7 Ways to Have a stay-at-home Easter

By Tiffany Shelton

Our stay-at-home orders don’t mean that Easter is cancelled. There are plenty of ways to keep the holiday spirit alive, even if we can’t go outside. In fact, we’re here to help with some fun activities, recipes, and ways to keep the whole family involved all while maintaining coronavirus precautions. 

ACTIVITIES

Decorating Eggs 



If you’re looking to be more creative with your egg decorating, get your craft supplies ready. We found a great post here showing 60 ways to decorate eggs beautifully, both with dye and without.

Keep the Family Involved: Bring out your video chatting app, and call whomever is missing out on the celebrations. Encourage them to participate at home and share what they’ve made with the family. The kids may be very eager to show their creations over video, and see what Grandma or Grandpa came up with too!

Bunny Bean Toss

Thanks to GoValleyKids for this great idea. Make your kids feel like they are at a carnival with this simple bunny bean toss. You will need: 

> Dry Beans or Rice

> Clean Socks

> Rubber Bands

> Cardboard

> Thick Marker

> Scissors

Directions: On your cardboard with your marker, draw a bunny with a BIG wide-open smile. Decorate the bunny as you please, fluffy tail and all. Cut out the bunny’s smile, and any other areas for aim spots. Other areas could be the big stomach, the little hands, or even the fluffy tail! Get as creative as you can. Let your kids help with the decorating. 

Next, fill your clean socks halfway with the dry beans or rice. Use your rubber band to secure them shut. Make sure they are secured before throwing them (it could get messy!). Repeat with a few more socks. Finally, lean your board against the wall and let the game begin!

The Bunny Hop

For this activity, you will need nothing but chairs (or pillows) and music. Just like musical chairs, challenge your family to ‘hop’ to the music instead of dance. As soon as the music stops, one unfortunate bunny will be disqualified each turn. Take it a step even further and make bunny ears for the family beforehand. We found a few easy ways to make bunny ears here.

Keep the Family Involved: Get your Zoom or Skype ready before beginning. Grandma or Grandpa on the other side can control the music while watching and stop it when they’re ready. If you are having trouble sharing sound through the computer here are two guides for Zoom and for Skype on this issue. 

RECIPES

No holiday is complete without some delicious grinds (food). The favorite part of my Easter holiday to say the least. Here are a few EASY and Hawaiian-style recipes that you can do in your own kitchen:

Cinnamon Roll Easter Bunnies

Recipe courtesy of AllRecipes, these bunnies are super easy to make and delicious! A sure winner amongst kids and adults alike. Not to mention you only need to purchase the cinnamon roll pack from your local supermarket. Find the full recipe here. 

Eggs for Egg-cellent Skin

Did you know that eating eggs is great for your skin? Eggs contain a lot of antioxidants that help soften and firm your skin, keeping wrinkles at bay. Eggs are also packed with Vitamin A and D, both essential for skin-cell growth that can help abrasions and wounds heal better. 

Even so, you may be thinking, what the heck am I going to do with all these boiled eggs? Well, we found 32 amazingly simple recipes that you can do to spice up those eggs so that the whole family can eat them. Find the recipes here.

Still too many eggs? If you have a cat or dog, boiled eggs can be a great source of protein in their diet. Don’t feed them all the eggs, just one or two, depending on the size of your dog. A cat should only have one or half of one if they are of a smaller breed. As with humans, make sure the egg is cooked thoroughly before feeding.

Lomi Salmon

Make it tropical with this side dish recipe straight from Hawaii. This recipe is so ono-licious that it can be made on any holiday. Not only will your taste buds thank you, but you’ll feel like you just walked onto the sandy beaches of Hawai’i. Here is the recipe, straight from Betty Shimabukuro and Muriel Miura’s book, What Hawai’i likes to Eat:

½ pound salted salmon

5 large ripe tomatoes

1 cup chopped green onion

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 cup crushed or shaved ice

Directions: Soak the salmon in water for 3-4 hours; rinse well. Remove skin and bones; shred salmon into a bowl. Add tomatoes and onions; “lomi” or knead until mixed well. Chill thoroughly and add ice just before serving. 

Tip: To make your own salted salmon, sprinkle a piece of raw salmon with sea salt. Lomi (massage) salt into the fish and refrigerate overnight. The fish will cure and take on a salty flavor. Lox may be substituted for salted salmon in a bind. 

Oven Kālua Pork

A great main dish to any tropical meal. If you’re making lomi salmon, take it a step further with this traditional Hawaiian recipe that you can make in your own oven. Once again taken from the local book, What Hawai’i Likes to Eat, here is the recipe:

5-7 pounds pork butt

3 tablespoons Hawaiian (rock) salt

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

 10-12 ti leaves, ribs removed (aluminum foil can be substituted)

Cut 1-inch slits around pork and rub the surface with salt; brush with liquid smoke. Wrap pork in ti leaves then tie with string. Wrap again in foil and seal tightly. Roast at 400°F for 3 hours or until done. Remove from pan and shred pork before serving. 

Traditionally, Kalua pork is made in an imu, an underground oven. Here’s an image from my own imu our family made last year. 

At my own home, we cooked the food overnight (the fire died down but the rocks kept heating the food). Kalua pig tastes great with Lomi salmon, rice, and boiled cabbage. 

As we all adjust our plans this Easter, let it bring us closer together despite being farther apart. A central theme of Easter has always been togetherness. We’d love to know, how are you celebrating with your family? Do you have any tips or ideas to share? Leave us a comment below.  Happy Easter to you and yours!