Easter Sunday will be a bit different this year for most families, but it doesn’t have to be less special.
In fact, you can use the holiday to spend more time with your immediate family and make lasting memories. For better or worse, you’ll always remember the Easter you spent in isolation together.
Here are a few tips to keep Easter special while practicing social distancing:
Hold virtual get-togethers
For many, Easter is a holiday dedicated to catching up with extended family and spending quality time with loved ones. Due to guidelines against large gatherings, that can be difficult but not impossible. If you’re away from your friends and family, try organizing a Zoom call together. You can all still share an Easter meal together, decorate eggs together and maybe even play a few games.
Attend Easter services virtually
Although Americans can’t worship with their congregations in person this Sunday, they can still attend services online. Many churches are live streaming their services on the internet. For Catholics, The Archdiocese of New York will live stream its Easter Sunday Mass here. Other churches are turning to drive-in formats, where you drive up to a large screen and listen to services over the radio or your phone, like at a drive-in movie.
Be creative with children’s Easter baskets
Unfortunately, many in the country are struggling financially due to the pandemic, making it difficult to spend as much money on Easter as in years past. If that’s the case for your family, there are ways to still make your children’s Easter baskets special. For example, instead of filling them up with chocolate bunnies and cellophane, try stuffing them with your kids’ favorite homemade desserts or snacks.
Focus more on activities, rather than candy
Easter is one of the biggest days of the year for candy eating, but this year may be a bit different. Instead of hopping your kids up on sugar, focus on planning activities you can do around the house or in the yard. You could try creating obstacle courses with chalk or painter’s tape, organizing an Easter-themed scavenger hunt or simply bake some pastel treats. (Examples: No-bake mini cheesecakes, 40 Easter cakes that anyone can make)
Get creative with egg hunts
Unlike past Easters, you shouldn’t hold large egg hunts with large groups of children. You’ll have to get creative this year. Some people are teaming up with neighbors to hold “social distancing” egg hunts, where you put a paper egg or a teddy bear in a front window. Afterwards, you take a stroll with your kiddos and see who can’t spot the most eggs or bears in people’s houses. It won’t give kids the same satisfaction of cracking open eggs filled with candy, but it can keep them entertained.
Keep grandparents involved
We don’t want to forget about the most vulnerable population during this crisis and the generation who must take isolation most seriously. If you have grandparents or other older relatives in your life, make sure to catch up with them or do something special for them on Easter. That could be as simple as giving them a call or delivering a care package to them. If you do the latter, just make sure to sanitize everything.
Interact with the Easter bunny from a safe distance
While your kids probably won’t be sitting on the Easter bunny’s lap this year, they can interact with him virtually. In keeping with social distancing, some event services are offering personalized video messages from the top bunny, like Send in the Clowns in Los Angeles.
Letters from the Easter bunny
If your kids have been asking if the Easter bunny will still be coming to your house, you can write them a personalized letter or use one of the many letters online, like this one. You could even enlist a friend to record a message, acting like the Easter bunny to share with your children.
Let the kids decorate the house for Easter
If you have kids, chances are you’ve been cooped up with them in your home for a while now. Well, Easter may be time to loosen the household rules a bit and let them be creative. You let your children decorate your house for Easter, with handmade decorations or whatever they can put together.
Brainstorm to create a new Easter tradition
In these trying times, it can be easy to be negative and assume Easter will be ruined. However, you can use the unusual situation to grow closer with your family. Try creating a new Easter tradition, whether that be a new signature dish that you have to put together with food in your pantry or a new game that you make up on the fly. The possibilities are endless.
