Easter is a holiday many look forward to.  It is a day to be enjoyed with family and friends, eating delicious foods, participating in fun activities under the Spring sunshine and for some, attending one of the biggest church services of the year.

2020 has been full of surprises!  Many have left us questioning – “How can we continue our favorite Easter traditions while still staying home and staying safe?”.

We gathered our team at Windermere Group One to brainstorm some of our favorite traditions and how we may still be able to enjoy them during this time.  Below you will find a few of our favorite ideas.

Easter Egg Hunts

Tradition:

Every Easter, families look forward to participating in egg hunts across our community.  One of our favorites at Windermere Group One to participate in is, “The Egg Hunt At The Carousel Of Dreams”.  We enjoy seeing the community come together at this event.  The event offers fun activities, yummy treats, handouts for the kids and of course, a big egg hunt!  We even discovered the Easter bunny loves to boogie.

One member of our group (often referred to as a “Groupie”) shared her family’s egg hunt tradition.  “I come from a competitive family.  We love to laugh, have fun and spark a little friendly competition.  Easter egg hunts give us the perfect avenue to do so.  Most of the kids in our family are grown up now, but that doesn’t stop us.  We start by letting the adults (anyone over 25) hide the eggs for the rest of us.  Then we switch it up and the kids of the family (mostly teens and young adults) hide the eggs for the adults.  In the eggs is candy, money, scratch tickets (for the adults), yard games, household goods and more.  Essentially, if it can fit in an egg (even those jumbo eggs) we hunt for it.  And if it doesn’t fit in the eggs, then we put it in a numbered gift bag and put a piece of paper with the number in the egg.  I’m pretty sure we all have way more fun hunting for items to use as prizes in our egg hunt and hiding the eggs than actually hunting for them.  It’s good fun leading up to Easter and makes for a fun time altogether.  It even incorporates all ages in our family on Easter.”

Twist:

While we look forward to more community and big family egg hunts in the future, we were able to come up with a few ideas to keep the fun alive at home this year.

  • Hide eggs around the house and back yard. There are several ways you can get creative.  Maybe each participant has a specific color of egg to find.  Or, you can add a level of difficulty by making it a 3-legged race egg hunt.
  • Are you worried about space or egg fillers?  Make the egg hunt a scavenger hunt.  Each egg will contain a clue to the next – leading up to a final prize like an Easter basket or homemade goodies.  What to do for clues is an endless possibility.  Have fun making clues for each other or Google “Easter egg hunt scavenger clues”.  One of our favorites is here: https://www.happinessishomemade.net/easter-scavenger-hunt-free-printable/
  • Don’t have Easter eggs?  Hunt with painted rocks instead.  Collect some rocks from around your yard and let the kids decorate them with whatever crafting supplies you have available (ie: paint, markers, crayons, stickers, etc.).  You could even number each rock and have the number coincide with a prize.  This allows for a fun hunt and a fun activity.  One Groupie shared, “Our neighborhood has many popular walking paths throughout and it’s been fun to hide the rocks throughout the neighborhood for those to see while out walking.  We even have a community Facebook page where people have been sharing pictures of the rocks they’ve seen hidden about.”

Easter Dinner

Tradition:

Many members of our group shared the tradition of a family dinner; whether it be all homecooked or a favorite local restaurant.  One Groupie shared, “Our family enjoys coming together and spending the morning cooking and baking for a big family dinner later that day.  We each have our favorites we bring to the table and then alternate who cooks the ham each year.  Some favorites include home-baked rolls, twice-baked potatoes, potatoes and gravy (made from the left-over ham juice), deviled eggs, fruit salad and of course, dessert!”.

Twist:

This year several of our Groupies plan to continue the tradition.  Sharing recipes to cook at home and then jumping on a video chat such as Zoom or FaceTime to enjoy meals with their loved ones.  Don’t like cooking or don’t have enough ingredients to do so?  Order take out from a local restaurant.  One of our favorite Instagram pages to follow ( Around Tri-Cities) has been keeping track of the deals and take-out menus many local restaurants are offering during this time.  Enjoy an Easter brunch more than dinner? Good news!!  Even IHOP is delivering those delicious pancakes we all love!

Church

Tradition:

Another common tradition shared by our group is to get dressed up on Easter morning and attend their church’s Easter Sunday service.  Some even attend a Good Friday service.  One Groupie shared that their little girls enjoy going dress shopping each year with their Grandma for a pretty Spring dress to wear that Sunday morning.  Then once all dressed up, they head to their church’s sunrise service and enjoy a lovely brunch with family and friends; as well as an egg hunt after the service.

Twist:

Many of our local churches are proceeding with planned services in a new way thanks to technology!  Contact your church or visit them online to see what they have planned.  We have found that many still plan to stream their service live via Facebook or on their website.  Some even have grab bags with goodies for the kids available for pickup!

Movies

Tradition:

After a fun-filled day and full tummies, many of our Group One families like to settle down and watch a movie.  Some preferred a night in, relaxing on the couch with a stay at home movie.  Others preferred to enjoy movie theater popcorn and a newly released film.

Twist:

This year we can enjoy a combination of both traditions.  Round up some pillows and blankets with your loved ones and enjoy a home theater night.  Missing that movie theater popcorn?  Well, there’s good news!  Our local Fairchild Cinemas are making take- out only popcorn!  Drive-up for curbside pickup of your favorite movie treat.  Head on over to their Facebook page for all the details.

Some of the movies our Groupies most look forward to watching this Easter are:

While this Easter may be different from most, there are still plenty of ways to enjoy a fun-filled day with your loved ones.  We hope you enjoyed the traditions and ideas our Windermere Group One members have shared.  If you have ones you’d like to add – we’d love to hear them!

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy Easter from all our homes to yours!

-Windermere Group One

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