Establishing Easter Traditions
Activities that are just-right for your family
by Jess Wartinger
Apr 18, 2019
Easter is almost here and, while the promise of spring is alluring, the struggle of determining Easter plans can be daunting.
Navigating holidays and establishing your family’s traditions can be challenging (and Easter is no exception). Luckily, with some foresight and advanced planning, you’ll be ready to embrace new traditions, leave behind the ones that aren’t working, and plan just the right amount of time with extended family.
How to Establish Your Easter Traditions
While you may have fond memories of Easter egg hunts and taking pictures with the elusive Easter bunny, your spouse likely has different expectations for the perfect childhood Easter.
As you look to establish your family’s Easter traditions, begin by asking these three questions:
1. What traditions do I want to continue from my childhood?
2. What new family traditions do I want to begin with my children?
3. How do I want to involve extended family in our Easter celebration?
Once you know what your goals are for the perfect Easter, look for activities that will match your family’s personality.
Easter Traditions Just-right for Families
While there are many Easter traditions, these are just-perfect for growing families:
- Easter Egg Hunt: For the littlest ones, don’t worry about filling plastic eggs. Just finding the eggs and putting them into a basket will be fun enough.
- Coloring Easter Eggs: For the youngest children, using crayons or even stickers to decorate eggs will be an exciting activity. As kids grow older try dying Easter eggs with food coloring or experiment with making natural dyes and color-mixing.
- Easter Baking: Break out the rolling pins and make some Easter sugar cookies. Or see if you can decorate the perfect bunny cake together. Let your older children help with reading the recipe and mixing up ingredients.
- Easter Planting: Kick off Spring by planting your garden or (if it’s not warm enough yet) start some seeds indoors. The promises of Easter are seen clearly in the beginnings of seedlings.
- Easter Brunch: Determine what foods are special for your family at Easter and work with your children to prepare them in the days ahead. Involve your children in the anticipation of a feast by having them help make the grocery list, buy the foods, and setting the table.
- Easter Baskets: Don’t worry about filling a basket to the brim with chocolates. Get creative and purchase items your child can use throughout the spring and summer. Sunglasses, swimsuits, flip flops, and bubbles are winners with any child.
- Mini Photo Shoot: Consider getting out the fancy Easter clothing a day or two early and holding a small photo shoot. Grab some snapshots of your little ones before the sugar rush and exhaustion of a busy day hits.
- Easter Tree: Using some branches from outdoors, try hanging small Easter eggs and pictures of what your child loves about spring.
The More the Merrier
Unlike Christmas, Easter doesn’t necessitate gift-giving and visiting every relative.
Yet, you may want to expand your activities to include grandparents and other extended family. Before you plan a jam-packed day, consider holding an Easter-themed get together in the days (or even weeks) leading up to Easter.
Neighborhood Easter egg hunts, hosting an Easter brunch, or coloring Easter eggs are always fun events. Having an extra set of hands while little ones are searching for eggs or learning a new game can be helpful. Perhaps grandparents might even want to host one of these activities and save you the clean up.
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Gracefully Declining
Communication is key, before Easter arrives make sure you’ve communicated what plans will work best for your family.
If it looks like your extended family’s traditions aren’t going to mesh well with your new traditions, it’s okay to gracefully decline. Thanking others for the invitation and explaining that you’re prioritizing time with your little ones, time at church, or even a quiet day at home is all okay.
Beginning new traditions and determining which ones to save for later can be difficult. Communicate openly with your spouse and make a point to reevaluate past Easters. Knowing what has worked for your family and what needed tweaking will give you a head-start on the perfect Easter.
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Jess Wartinger
Jess Wartinger resides in rural New York with her husband and five children. Formerly an early elementary teacher, Jess currently spends her time loving her kids and holding down the fort at home.
