So Easter this year is taking on a whole new format – we are where we are, and we are with who we are with, limited to the confines of our homes. Fear not, we shall resurrect and roam once more, but for now, let’s focus on celebrating the holiday under the terms and conditions of lockdown.
Easter Egg Holders
Gather up all your empty toilet rolls (there must be more than usual, right?!) and paint and decorate to look like Easter-inspired creatures; yellow chicks with cardboard beaks, pale blue bunnies with long added ears protruding from the top of the toilet roll, maybe a stripy black and yellow bee with antennas, or go Disney and make your favourite characters, maybe a Minion, a Ninja Turtle, a Disney Princess? Once you have your character collection you can stand them upright and pop a boiled egg in the top for breakfast or just for decoration. Alternatively you can hard boil a load of eggs and get the family to decorate them all with paints and felt pens. Then paint the toilet rolls to match and use them as holders for your decorative eggs.
Get competitive
There are plenty of creative things to be made adhering to the traditions of Easter. If you grew up in the UK in the 80s as I did, you’ll remember having to make and bring your Easter Bonnet in to school and parade around wearing them while the teachers judge your artistic skills. How about asking a group of your friends and or family to enter a bonnet-making competition and have a laugh with making the craziest or most beautiful, most skilful hats you can come up with. Allocate a judge ahead of time and ask them to give marks out of ten for different categories, each entrant has to send a photo of themselves to the group wearing their bonnet. Alternatively create some table decorations and see whose dinner table wins on Easter Sunday.
Egg Hunt
This could be another activity to take part in virtually with a group of you. If one family knows the other’s home well enough they can prepare an Easter Egg hunt from a distance by conspiring with the parents! Or simply watch as the kids run around looking for their eggs. In our house we’ve decided on an egg hunt with plenty of clues leading to each treasure, for one this extends the time it takes as well as making an egg hunt possible for everyone with limited space.
Bake Off
Easter is traditionally a time when even those who avoid the kitchen may well end up baking. So now you can either just bake way too much for the number of people in your house, or each can enter something sweet or savoury baked in your own home and have someone impartial rate the photos and select the one he or she would most like to try! You can get extra points for decoration, style and creativity of the recipe.
Decoration Ideas
Grab some cardboard, glue, scissors, cotton wool and string. Cut your cardboard pieces into bunny shapes, stick a little cotton wool ‘tail’ on each one. Make small puncture holes through each ear and thread your string through. There you have yourself some bunny bunting! Try different shapes, animals and colours for some variation.
Find an old can or jar, clean it out and paint it white. Once dry draw a bunny face on the front, tie some parcel string around the top and fill with water and flowers.
Peel some hard boiled eggs and leave to cool. Meanwhile take some carrot sticks (legs) and rounds (for the feet), carve the rounds into little feet with a hole in the middle to slide on to the base of the sticks – a little tricky but not impossible with a good knife (maybe not one for the kids). Once you have two ‘legs’ push them into the base of the hard-boiled egg and you have yourself a freshly hatched, healthy easter treat!
If you’re lucky enough to get hold of some white eggs to decorate, how about trying out some natural dyes you may well have in your kitchen already. Beetroot juice, red cabbage, turmeric, artichoke, avocado skins and seeds, black beans… all of these make excellent food colouring!
If you don’t want to appear to be panic buying too many eggs; they’ll be in big demand this weekend, then how about swapping a few in for some kiwi fruits? They’re a similar shape and don’t break as easily! You can decorate the outside with paper and card, pipe-cleaners, goggly eyes, stickers, etc. and afterwards peel them and eat them.
Keep in touch
If you can’t be with your loved ones over the Easter weekend then how about connecting your celebrations digitally. There are plenty of online live video platforms whereby you can sit and chat with your friends and family, you could even put each other at the head of the table and plan a mealtime together! If you are religious, practice the art of prayer together.
Try the zoom.us or house party apps. for ways to stay connected.
Dress For the Occasion
Why not get dressed up? Good Friday, Easter Sunday, they’re worth putting on something that makes you feel and look good…change the chip, get out of the sweatpants and enjoy the ritual of getting ready.
Read Up
Try reading up on the reason why we celebrate Easter in the first place, this can be a great activity and educational moment for children. Maybe they can then go and draw their own depiction of the story afterwards. This could also be achieved digitally if the grandparents or family wanted to get involved.
The Easter message is essentially one that rings true for our company – The future is Bright!
However you do it, have a Happy Easter one and all!
