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23 Easter Activities Families Can Enjoy Together or Apart


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Celebrating major holidays with your family and friends can be difficult, especially when everyone celebrates in a different way. For some people, planning what to do on Easter can mean looking up Easter church services or studying some Easter prayers. For others, it means setting up Easter decorations weeks or months in advance. It can also mean spending all day cooking Easter recipes and baking Easter treats, or stuffing Easter baskets and eggs full of goodies for your children or nieces and nephews. For some, the holiday means somehow making time for all of the above. Maybe your partner's family wants to do one thing on Easter and your extended family wants to do another. All this is to say: Holidays can be complicated.

But with some creativity and planning, it's easier than you think to choose activities that make everyone in your social circle happy. And remember: No matter what you choose to do on Easter, the most important thing is that you feel happy, relaxed, and grateful for the people in your life who you love. Beyond that, everything is just details. Still, if you're looking for some inspiration for your Easter schedule this year, here are 23 ideas to get you started. All of these activities can be done from home, with as many (or as few) family members, friends, and loved ones as you feel comfortable with.

1. Cook an Easter meal

What brings people together more than food? Nothing! Get the whole family in the kitchen and create the perfect Easter meal. If you want to include family members who live outside your home, consider setting up a virtual cooking session so everyone in the family can participate. What you create in the kitchen will taste so much better knowing you all made it together, and each person can feel the accomplishment of having helped the meal come together.

Try one of these Easter recipes for a meal you'll never forget — and some tasty entrees your family will request for dinner year round.

Photo credit: Taiyou Nomachi - Getty Images
Photo credit: Taiyou Nomachi - Getty Images

2. Bake something sweet

A tasty dinner isn't the only thing your family can make in the kitchen. Why not try a new dessert recipe that will be just as fun to make as it will be to eat? Or, better yet, pick two Easter desserts and divide the family into teams to see which recipe everyone likes better. The biggest face-off of the season could be between Team Cookies and Team Cake. It's all fun and games when dessert is involved.

3. Get creative with a craft

Crafting is a great way to relax and to really tap into your imagination, and these Easter crafts will do just that. Bring the whole family around the kitchen table for an afternoon filled with creativity and crafting. With everyone together working on their own projects, it can be a nice time to have fun family conversations. Parents can tell stories about their own childhoods, or recount funny memories from when their kids were growing up. Having a fun activity that brings everyone together is a great way to foster conversation and get people to open up about their lives and their memories.

4. Have an Easter egg hunt...

Easter egg hunts are the classic, tried and true Easter activity. If you're at home with family, organize an outdoor hunt that the whole family can participate in. This activity is great because it gets people moving, it allows people to feel adventurous, and it always results in a little bit of candy or chocolate for everyone. Any game that ends in chocolate is one we want to play.

Photo credit: KOLOstock
Photo credit: KOLOstock

5. Or, host a virtual Easter egg hunt

If you have family or friends who aren't with you who would like to participate, set up a virtual Easter egg hunt. There are many more options than you might think when it comes to creative Easter egg hunts. Coming up with the idea or helping plan a virtual Easter egg hunt will add even more fun to the holiday for older kids.

6. Stream Easter services

If you can't make it to church this year but you still want to have a service, there are many places where you can stream church services. There will be broadcasts from around the country that you can tune into, and you can also check in with your local community church to see if they have plans to stream a service. Often they're easy to access and they can make you feel connected to your community and your faith even when you can't be physically present.

7. Have the kids put on a show

If you're at home with a bunch of kids, then a show is in order. Whether they want to put on a kids' version of the story of Easter, a spring-related play to fit the season, or a fun made-up story that they've devised, a show can be a fun way to allow the children to get their creative juices flowing and for the adults to enjoy and feel proud of their little ones.

Pro tip: Record the show for future Easters to come. Your kids will love watching their silly performance years from now.

8. Read the Bible

Reading the Bible is always a great thing to do with family, as it can bring the entire family unit closer to your faith and make you feel a strong connection among you. These Easter Bible verses are a great place to start, or pick your favorite passages to share with each other and discuss.

Photo credit: Robert Nicholas
Photo credit: Robert Nicholas

9. Watch an Easter movie

If you want to spend your Easter feeling cozy and all snuggled up, then pop some popcorn and turn on an Easter movie. There are tons of great options ranging from films that tell the biblical story of Easter to springtime movies that emphasize the feeling of the season. Watching one of these flicks is perfect for a lazy Easter Sunday, and it will create a relaxing sense of calm and quiet for the family.

Whatever you choose to do on Easter, spending time with your family is a great way to celebrate the holiday.

10. Have an egg and spoon race

An egg and spoon race is a great way to stay on theme (eggs, anyone?) while encouraging people to be active, distanced, and get some fresh air, too. You can have people compete individually or have people form teams with their families. You could even incorporate it into a series of different small, outdoor competitions if you wanted to create a type of Easter Olympics.

11. Guess how many jelly beans in the jar

For another activity that requires more brain power than physical effort, have people guess how many jelly beans are in a jar. Whoever gets closest wins that particular competition. This would also be an activity that could easily be done over a call for a virtual party, if you're not up to getting together with anyone this holiday.

12. Play the Jump In' puzzle game

If you're having a small indoor gathering with your immediate family or hosting an outdoor activity, having easy everything-in-one board games is always a good idea. This Jump In' puzzle game is easy enough for kids to play solo. Players draw a card, set up pieces based on the card's challenges, and then have to navigate the bunny piece over holes and other animals, teaching important skills like logic and planning.

13. Build your own Easter Bunny

If you're looking for a craft project that's super easy, try this one to keep the kids occupied without needing a ton of materials. All you need are crepe paper balls, construction paper, and pom-poms — plus safety scissors and glue — for kids to create ears, noses, and eyes for their adorable crepe paper ball Easter bunnies.

Photo credit: Francis Janisch
Photo credit: Francis Janisch

14. Make bunny-shaped rainbow crayons

Another great and simple craft to keep your little ones occupied and avoid crowds is to create bunny crayons. Have your little ones gather up a bunch of their broken crayons, soak them in warm water, and then place them in an oven-safe, bunny-shaped baking mold. Bake them at 200° for about 24 minutes or until the crayons have melted. Once they've hardened, use them to fill in Easter-themed coloring pages!

Photo credit: Courtesy of Meaghan Murphy
Photo credit: Courtesy of Meaghan Murphy

15. Have a spring cupcake decorating competition

Baking together with your family on a holiday is a great way to keep things safe and stay home but also do a fun activity together (that you can all enjoy afterwards, too). If baking isn't your thing, why not have a friendly cupcake decorating competition instead? Buy store-bought cupcakes, frosting, and sprinkles, and decorate however you please — then vote for the winner as a family. Even if you don't come in first place, you still have a cupcake to eat, and that's a pretty great consolation prize. Need spring or Easter-themed decorating inspiration? Check out our list of the best Easter cupcakes for fun ideas.

Photo credit: Mike Garten
Photo credit: Mike Garten

16. Decorate a favorite Easter quote

Another creative craft idea is to pull up a list Easter quotes and have each member of the family pick their favorite. Then, everyone can spend time decorating and illustrating that quote on a card to send to far away family members, or on construction paper to hang on the fridge at home.

17. Host Easter-themed cooking lessons

Are your kids always bugging you to learn recipes or to help you out in the kitchen? For this Easter, you could consider staying home and hosting "cooking lessons" in your kitchen. You could even buy cute apron and chef hats set for your little cooks. These Easter recipes are easy enough for adults and kids to master together, if you're looking for some guidance.

Photo credit: Con Poulos
Photo credit: Con Poulos

18. Have a virtual meet & greet with an Easter bunny

Keep things as safe and distanced as possible while still bringing a little bit of magic and joy to your kids' Easters by setting up a virtual meet and greet with an Easter Bunny.

19. Pray together

For those who are religious, praying together on Easter can be one of the most meaningful things you can do. If you're looking for some Easter prayers, our list is a great place to start. Whether you attend a church service virtually or simply spend time as a family, prayer can be a great way to start or end your Easter holiday.

20. Host an at-home Easter concert

For those who have an especially musical family, consider hosting a little family concert with some Easter-themed songs. Perhaps each member could have a different song to learn or perform, or you could simply listen to different Easter songs and sing along.

21. Make shaving cream dye Easter eggs

If you or your family are bored with the traditional Easter egg decorations, then you could experiment with shaving cream-dyed Easter eggs, which look very cool — and are surprisingly easy to learn how to make.

Photo credit: NANJAN
Photo credit: NANJAN

22. Have an Easter book club

For those who just can't get enough reading done in a day, it could be fun to do an Easter-themed book club. Each member of the family could read a different book about Easter and then discuss what they've learned over Easter cookies or another treat. This is also something that would be easy to do over Zoom, if you wanted to celebrate the holiday with others virtually.

23. Learn about other Easter traditions

Though traveling may not be a realistic option for some of us this season, learning about other countries' and cultures' Easter traditions is a great way to experience other cultures from the comfort and safety of your own home. Maybe each member of the family could give a small presentation on what they learned about the other traditions, or you could simply discuss them over Easter dinner.

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