Easter Celebrations: 5 Great Ways To Experience The Season
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Easter. What comes to your mind when you think of this holiday? In my mind, I think of floral crosses at churches, Christ’s resurrection, childhood egg hunts, Easter baskets, the famous holiday bunny, family pictures and pineapple ham. Predominantly though, the celebrations in that list occur within one weekend. Now, what comes to your mind when you think of Christmas? For me, I think of Christ’s birth, the Nativity, the wise men, hot chocolate, mistletoe, snow, Hallmark, candy canes, stockings, baking, cookies, gifts, Christmas carols, Advent calendars… the list could go on and on because most of the time, we do not devote one weekend to Christmas, but instead an entire season. In a recent conversation I had with my husband, Charlie, I realized a longing to better celebrate the Easter season. For the joy and celebration that Christmas brings while heralding Christ’s entrance into the world, it has always been one of my favorite times of year, and I long to have just as much excitement for the Easter season which marks restoration and new life through Jesus. To create celebrations that extend past the specific holiday, I began to think of and research new ways to add meaningful family engagements related to Easter. Through this search, I have been given new excitement about experiencing the season and hope that these next five Easter celebrations might encourage you to celebrate within your home as well.
While celebrating Easter beyond its given weekend might seem daunting, experiencing the season does not have to become a burden of things to add to your schedule, but instead can be more of an intentional approach to use the time you and your family already have. 5 easy ways to add purpose filled Easter celebrations include:
- Beginning A Traveling Easter Basket
- Creating “Empty Tomb” Rolls
- Building A Living Tablescape
- Starting An Egg “Adlent” Calendar
- Hosting An Easter Cookie Decorating Party
Begin A Traveling Easter Basket
The first simple way to experience the season is to begin with sharing with those around you. While we frequently create Easter baskets for children to open Easter morning, why not bring the family together and create a traveling Easter basket for your neighborhood? Fill an Easter basket with colorful grass, candy filled Easter eggs, and other goodies and pass to a family down the street with a little note attached saying something to the effect of:
HAPPY EASTER! We are so blessed to have you as neighbors. Enjoy the goodies inside and then, within the next week or so, please put something special in this Easter basket to leave on a front porch for a family next door! PS. If you receive this basket after Easter, feel free to add a spring twist and keep it going!
If you know the neighbor you are gifting the basket to well, perhaps add in a little token that is more personalized for them like their favorite candy, cookie, or home item. Add a bow and viola, your traveling Easter basket is ready to bless the neighborhood!
Kids love being a help and finding little treasures, so this is a simple and fun activity to have the entire family involved in blessing those around you. As also reiterated at Christmas, giving often blesses the giver as much as the receiver and can be a wonderful way to turn our attention to others.
Don’t want to make your own tag, download a copy of my Traveling Easter Basket tag HERE!
Create “Empty Tomb” Rolls
Growing up, my family always had a special cinnamon roll breakfast on someone’s birthday, and it became a tradition each of us looked forward to. While Easter is not a birthday, it is a great day to celebrate with a fun breakfast. These Empty Tomb Rolls by The Girl Who Ate Everything provide a great recipe to make with the kids, while explaining the purpose behind Easter. Not only will this experience leave you each with a delicious cinnamon roll like treat, but it also can provide the opportunity for purposeful conversation as a family about who Jesus is and what He has done for us!
Build A Living Resurrection Tablescape
As the dining room is at the center of our home and is one of the first rooms you enter, I love to have our table somehow adorned for the season. Whether covered in fresh flowers, evergreen branches, or an array of candles, it brings me joy to create a table that seems to welcome in those around it. For Easter, there are many ways to adorn the table, whether pairing flowers with traditional chinaware (like this spring table!) or even creating a tablescape with paper products (see this table for inspiration!). But regardless of your dishware, an easy centerpiece is a living resurrection scene.
By covering a platter with moss, adding a few stones, a piece of pottery turned sideways as a tomb and fresh flowers, you can create a scene of the Easter Garden. Like creating the Traveling Easter Baskets, the entire family can help by making three crosses out of sticks and placing them on the mound.
Integrate Holy Week Dinner Devotions
Once you have created your living resurrection tablescape (or even if you decide on a different tablescape), a simple way to add purposeful Easter conversations around your table is to include within the tomb (or a cup / holder of some kind) a dinner devotion for each day of holy week (Palm Sunday through Easter). By reading a quick passage and question around dinner each evening, you can walk through the events leading up to the resurrection on Easter. Soon you will have a centerpiece that not only is beautiful, but also helps to focus your hearts and minds on the meaning and events of holy week.
To download a copy of the holy week dinner devotions we do around our table, fill out the form BELOW!
Make An Egg “Adlent” Calendar
As I was researching ways to celebrate the Easter season, I came across an amazing idea for an egg “adlent” calendar. Instead of a traditional advent calendar, the Happy Organized Life and Kojo Designs created Easter countdown calendars using plastic eggs that started at Lent (the 40 days leading to Easter), hence the nickname “adlent”. Like a typical advent calendar, each plastic egg holds a surprise, whether that be a fun family activity for the day, piece of candy or someone to pray for. Before the start of Lent, gather your family and come up with 15-20 family Easter activities (Kojo Designs has a great list already if you need help thinking!), 15-20 people to pray for throughout the day and fill the rest in with little candies. That way, each day you open a new egg, you have either a fun activity, sweet treat or special day of prayer for someone. This is a great way to help kids especially feel invested in the season, learn the meaning behind the holiday and look forward to the special treat provided each day.
Host An Easter Cookie Decorating Party
Lastly, a fun way to celebrate Easter is to host an Easter cookie decorating party. Much like Christmas, gathering people together to decorate cookies or create another sweet treat can be a fun and simple way to bring people together. Great for the whole family (including relatives), a group of friends or even your neighbors, hosting an Easter cookie decorating party provides a means for community and bonding opportunity without the stress of offering an entire meal or figuring out if you have enough seating for everyone around the table. Whether the pieces are all homemade or you are using an entirely store bought cookie kit, this party can help provide sweet rhythms of seasonal celebration.
Final Thoughts
As Easter is such a beautiful time of year and reason for celebration, adding in experiences to help bring our family together and give us moments to look forward to has been extremely beneficial. While I have embarked on the journey of practicing celebrations in life, I have found that the purpose and intention of celebration brings sweetness to the everyday craziness. Have you found ways to celebrate Easter or have tried any of the ones above? If so, I would love to know in the comment section below!
Happy celebrating!
Chloe
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