A holiday loan can help you fund the perfect Easter getaway, but you don’t have to splurge every year. Keep the kids and your wallet happy this year with some of our cheap Easter activities! In 2024, Australians spent an average of $62 a head on chocolate for Easter. The prices have surely gone up now, with chocolate Easter bunnies at $15 each! It’s easy to see why some families are looking for cheaper ways to celebrate the long weekend. So let us help out with some eggs-cellent ideas to turn everyday items into holiday fun.
Overview
- Cheap art activities for Easter
- Easter baking ideas
- How do you make Easter fun for older kids?
- What can you do on Easter for adults?
- What can you do when spending Easter alone?
- Cheap Easter activities FAQs
Cheap art activities for Easter
Fun craft activities
Whether it’s an egg hunt or an outdoor concert, most cities have plenty of school holiday activities. But not all of them are free, so sprinkle in some cheap or free crafts to keep the costs down. It will make it much easier to stick to your personal budget while making fun memories at home.
- Decorating eggs: Boil some eggs, soak them in vinegar, then use food dye or natural colouring from ingredients you already have to decorate to your heart’s content. Try making an egg for each member of the family, or head to pinterest for some inspiration.
- Easter chicks: Don’t throw away those egg cartons! Cut out the egg slots, paint them yellow, and add some googly eyes or coloured cardboard to make cute baby chicks.
- Air-dry clay eggs: Don’t want to deal with boiling eggs? Air-dry clay is cheap and easy to work with. Plus you can go beyond eggs to make bunnies, chicks, or any Easter shape you can think of. Once they’re dry, you can paint them too for a craft that’ll take up your whole weekend.
- Easter basket: You can’t go wrong cutting out strips of paper, weaving them together to form a basket, then covering it with fun designs and Easter landscapes.
The secret to cheap easter activities is to look around your home and see what you can use without going out to buy anything. You’d be surprised how many household items can make a great, entertaining craft activity (not to mention how many things you can sell on Gumtree to fund your crafty weekend).
Easter activities to print
If you’ve got a printer at home, you’ve got access to endless cheap Easter activities! Even if you don’t own a printer, most local libraries offer a cheap printing service. They might even have some free Easter activities of their own to give you inspiration! Here are some ideas to use up any spare sheets of paper lying around:
- Origami bunnies: You don’t even need scissors or glue for this one. Find a template you like, print it out, and start folding!
- Easter egg headband: You can find a template, or just cut out your own shapes for this one. Glue or staple it together, then decorate it however you’d like with drawings, paintings, sequins, pom poms and other craft supplies.
- Colouring-in: There are so many Easter colouring templates available online, you’ll never run out of new things for the kids to colour in.
Easter baking ideas
Baking your own Easter treats is a great way to save money and keep your kids entertained. There are plenty of kid-friendly tasks that don’t involve high heat, dangerous tools, or expensive ingredients, so it’s easy to get involved. Here are a few fun ideas:
- Easter nests: Melt some chocolate over a bowl of simmer water, and mix in coconut, fried noodles or pretzel sticks to form your nests on a sheet of baking paper. Add some coloured candy-coated eggs to bring it all together!
- Rocky road: Chocolate, marshmallows, lollies, biscuits, or whatever else you have in the kitchen can all make a colourful rocky road.
- Easter bunny cupcakes: It’s easy to turn vanilla cupcakes into cute bunny faces.
- Chocolate crackle: Get some coloured icing and sprinkles to turn a classic chocolate crackle into easter eggs or festive faces. It’s also another option to make Easter nests!
You can even take the baking out altogether and stick to decorating! Buy some plain biscuits, sprinkles, marshmallows, or whatever colourful treats you enjoy, and see who can make the best bunny.
How do you make Easter fun for older kids?
It’s easy to make a few little tweaks to cheap Easter activities to make them more fun for older kids. Add some clues and riddles to turn an Easter egg hunt into a more challenging scavenger hunt. Or try picking a slightly harder baking recipe, or having a cookie decorating competition. They can even feel like an adult for the day and help all your Easter ideas come to life, whether that be decorating, hosting or cooking!
A themed movie marathon could be a nice way to bring the whole family together. There aren’t many specifically Easter themed movies besides Hop, Peter Rabbit and Rise of the Guardians, but you could get creative with your theme. There are plenty of movies with bunnies, like Alice in Wonderland and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Or you could pick sweets as the theme and dive into any of the Wonka movies (but make sure to have some chocolate on hand for those).
If you’ve got a little more wiggle room in your budget, see if there are any cheap camping spots nearby or fun school holiday destination ideas to go for a weekend away!
What can you do on Easter for adults?
Easter Egg Hunt!
We’re never too old to have some child-like fun! Host your own Easter egg hunt with your friends and hide some chocolate and other goodies around your home.
If you and your friends love games and creativity, turn the hunt into a murder mystery party and investigate “Who Killed the Easter Bunny?”
Local Events
You can’t go wrong with going out for lunch or dinner with your closest friends. Different bars and restaurants may hold special Easter events, but the best value will be found at “Bottomless Brunch” places, where you can pay a set price for a bunch of food and drink. Afterwards, you might also want to do an activity like putt-putt, bowling, escape room or whatever tickles your fancy!
Keep in mind that hospitality venues often charge a 10 to 15% public holiday surcharge.
“Friend-ster”
We’ve got “Friendmas” and “Galentines”, and now “Friend-ster”! While the name is still a bit of a work in progress, gathering friends together that don’t have a lot of family in town for a meal is a lovely idea. Make it potluck style to save on time, budget and stress! You can even exchange come Easter gifts to make your friends feel special
What can you do when spending Easter alone?
Sometimes the best thing is to have no plans and relax! Things tend to be more expensive and busy around this time and a long weekend is the perfect time to relax. We usually are so stressed about filling our calendar, but maybe this year, take a step back and have a self care day. Make or buy your favourite food, watch a movie or read, go for a walk, or just whatever makes you happy! There is no cheaper Easter activity than staying at home.
Need a hand to make this Easter special?
Even with a weekend full of cheap Easter activities, you might want to splash out on a special dinner or a weekend away. Even if you’ve got bad credit, Swoosh can take the stress out of the long weekend with a holiday loan you can use to give your family an Easter they’ll never forget. Hop on over and apply today.
Cheap Easter activities FAQs
What are traditional Easter activities?
Over Easter, traditional Easter activities often include gathering together with family, a fish-based meal for Good Friday, a meat-based meal for Easter Sunday, Easter church services, and of course, an Easter egg hunt.
What do most families do for Easter?
Most families have their own traditions for Easter, like sharing a big feast together, watching Easter movies, playing games or going away on holiday.
What happens to unsold Easter eggs and merchandise?
It’s unclear what happens to unsold Easter eggs and merchandise but generally, they will be heavily discounted after Easter or sold to discount stores.
What sells most on Easter?
People will often buy confectionery, Easter baskets, themed-decor and merchandise, craft materials, seafood, and lamb leading up to the Easter long weekend.
Where is cheap to go at Easter?
Easter is a popular time to go on holiday, so most people will book holiday packages to their favourite places like Bali or to see family. Most families may only go away over the long weekend to local destinations like Byron Bay or Port Douglas.
