Fun and Simple Easter Traditions for Families. 8 great traditions your children will love to do year after year as you celebrate Easter.
Children love traditions. It doesn’t matter how simple or elaborate the tradition is, if it is tradition, the child will love it. Traditions are a huge part of what builds a strong family culture. Easter for kids doesn’t have to be fancy. Just choose what traditions make sense for your family.
When choosing traditions, remember it takes time for a tradition to become a tradition. The first or even second, maybe even third or fourth, time you do something, it isn’t tradition yet. Do not expect Hallmark moments while establishing traditions.
Also, traditions are often loved and cherished in retrospect, not in the moment. Making those gingerbread houses at Christmas can be super frustrating. Carving those pumpkins at Halloween is super messy. You don’t always sit and bask in the glow of tradition at the moment. In ten years, your kids will look back fondly, however.
These are the Easter traditions we have at our house. I would love for you to comment with your traditions!
Post Contents
Dye Easter Eggs
Kids love a good art project. Dyeing Easter eggs is a fascinating combination of art and science all at once. The hardest thing about this tradition is remembering to boil eggs early enough to have them cooled before it is time to dye. Set a reminder on your phone or write it on your calendar now!
Boiling eggs in the Instant Pot is super easy and fast. You put your eggs on the wire rack Add one cup of water. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 7 minutes. Once it is done, release the pressure and put the eggs in ice-cold water. This works even on fresh eggs! They are super easy to peel.
Easter Egg Hunt
Every year, we hide eggs around the yard for the kids. We do it where each child has an assigned color to look for. Nate then hides them appropriately (in other words, he makes it easy for Brinley and so Brayden basically needs to hunt down a ladder to also hunt down his eggs).
We hide plastic eggs with things inside. We put candy inside and also money.
When I was growing up, my aunts and uncles would bring a dozen plastic eggs per child filled with whatever. Then they would fill the eggs and we kids would run and gather 12 each. That is a way to simplify an egg hunt with multiple kids. Everyone still gets 12, so you can do the hunt with multiple ages and not end up with the 11-year-old getting 30 eggs and two-year-old getting three eggs. Eggs were filled with candy and little toys. We would break eggs open and trade among cousins if we wanted to.
Easter Baskets
Easter morning, we typically start with Easter baskets. We give each child an Easter basket with gifts and Easter candy. I have a post full of ideas for Easter baskets here. Of course we have a chocolate bunny! I often like to aim for things they can use to play outside since Spring is here! We always hide the Easter baskets and the kids try to find them in the morning.
As for the Easter bunny…was there ever something more awkward? A giant bunny that brings you things? HA! You can read about its origin here (along with other Easter traditions).
We have always just kind of avoided talking about the Easter bunny. If someone asks what the Easter bunny brings, I have always said the Easter bunny gives you the candy in your basket and we give you the gifts.
Easter Egg Rolling
This is something we do with Nate’s family. You roll boiled eggs down a hill. You want to see who can get the egg the furthest without breaking the egg. It is a good learning activity really, and a great activity for families who always are looking for some competition.
Easter Dinner
Our Easter celebration would not be complete without a nice, big meal. Some people do an Easter brunch, but we are a big dinner sor around here.
For Easter dinner, we love to have ham, funeral potatoes (known as Potatoes Supreme at my house), a green veggie (asparagus, green beans, or salad), homemade rolls, lemon glazed carrots, jello, and lemon cake for dessert. Here are some of the recipes we use in our Easter Dinner Menu:
- Best Rolls Ever from me
- Glazed Lemon Cake from Our Best Bites
- Garlic Balsamic Asparagus from Our Best Bites
I get my carrots from Our Best Bites, also. It is in this cookbook:
Easter Dress or Tie
We always go to church on Easter Sunday. We have fun getting new Easter clothes. The girls get a new dress or skirt and the boys get a new tie. We don’t often get new church clothes, so it is a fun tradition. It is also symbolic of being fresh, new, and clean like we are because of the Atonement.
Resurrection Eggs
We have a set of plastic eggs that each have a symbol from the life of Christ in it. The week before Easter, we pick a night to sit as a family and open each egg. We talk about the item and what it symbolizes. We also read a scripture verse to go with it.
I love this activity for keeping us focused on the primary reason for celebrating Easter.
Resurrection Rolls
Resurrection rolls are a fun roll you bake that end up being hollow inside, just like the tomb. I love these little reminders that keep us focused on the meaning of the holiday.
Ingredients:
- 1 Tablespoon yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 28 large marshmallows
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar, mixed
Method:
-
Put the yeast in the warm water and set it aside to activate.
-
In a large bowl, mix the milk, oil, sugar, and salt.
-
Add the egg and the yeast mixture to the large bowl and stir.
-
Stir in half the flour. Keep adding flour and stirring until dough forms. Knead lightly.
-
Roll the dough out 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick and cut into 28 squares.
-
Dip marshmallows into butter, then cinnamon sugar. Put a marshmallow on each square.
-
Stretch the dough around the marshmallow and pinch the edges well to seal. Dip the top of the dough in butter, then cinnamon sugar. Place pinched-side down on a greased or foil-lined pan.
-
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at least 2 hours. Tip: If you’re going to make rolls on Friday and bake on Sunday, put them in the freezer Friday night so they don’t over-rise. Put them back in the fridge Saturday night.
-
Take the rolls out of the fridge 1 hour before baking. Let the rolls rise double in size before baking. Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 15–20 minutes or until light brown. Eat while warm.
Conclusion
These are our favorite traditions for Easter. One note, some people like to do the cute-sy Easter traditions like Easter baskets on a day other than Easter day and keep the focus of Easter Sunday on the sanctity of the day. I love this idea! Please share what your traditions are!