Fun, Simple, Sustainable Easter Activities for the Whole Family

Easter is the holiday of resurrection. On Easter, we celebrate Christ conquering death, giving all people access to new life. Through Jesus, we’re all invited to experience the joy and freedom of salvation by turning our eyes back to God and making decisions that honor Him, each other, and His Creation. 

As stewards of God’s Creation, changing our habits and attitudes toward our planet happens one decision at a time. Here are some simple, creative ways you can leave a smaller footprint with your celebrations this Easter.

Egg-cellent Egg Challenge

How sustainable can you get with your egg coloring this year? This is a great way to reduce the impact on the environment and teach your children about the interconnectivity of Creation:

• Get the Good Eggs: Find a local farmer who raises chickens and sells eggs. Take a field trip to the farm to meet the hens who are gifting them their eggs. If you don’t have access to a farmer, get your hands on some free range, organic eggs, which are proven to be higher in omega-3s, vitamin A, and vitamin E.
• Dye All Naturally: Save your scraps and opt out of artificial dyes this year. You can use onion skins, turmeric, cabbage, beets, and more to give your eggs an all natural color. Here are a few ways to make your own dye or try naturally tie-dyeing your eggs.
• Don’t Forget to Eat: It’s fun to color eggs, but what do you do with all those hard-boiled eggs when you’re done? Rather than waste food, come up with a meal plan for creative ways you can use your eggs: whip up some egg salad sandwiches, make deviled eggs to share for Easter dinner, or save some for a Cobb salad later in the week.
• Walking on Eggshells Isn’t Always Bad: When you’re done with the eggs, take the shells out to the garden – eggshells help add calcium and other essential vitamins and minerals to the soil. Just crush them up a bunch to help them break down, or add them to your compost mix.

Thrifty and Sustainable Easter Baskets

Reduce your reliance on cheap, disposable Easter products by trying out some of these more sustainable approaches to Easter baskets:

Re-Use Your Eggs

Hang onto your plastic eggs from year to year to stretch their lifespan, invest in compostable eggs, or skip the egg tradition altogether and opt for simple, container-less gifts.

Ditch the Fake Plastic Grass

Shred newspaper or magazine pages that can be recycled later, use a blanket or pillow case as a cushion in your basket, or skip the plastic grass altogether. It just ends up wrapped around your vacuum cleaner brush anyway, am I right? Plus, how many grown children do you know who reminisce about all the green plastic grass they received every Easter?

Go Thrifting

Visit a local thrift shop bound to have a whole section of wicker baskets and let your children choose their favorites. These baskets are often far more sturdy than the cheap, store-bought kind. Let the kids decorate their baskets or just keep them as-is to be used from year to year.

Buy Better Candy

Skip individually wrapped candies and opt instead to buy from a local chocolatier or baker. If you don’t have a candy and nut shop in town, you may be able to find someone at a local farmer’s market who is selling baked goods or sweet, basket-sized treats, or choose instead to make your own treats of choice. If you’d rather go the wrapped chocolate route, choose from one of many fair-trade chocolate makers. 

Do Something Fun to Celebrate

Some of the best memories are made not with material things but with experiences shared. Take a trip to the zoo or to a park, sign up for an art or cooking class together, or plan a picnic date.

Give an Easter Experience

One of my favorite memories of Easter growing up didn’t involve the Easter bunny (although he was also highly favored). Even though we didn’t regularly go to church, we often attended a sunrise service to celebrate the risen Lord, and I loved being out in nature, watching the sun come up, hearing all of Creation celebrating with us. 

Today, it reminds me of that first Sunday, when Mary Magdalene wept outside of the tomb, worrying over where they took Jesus’ body. There in the garden, Jesus first appeared to her. 

What better way to begin your day of Easter celebrations than a walk into the garden, remembering that first Sunday? If there isn’t a sunrise service near you, consider making one yourself and slipping away with your kids early in the morning for a quiet walk in a beautiful park.

However you aim to celebrate Easter this year, make it a joyful one, with enough love to share with the whole world.