hate throwing food away. It just feels so wasteful! We use our dyed hardboiled eggs in salads, egg salad, and to make deviled eggs.

Watch an Easter movie

My family loves to snuggle up on the couch and watch movies on the weekends. We can easily turn this into an Easter activity by choosing an Easter themed movie.