7 Epic Ideas to Help Families Celebrate Easter During the Shelter-in-Place

Whether you attend church services regularly or have a family tradition to go for major holidays, missing out on Easter this year feels especially sad. Easter is a celebration of hope and new life that we look forward each year! And of course, it's always a joy to watch a crowd of children eagerly hunting for Easter eggs. Thankfully, Easter is not something that can be cancelled or postponed. Easter is Easter and it comes whether we are ready or not and it comes whether we can meet together or not. Easter is a reminder that death and despair do not have the last word! Even if we are sheltered in our own homes, we can rejoice in the hope that Easter brings. Here are some ways you can celebrate Easter with your family during shelter-in-place and social distancing.

Read Easter Stories

Bake pastries on Saturday night, get up early on Sunday, watch the sunrise and enjoy your pastries with coffee and hot chocolate reading one of these fun Easter Book recommendations from Book Passage (click here).

If you are more religious, click here to read the Easter story together from the Bible. There are various accounts, pick your favorite to read together as a family: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, or John 20. If you don't have a Bible at home, go to biblegateway.com and type the scripture in the search bar.

Join a Live-Stream Service

If you normally attend an Easter service at a local church, look on their website for updated information on connecting to their live-stream service if they have one. Click Here: Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church in Mill Valley is streaming every Sunday (including Easter) at 10:30 on Facebook. Even if you don't have a Facebook account, you should be able to view the livestream on their page (just click "not now" if a box appears asking you to create an account). If you miss the livestream, the video will be there for later viewing. You can dress up in your best Easter attire or come in your PJs!

Dye Eggs (if you can find them!)

Do your own egg hunt. Growing up in the midwest, there was often still snow on the ground at Easter, so our egg hunts took place indoors if it was too cold and snowy, or outdoors if suitable. You don't need a fancy kit to dye Easter eggs, white vinegar, hot water and food coloring is an easy way to color eggs. Or try one of these natural recipes. If you have plastic eggs from last year, those will do too! Fill with whatever treats you can find or make some! Click here for more ideas!

Make an Easter Bonnet

There are lots of ideas on the internet, from using construction paper for the little ones to decorate to full on sewing a bonnet (would be a great opportunity to teach older children how to sew).

Paint a Stained Glass Window

Going to church on Easter morning and being in that sacred space - mixed with alternating moments of stillness and joyful trumpet sounds and choir, along with beautiful wood and stained glass windows - it's certainly a special feeling. So bring the feeling home and share it with your neighbors. Here's a great example of how to make your own stained glass windows with painters tape, Crayola washable paint, water and dish soap.

Color Paper Easter Eggs

Post to friends on Facebook, or tape to your window so neighbors can see. Ask neighbors to color paper eggs too and kids can take a walk to "hunt" for the eggs they see in the windows. There are lots of templates online.

Host Easter Dinner on Zoom

I got pretty excited when I realized that I could actually have Easter dinner with our extended family this year. I could even invite my friends from Europe (if I host it early enough)! Just create an account on Zoom and then set up a meeting. Email the link to your family and friends. You could create a challenge to each have something on your table made with jello, or something that's green (my family always made a lime jello salad with marshmallow, my husband's family often makes a pistachio dessert). Hide a few eggs in the frame of your video and let the kids hunt for them in the different screens. You could take turns sharing something you saw that day that gave you hope, that was beautiful, or for which you're grateful. You could also have a contest for the best tie or the fanciest Easter dress or the best Easter bonnet. Zoom does have a 40 minute limit on free accounts, but I've heard that's often being waived at this time. You could try Google hangouts as well.

I hope these ideas give you some inspiration for creating a joyful Easter celebration that you and your children will always remember.

Love, blessings and hope to you and your families!!

Tricia Wiig
Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministries
Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church, Mill Valley