Easter traditions aren't just for kids; they're also a big deal to adults of all ages. The best Easter activities for older adults can involve creativity, family, and community, and we've got tons of inspiration to help make this the hoppiest Easter ever.
Think beyond chocolate bunnies and plastic eggs to find Easter activities and Easter crafts for older people that are fun and meaningful. From making a wreath for your door to playing a great Easter game with friends, this is going to be the best Easter ever.
Easter Activities for Older Adults to Celebrate With Friends
If you won't have family around for Easter or just want to share in the fun with friends in your community, get in the Easter spirit with activities made just for adults. From crafts to Easter games, there are tons of ways to celebrate together.
Re-Pot Easter Lilies or Spring Bulbs
Simple Easter decorating ideas include putting symbolic Easter plants in festive holiday pots. For some people, lilies are one of the most symbolic flowers used at Easter because they represent the purity and hope of Christ's resurrection. If you can't get a lily or you're having a nonreligious Easter celebration, you could also use symbolic spring flowers like tulips.
- Purchase a potted lily from a local nursery or big box store's garden section.
- Purchase a plastic or ceramic pot in a pastel color for Easter.
- Decorate the new pot with paints to add designs like Easter eggs.
- Re-pot the lily into your new Easter pot.
- Use the re-potted plant as a decoration or as a table centerpiece for your Easter dinner.
Easter is a great time to repot any bulb plant because they're just starting to come up at this time of year. It's a great way to celebrate spring. Be sure to buy bulbs that are already starting to sprout, since they need to have had cold weather already to begin blooming in the spring.
Plan or Complete an Easter Scavenger Hunt
When you have a group of older adults with different activity levels, it's awesome to have an activity everyone can enjoy. The fun thing about a scavenger hunt is that some can plan the Easter scavenger hunt, while others can go on the hunt.
- Find large Easter images and decorations along with beautiful Easter eggs and letters that spell out Easter words to hide around your building or community.
- Make a list of the specific Easter items hunters must find.
- Give each participant a small clipboard with their Easter scavenger hunt list.
- Offer adult Easter prizes like potted plants, gourmet chocolates, or ceramic Easter decorations for those who finish first or anyone who completes the hunt.
Don't want to hassle with the clipboards? Use your phones instead and just text a list of items and snap photos of what you find.
Awkward Easter Egg Hot Potato
You know the rules of regular hot potato, but this one involves an Easter egg. Find a large plastic one. Grab a sheet of paper and cut it into small strips. On each strip, write something embarrassing or awkward a person can do that's related to Easter. Here are a few great ideas:
- Try to juggle three plastic Easter eggs.
- Loudly quack like a duck.
- Pretend to be a baby chick for 30 seconds.
- Try to sing the tune of the Bunny Hop.
- Put on an Easter bonnet.
- Every time you speak for the rest of the game, start by saying, "I'm a bunny."
Randomly select one piece of paper and put it in the plastic egg. Put on some music, and start passing it around. The person left holding the egg when the music stops has to open it and do what's on the paper. After each turn, replace it with a new dare.
Plan a Secret Bunny Basket Exchange
Kids aren't the only ones who love receiving a basket full of Easter goodies. Take the idea of a secret Santa gift exchange and replicate it at Easter with a secret bunny basket exchange.
Put the names of all participants in a bowl and have each person draw one name from the bowl. This is the person they will secretly create an Easter basket for. Secret bunnies can try to secretly deliver their gifts or exchange them at a secret bunny party. To keep the secret, don't write who the baskets are from on their cards.
Make an Easter Cross Door Hanger
An easy Easter craft that celebrates the religious meaning of Easter is an Easter cross door hanger. All you need are some bundles of dried twigs or raffia, string, ribbon, and scissors. You could also use pipe cleaners in Easter colors or long faux green stems.
- Separate your twigs or raffia into two small bundles.
- One bundle should be about two feet long and the other should be cut shorter so it's about one foot long.
- Secure each bundle in its center with string.
- Place the two bundles in a cross pattern and tie them together at the center with string.
- Drape a strand of ribbon over the arms of the cross and hang.
Make an Easter Egg Wreath for Your Door
A totally festive and nonreligious alternative is to make an Easter egg wreath. For this, you'll just need some small plastic Easter eggs, a foam wreath form, and hot glue.
- Starting in the center of the wreath, begin hot glueing the eggs to the wreath form.
- Continue working your way around the wreath until the whole outside of it is covered in eggs.
- Add a pastel bow or a toy bunny for extra decoration.
Host an Easter Mocktail Party
There's nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned cocktail party, but a mocktail party is even more fun because you can host it at any time of day. What's more, you can invite grandkids or younger friends if you feel like it. There are tons of awesome Easter mocktail recipes, but we're partial to Buttercup Lemonade (it's got cream of coconut in it).
Ask guests to dress in their Easter best (the fancier the better). You can combine this with egg decorating or another activity or just enjoy the time mingling with people you like.
Easter Ideas for Older Adults & Their Families
Those looking for ways to connect with their families at Easter have a ton of options. There are so many holiday activities to do with or for your family. These are a few of our faves.
Make Easter Cards
Make and send fun Easter cards to your kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids with a few simple craft supplies.
- Fold a piece of cardstock in half to make a card shape.
- Choose an Easter joke then add the joke to the front of your card and the answer or punchline to the inside of your card.
- Glue on some Easter bunny clip art to make the card more festive.
- Deliver cards by hand or use greeting card envelopes to mail them out a few days before Easter.
Decorate Easter Cookies Together
Before your family comes over, bake up some easy sugar cookies in the shape of Easter icons like bunnies and eggs. If you've got older kids coming, they can help cut out and bake the cookies, but it will mean waiting for them to cook and cool before decorating.
Make your own royal icing in pastel colors, and then decorate all the cookie cutouts together. Have some little baggies or containers on hand so family members can take a few cookies home.
Make an Easter Scrapbook Page
Commemorate each Easter by making a family Easter scrapbook or an Easter scrapbook page for this Easter only. The whole family can help put together one page or each family member can make their own page to put together as one scrapbook.
- Choose a piece of pastel Easter scrapbook paper.
- Add a short Easter poem or some memories about your celebration this year with letter stickers or by handwriting it with a nice pen or marker.
- If you're making one page only, frame it to hang on the wall.
- If you're each making a page, add them to a scrapbook.
Make Matching Paper Easter Eggs
Create a new family Easter tradition where all your family members have a matching Easter decoration to put out each year. This 3D paper Easter egg craft is easy for people of all ages and ability levels to make and looks great when it's finished. Every time you look at your 3D egg, you'll feel connected at Easter even when you're not together.
- Choose one of the ten patterns for the paper easter egg templates for everyone to use, or you can each choose your own pattern.
- Cut out each of your ten egg patterns. Glue two back-to-back so you end up with five double-sided paper eggs.
- Stack your five eggs, then fold the stack in half and staple along the crease.
- Spread the paper eggs out to make a 3D egg.
Easter Ideas for Older People & Their Community
Older adults are great resources for their communities because they have knowledge and skills others might not have. Many groups such as preschools, Girl Scout troops, Boy Scout troops, and youth groups look for ways to interact with senior groups for acts of service, so see if you can partner up with one of them for an Easter activity.
Decorate & Donate Easter Eggs
You can participate in egg decorating by coloring designs on eggs or using plastic eggs and adding stickers or glitter glue and putting candy inside. After all the eggs have been colored, the eggs can be gathered and donated to a preschool or community organization for a children's Easter egg hunt.
Make & Donate Easter Baskets
From paper mache Easter baskets to woven paper baskets, you can make a variety of unique children's Easter baskets that can be donated to schools, children's hospitals, or kid's clubs. You could even start an Easter angel tree where the names of kids in need could be added to the tree and adults could each choose one child to make and fill a basket for.
Host a Spring or Easter Story Time
Reading with kids is rewarding at every age. Solicit a group of younger children who can come to an Easter story time at your facility or senior center. Choose some great Easter picture books and pair up each older adult with a child they can read to. Adults with low vision could be paired up with older kids who can read to the seniors.
Have a Create-a-Basket Easter Hunt
Host a unique Easter egg hunt for kids in your community where they have to find specific items, rather than plastic eggs, to fill their Easter baskets. Hide things like Easter activity books, chocolate bunnies, packs of candy eggs, and decks of Easter playing cards around your senior center or facility. Give each child a list of items to put in their Easter basket and let them hunt for those items.
General Ideas for What to Do on Easter
Sometimes, the best celebration is one that's heavy on tradition. These are a few tried-and-true simple ideas you'll love:
- Attend an Easter church service. Check with a local church to see what type of Easter services they offer between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The act of gathering to celebrate can be very meaningful to adults at Easter time.
- Visit with chicks and bunnies. Work with a local farmer, small animal owner, or petting zoo to schedule a time for some chicks and bunnies to be brought in so people can take turns holding and petting them or just watching them hop around a small enclosure.
- Make gourmet chocolate Easter eggs. Melting chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave is easy, and you can add some fun mix-ins like nuts, dried fruits, and sprinkles. Egg-shaped chocolate molds help a ton here.
- Host an Easter brunch. Serve egg and ham dishes to keep with the Easter theme or go all out with a pancake or French toast bar and lots of toppings.
- Have an Easter movie night. Grab all the comfortable chairs you can find. Choose one of the best Easter movies to show, and make sure you have fun Easter snacks on hand (like round white cheddar puffs that look like bunny tails).
A Hoppy Easter at Every Age
Celebrating Easter doesn't get any less fun as the years go by, but it's fun to have some new Easter activities for older adults to incorporate into your regular traditions. Try a few this year to change things up and make the holiday even more fun.
