Faith-Based Easter Ideas

I love Easter. I love the message and meaning of Easter! As a kid, I looked forward to waking up with fun items in my Easter basket and then going to church in my new Easter dress, followed by a good time with friends and family, doing an Easter egg hunt and eating delicious food. The "Easter bunny" would fill our baskets with trinkets and goodies from our local Bible book store. That way, Christ would stay the center of it. When I had kids of my own, I wanted to do things differently. I didn't want it to be about the Easter bunny or eggs or all the rest of the stuff that doesn't matter. I wanted it to be about Jesus Christ. I didn't want it to be about the gifts. And I didn't want the Easter bunny involved. That is true for me, it doesn't bother me when others choose to have that nor did it bother me that my parents used the Easter bunny idea either. For years, I struggled to figure out a way to celebrate Easter with my kids in a way that points to Christ's resurrection without it being like any other Sunday/church day. I chose not to do Easter baskets. (I know, lame mom!)  I searched far and wide for ideas. I found these fun and tasty Resurrection Rolls that tell the story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. 

Photo taken from aroundmyfamilytable.com

As we read the resurrection story from the Bible, we'd make the rolls (as outlined in the link above). In the end, the rolls were very tasty and the message, of course, was excellent.

However, this only lasted just for a few minutes. Hardly anything that gets you excited to celebrate the day. So, I continued my quest to find the solution. I should note, we still would do the Easter egg hunt as we would do Easter dinner with our family and all the kids looked forward to it with their cousins. But, I wanted it to be something special, Christ centered. 

Another idea that I tried was an Easter Egg Bible Verse Scavenger Hunt. That was good too, but I didn't want to do the same thing every year, so the search continued. I'm sure there were a few other ideas, but we finally landed on my favorite.

Mystery Match Easter Basket

A friend of mine posted about this idea that she did one year and I loved it! 

Here's how it works: Fill an Easter Basket (or bucket or container of some sort) with items that correspond to a Bible verse. Side note: didn't I say no to Easter baskets and gifts?? Oh well, this just fits the bill regardless! Print out a sheet with Bible verses and blank lines. Let the kids look up the verses and compete - or work together - to figure out which item in their Easter basket corresponds with which verse. 

Ideas like, Matthew 5:16 could be a flashlight. Or John 15:1 could be grape juice. If you would like to use this resource, you can get them here! We've got 3 years' worth of ideas ready to go (only 2 are listed so far though! The 3rd is on it's way). 

My mom and I have now been making Easter baskets for the kids to enjoy after Easter dinner, complete with Bible verses. Each kid takes turns looking up the verses and then they all have to work together to figure out which item goes with which verse. This seems to be something the adults enjoy trying to figure out too. And, it gets the kids into their Bibles! 

The Hunt

The other fun thing we've begun doing comes from an idea we saw on Instagram. This is not faith-based, but it is a great way to get all the kids (and adults, possibly) involved. The ages of the kids in our family varies greatly, so hunting for Easter eggs has been a bit of a drag for the olders while they get scolded for finding the easiest to find Easter eggs rather than letting the littles. In steps Instagram, saving the day! This last year, we taped the Easter eggs to the older boys while the littles ran around catching them. If the boys got tagged, they'd have to stop and give an egg to the youngers. The older girls participated by hiding some extra Easter eggs so that if the boys ran *too* fast, the kids could still find some more. Fun was had by all and I'd highly recommend enjoying that as well! However, make sure you don't use the super cheap eggs because they'll pop open before they even get taped on. 

Regardless of how you celebrate Easter, I pray that you are blessed immensely this Easter. Praise Jesus! He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed!