5 Simple and creative ways to decorate for Easter

“5 Simple and Creative Ways to Decorate for Easter”

By:  Christine Warren
Presented below are 5 simple and creative ways to decorate for Easter during the COVID 19 pandemic. Tips include repairing and purposing old decorations, creating handmade items such as flowers and eggs, new family traditions, fun Easter egg hunts, and an Easter Tree.

With Easter 2020 upon us, the COVID 19 Pandemic has left many Christians questioning how they will celebrate the holiday.  It seems that most are opting to keep things simple and just stay home.

As a creative person, I love to decorate for the holidays.  Sadly, this year, I just can’t seem to find the time or energy to dive into a holiday project since most of my free time is consumed with cleaning.

So, what can we do to celebrate the holiday and keep our creative juices flowing without venturing to the stores for more supplies?

Here are 5 simple suggestions:

1. Rejuvenate your existing decorations

If you are a traditional decorator, you probably use the same decorations from year to year and leave your older and possibly broken items in the storage box. Make a resolution to revisit those older, unused items and give them a face lift.

• Have an old, tired basket that needs rejuvenated? Try giving it a good cleaning, fresh coat of paint, and a pretty bow.  It’s amazing how fresh and new an older item will look with a little TLC.
• Have old broken decorations in need of repair? Take a moment to fix the tears, cracks, and missing baubles. If a part is missing, get creative and substitute a practical solution.  For instance, if your bunny is missing a foot, consider staging it in a basket surrounded with faux grass or basket filler so that the flaw is hidden.
• Rearrange your décor. Switching the placement of decorations can give your home a fresh look.  Large retailers often rotate inventory to keep it from looking old and stale so why not follow their lead?

  Just remember, you can always change your layout if you don’t like it.

2. Creative Egg Solutions

With 90% of the businesses in town closed, and certain foods and supplies extremely difficult to buy, I’ve had to get creative with my traditional colored eggs.  When Pier 1 released their annual faux eggs in February, I bought a few small packs not realizing that this would be as close to an egg as I would get this year. I’m glad I bought them. However, a few small eggs won’t fill my Easter baskets, and since I don’t have any old plastic eggs leftover from previous years, I’m forced to get creative. Yes, I have a few other egg decorations, but they are fragile and not child friendly. Therefore, I’m making a few “Egg Pops” with embroidery designs!  I’ve simply embroidered the designs on cotton fabric, cut them out, and attached them to sticks so that I can stick them in my baskets. These will provide a fun accent to my baskets without causing sugar overload.

Another creative idea is painting egg shaped rocks and placing them as accents in baskets and landscapes. If this sounds strange, simply type “painted rock” into Instagram or Pinterest and scroll thru the search results for inspiration.  Designs range from easy and simple to amazing and complex.  One thing I’ve noticed is that the painting trend seems to be growing in popularity and is a great alternative when traditional eggs aren’t available.

3. Create a centerpiece that is earthy and fun

Whether you are planning a meal for one or many, your table should be decorated with a beautiful centerpiece to honor the occasion.  Since fresh flowers aren’t readily available in my area, it’s time to get creative when thinking about table centerpieces.

• If you can find fresh greens, create a simple arrangement without a lot of fuss. Select a suitable container, fill it with water, and add flowers.  If it doesn’t look full, add more greens or try a smaller container.  Less space will push the greens together giving a fuller look.  If you can’t add flowers, consider placing a few decorative stones or pebbles in the bottom of the container.
• If you can’t get fresh flowers but can collect greens, consider making your own flowers.  Flowers can be made from a variety of materials including paper, fabric, plastic, thread, yarn, etc., attached to straws or cake pop sticks, and placed in arrangements.  If you have any faux colored eggs, you can scatter them at the base of the container.  Whatever you decide to use, make it personal and fun!
• If fresh greens aren’t available, think outside the box and consider using something like candles, spring themed lanterns, or wreaths. A pastel colored strand of lights also brightens a table and adds ambiance.  Layering elements creates dimension and adds pizazz to the table.

4. Decorate your table in style with fun placemats and coasters

Create a fun and festive tables cape with fun placemats, decorations, and coasters.  Pastel colored tablecloths are perfect foundations for an Easter dinner.

Add a pop of color with colorful placemats, napkins, and coasters.

If you have the time, consider making your own placements, napkin rings, and coasters. This is a great way to use some of your fabric stash or re-purpose leftover piecework from a quilting project. Not an expert sewist? Then it is best to keep it simple.  You can transform a plain item into a work of art by adding embroidery or appliques.

5. Start a new Easter tradition

Sadly, many families and churches have annual traditions that cannot be safely practiced this year forcing them to find suitable alternative activities.

• For many children, the annual Easter egg hunt is the highlight of the day (a close second to finding a basket of goodies left by the Easter bunny). However, this year, the egg hunt has been transformed. Many communities are encouraging residents to “hang” eggs or teddy bears in their windows, or from trees in the front yard so that children can ‘hunt’ from the safety of their car seats. Kids seem to love the idea of the larger scale hunt and it appears that this may become a new tradition.
• Church services in your jammies. Traditionally speaking, churchgoers young and old wore their finest clothes for Easter services. Ladies wore beautiful hats and dresses and gentlemen would dress in tailored suits. However, as times evolved, dress codes relaxed. But this year as we are forced to ‘shelter in place’, there’s a new trend as church services go digital…. watching church services in your best pajamas.  It wasn’t that long ago that this concept would have been considered blasphemous, but if no one’s around, who cares what you’re wearing!
• Create an Easter Tree for all to enjoy! Get creative and decorate with flowers, faux eggs, wrapped candies, handwritten sentiments, crosses, handmade garlands, etc. Whatever you decide to use, make it your own.

If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that it’s important to stay safe and appreciate the many blessings we enjoy on an everyday basis.  So as you prepare for Easter 2020, take time to clean and repair broken decorations, display them in a new way, and to think outside the box when facing a decorating challenge. Look around your home and use readily available items.  If you can’t buy it, try making it!  If you won’t be able to attend church, join the growing trend of virtually attending church in your jammies. Most importantly, stay safe and create your own Easter traditions.