Easter season is here and it’s time to plan for all the various festivities.
With how expensive things are these days, spending a lot of money on another holiday is not something you want to do.
So how do you have a great Easter on a budget?
I’m here to help.
In this article, I’ve outlined simple and fun ways that you can create a memorable easter celebration and still stick to your budget.
Read on to learn more.
You may also like: 15 Cheap Ways To Celebrate Memorial Day On A Budget
Fun And Cheap Easter On A Budget Ideas
1. Post-holiday Easter sale
Every year after a holiday, I go into my favorite stores to shop for their post-holiday sales. That’s how I get all my decorations, clothes, and gifts for the following year.
Off-season Easter sales are one of the best ways to do Easter on a budget. Companies reduce their prices a lot because they have no use for these items after Easter.
so stock up on all your Easter needs the year before. You can then reuse old decorations every year so you don’t have to buy more.
You may also like: 25 Good Gift Ideas For Stay-at-Home Moms
2. Make it a potluck
Most families gather together on Easter to eat, drink and celebrate together. Instead of making a large meal to feed everyone, consider making it a potluck.
With a potluck, everyone brings a different meal/drink to the gathering. This way the burden of buying and cooking doesn’t fall on the host alone.
Nothing says “Easter on a budget” like a potluck-style brunch or dinner.
You may also like: 16 Cheap Saint Patrick’s Day Gift Ideas Everyone Will Love
3. Bring a meal to an elderly neighbor
If you’re looking for a new family tradition to try this year, then try this one. Accompany your kids to bring food to an elderly neighbor.
It can be a freshly prepared meal or some of your leftovers.
This tradition will teach your kids the spirit of giving and help them learn empathy. Isn’t that what the Easter season is all about?
Make your Easter meal with groceries on sale
Who says that we have to have ham on Easter?
If you can’t afford an expensive Easter dinner, then use items on sale at your grocery store. You can still make a delicious meal with chicken. You could even make a vegetarian meal if you want.
In my household, our budget Easter meal is determined by whatever cheap items we find on sale that week.
You may also like: Cheap Mother’s Day Gifts Under 2, 3, 5, and $10 Dollars
Attend an easter parade
One budget Easter tradition you can try this year is to attend an Easter parade.
Search for an Easter parade going on in your area or a nearby town. Drive there with your family and make it a whole day event.
That’s something the kids will look forward to all year long. It won’t cost you anything but a little gas money.
You may also like: 25 Gift Ideas For Busy Moms With Toddlers
Plant seeds in your backyard
Nothing says Easter like flowers in bloom. Another Easter on a budget idea is planting seeds with the family.
You can use this activity as an analogy to teach kids about the meaning of Easter (New beginnings, what was once dead coming back to life).
After planting their seeds they’ll mark the spot and be responsible for taking care of it throughout the year until it blooms.
This activity teaches kids the importance of taking care of the things they love.
Play board games together
One of my favorite things to do on Easter is to play board games with the family. It’s a budget-friendly Easter tradition.
Playing games as a family has many mental health benefits. It helps build a strong relationship between kids and adults.
It sharpens mental focus and language skills. It also teaches the value of teamwork (source)
Easter on a budget at the dollar store
If you’re looking for quick and cheap easter decorations and gifts, then go to the dollar store.
You’ll find things like egg dye kits, plastic Easter eggs, small gifts for kids, and easter decorations.
If you do an Easter egg hunt, you could get candy from your local dollar store and put them in plastic easter eggs to hide.
The 99-cent store is one of my favorite places to get Easter decorations on a budget.
Read the scripture together
Reading the scriptures together is a great Easter on a budget activity.
If you’re a Christian then you know the true meaning of Easter. It’s the day when Christ rose again from the grave to give us new life and wash away our sins.
This is a great theme to teach our children and remind ourselves of as adults. There’s nothing more precious than reading the story of easter and discussing it as a family.
If you’re not Christian, you can still engage in a rich discussion of the meaning of easter.
You can talk about the idea of starting over and leaving the past behind. You could also talk about how the meaning of easter applies to your life.
This will be a great bonding activity as a family.
Watch a movie about easter
Nothing says Easter on a budget like watching movies together as a family.
I bet you already have a streaming subscription so why not watch a feel-good Easter movie together?
You can discuss the morals of the story with your kids as you watch. This will keep their attention on the movie so they’re not watching passively.
One of my favorite Easter movies is called The Greatest Story Ever Told. It chronicles the life of Jesus from birth to death until he rose again.
The Prince of Egypt is also a great movie to watch. It’s about the life of Moses and how he saved the children of Israel from Egypt.
Kids will enjoy it because it’s a cartoon with lots of songs to keep them engaged. It’s not your typical Easter story but it has the same themes.
Go to a religious service
For Christians, going to church on Easter Sunday is the most important tradition of the day.
It’ll cost you nothing to go, and it may bring your family closer together.
If you’re not a Christian, then you can attend something that gives you the same feeling of spirituality that you would get from a church environment.
Buy nothing group for free gifts
One of my favorite places to get free items is my local buy-nothing Facebook group. I’ve gotten everything from baby items to home decor items in the group.
You can have a great Easter on a budget by getting free decorations, gifts, and games from your local buy-nothing group.
To find one in your area, simply search Facebook Groups by typing “Buy-nothing + your city”. So If I’m from Bushwick In Brooklyn NY, I’d type in “Buy-nothing Bushwick” or “Buy-nothing Brooklyn”.
Create your own Easter tradition
All the Easter traditions out there today were created by someone. If they don’t serve your budget well, then don’t be afraid to create your own.
Growing up in Nigeria, the only Easter tradition we had was wearing our Sunday best to church on Easter. We didn’t do egg hunts or anything like that.
We always did Easter on a budget because that’s what we could afford.
It was only after I met my husband that we started doing the typical Easter traditions like eating ham, egg hunts, egg dye contests, etc.
So go ahead and make up your own traditions that fit the needs of your budget this year.
Put your own spin on Easter egg dyeing
One of the most popular Easter traditions is decorating eggs. It’s so much fun for both kids and adults.
It’s a simple activity that you can do on a budget of less than $10 dollars. A dozen eggs cost about $4 dollars, and the egg dyes cost about the same.
There are so many spins you can give to this activity to make it more engaging for the whole family.
One suggestion is asking everyone to paint the flag of a country they’d like to visit. They can also paint something that represents a state they like.
Everyone can then take turns guessing the country or the state that was painted on the eggs.
We do the second variation of this activity in my family each year. It brings out the artist in all of us and it’s a lot of fun. It’s also a simple Easter on a budget activity.
Have an easter egg fight
After you’ve painted your masterpiece on your Easter egg, you can have a classic Easter egg fight.
The game goes like this. Two people knock their eggs together to see which one will crack first. The one whose egg cracks first loses the fight.
The winner continues to compete with all the other eggs until they’re eliminated or win the fight. Everyone then eats their eggs afterward.
An Easter egg fight is such a simple game but a classic way to celebrate Easter on a budget. You don’t need anything special to play it. Just the eggs you’ve already colored and were going to eat anyway.
Easter egg hunt with a twist
In my family, we like to put a twist on all the classic Easter games. We do this also with the egg hunt.
Every Easter, we put things like candy, small toys, and money inside plastic Easter eggs. We then hide them around the house.
The kids are told how many eggs are hidden in the house so they know when to stop when everyone has gotten all the eggs.
They then proceed to do the hunt.
I like this tradition because the toys and money encourage the kids to participate in the game. With this budget Easter tradition, everyone will be sure to have a good time.
Final Thoughts On Having Easter On A Budget
Easter is a beautiful holiday not just for Christians but for anyone that values family.
With the prices of consumer goods going up every year, it’s so easy to spend a lot of money in an attempt to make everyone have a good time.
Don’t give in to the pressure.
You can have a great Easter on a budget without breaking the bank or spending a lot.
I hope the tips I have provided in this article will help you have an awesome and cheap Easter this year.
