Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Discover how to create frugal Easter traditions without breaking the bank. Learn tips and tricks to celebrate Easter on a budget.
Whether you have kids or not, creating Easter traditions with your family means you can plan so you don’t overspend.
Today, I’d like to discuss our frugal Easter traditions without spending a fortune, including our Easter Dinner.
Budgeting For Easter Expenses
Do we budget for Easter?
Yes and No, and here’s why.
This is the first year we’ve invested money into Easter for our son.
Now that we know how much we’ve spent on Easter this year, we can sort out a projected expense for the beginning of 2017 since this holiday has just passed.
Mrs. CBB and I never gave much thought to Easter traditions in the past because we didn’t have a child.
The extent of our Easter fun was Easter food and hanging out with relatives.
I suppose we were creating Easter traditions without even knowing it. Imagine that.
Before our son was born, we enjoyed the Easter celebration by buying each other chocolate Easter eggs, specifically Cadbury cream eggs.
We would also partake in family Easter photos and a large meal.
Mrs. CBB will attend a free indoor Easter egg hunt and party at a local elementary school this year.
There will be Easter colouring, crafts, treats, and good conversations.
Related: Free Printable Easter Colouring Pages
- Draw Your Own Easter Colouring Page Free Printable For Kids
- Easter Bunny Colouring Book Free Printable For Kids
- Easter Colour By Numbers Free Printable For Kids
If you’re not into free Easter celebrations, you can create your own, which we did and will continue to do as the years unfold for our little family.
Easter Traditions Don’t Need To Be Costly
The Dollar store is fully loaded with Easter celebration materials and chocolates galore.
When dealing with young kids, remember that they don’t need an Easter basket filled with chocolates.
Some families buy far too much at Easter and end up with tonnes of chocolate they either give away or freeze.
If your relatives want to give you an Easter gift, you can suggest a small chocolate treat and other Easter options for the kids.
Having a treat occasionally is nice, but we put the brakes on after two chocolate Easter balls and a cupcake.
Boy, did he love that!
His basket was filled with arts and crafts, colouring books, and Easter books, and his chocolate came from the Easter Egg Hunt.
Related: Mom wants healthier Easter Baskets for the kids
Celebrating Easter Traditions
How do we celebrate Easter?
We started to create Easter traditions with a coffee cup and our tummies full after a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs and cheese.
This year, we started our morning with the story of the Easter Bunny, but I don’t think our almost 19-month-old toddler bought it.
We told him that the Easter Bunny is different from other bunnies because of the Easter treats, such as eggs and colouring books, that Mr. Bunny delivers to all the good children.
We mentioned Jesus and how he died for us and was resurrected, but we know he won’t understand until he’s a bit older.
He looked at us a bit gone out, but that was expected since the only words he probably understood were “chocolate” and “Egg.”
Once he spotted the bunny feet, the trail going upstairs and through the hallway with coloured plastic eggs, he put his inspection gloves on and went to work Easter egg hunting.
Related: Do you have an Easter egg hunt for your kids?
Creating Easter traditions with our son is essential, as is any other holiday we celebrate.
Just recently, at Christmas, our son helped decorate, and he put the star on the top of the Christmas tree, which we captured on video.
Recipes
Understanding The Meaning Of Easter
What is Easter?
Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Giving of Easter Eggs and the use of the Easter Bunny is a reminder of the Pagan religion that dominated Europe before the people were converted to Christianity.
The word Easter comes from the Goddess Eostre
.- Source Yahoo
The meaning of Easter is different for everyone, especially if you are participating in religious Easter traditions like my wife does by going to Mass on Easter Sunday.
For the kids, Easter means chocolate and bunnies with some education about the history of Easter.
There’s no need to be religious to understand the true meaning of Easter celebrations.
Meatless Easter Food For Good Friday
We enjoyed a meatless meal on Good Friday to recognize my wife’s Catholic faith since I’m not religious.
We’ve made a lovely fish dinner or Thai Fish Cakes, but this time, I made a massive batch of cream of celery soup and tuna fish sandwiches for a brunch meal.
For many, ham is a traditional Easter food, meaning most of you will likely enjoy this dish for the holiday.
Easter Traditions: Dinner Meal Plan And Desserts
Easter food for Easter Sunday will be a small ham, sautéed rapini with bacon, cauliflower cheese bake, salad, and homemade colourful Easter cupcakes for dessert.
I was going to make Easter Bunny Shortbread, but I didn’t have the time.
Related: Easter dinner for 8 in the Crock-pot
We’ll put our lovely meal together on Easter Sunday after I return from work.
The best part about this Easter food is that it’s simple to make, budget-friendly, and time-friendly for parents who love entertaining.
Related: Mars Bars Rice Krispies for Easter and Easter Chick Tarts
Easter Activities For Kids
Traditional Easter activities for kids are in abundance on Pinterest for every age.
One excellent idea we found on Pinterest was Pom Pom painting, which included using a cotton ball, clothespin, and paper.
Even though it was messy for an 18-month-old toddler, he loved this activity, but it got his creative mind going.
The Easter craft was relatively cheap as the materials were purchased at the Dollar Store.
This is going into the Easter Traditions book for our family.
Related: Do you hold an Easter Egg Hunt?
This year, we coloured Easter eggs using foods such as my homemade beets, blueberries, cabbage, onion skin, turmeric, etc.
Our son loves peeling stickers, so he added them after the eggs had dried.
He can even say EGG, so we’re super proud of him as his vocabulary grows; plus, he is starting to say the alphabet and point to letters simultaneously.
Insert happy parents.
The only thing I had to watch for was to make sure our son didn’t launch the hard-boiled eggs across the room, thinking they were balls.
Nowadays, everything in his hands ends up on the floor or halfway across a room.
Reading Easter Books
Reading an Easter book will always be part of our Easter traditions as a family, as would winding down with a lovely Easter cartoon or two.
This year, we enjoyed his favourite Treehouse cartoons and lots of reading.
We read We’re Going on an Easter Hunt by Martha Mumford.
He’s always chasing after me with a book in his hand since we have tonnes of kids’ books we got free from parents giving them away online.
Our son’s most considerable Easter activity was eating his Easter cupcake and hunting colourful plastic Easter eggs filled with raisins, Cheerios, and chocolate eggies.
Seeing his little smile made it all worth it.
Easter Chocolate And Other Basket Goodies
Our son loved the treats he found in the plastic Easter eggs we picked up from the Dollar Store.
This year, he better understood what chocolate is and how those Easter eggs mean the possibility of more chocolate and other goodies.
The best part is that you can pack them away for next year, so you’re not buying them repeatedly, saving money.
One tip I will add is if you plan to have your Easter egg hunt outdoors, use plastic eggs or coloured rocks for the kids to hunt.
If you so dare hide real chocolate outside, be prepared to be naughty and dig into them.
Poof, your chocolate eggs will be gone, and you’ll have some sugar-jacked creatures roaming around your neighbourhood. Ha!
Easter Family Photo Ideas
One of the essential parts of creating Easter traditions is ensuring you get it on camera or photos that paint a picture of the moment.
Every holiday, we have the camera rolling to show our son how he has aged when he can understand more about photos.
Whenever I’m in doubt and looking for photo ideas, I jump on Pinterest, where ideas are brought to life, especially if you are creative and artistic.
This year, we set the timer on our camera and then posed for family Easter photos, which turned out great.
We took some goofy pictures, too, as our son put Easter stickers on my face, which he thought was pretty funny.
When our son was almost one, we had professional Easter photos taken for Easter free because we won a Facebook contest.
The significant part about the photography was that we didn’t have to do it.
We had professional photos done in a photo studio using props and outfits to celebrate the holidays during the first year of his life, which cost us only $20.
They are cute, and I hope that he will look back at these family traditions and get a chuckle from them.
We’ve learned that our son will grow up fast before our eyes, so if we want to create memories, now is the time to start doing so.
We don’t want to look back and wish we had done something but opted not to or were too busy to take the time for him.
Easter Traditions From CBB Readers
I asked the fans what some of their Easter traditions were, and here is what they had to say.
For Easter, I always make a carrot cake done up as a bunny cake using two round cakes for my daughter’s birthday every year.
The year she was born, April 1, was also Good Friday.– Christine W.
Note: Some of the cake was eaten before the photo was snapped, but it sure looks Easter-perfect!
Dad called this evening, and they are having an Easter dinner tomorrow, which we are invited to. That’s budget-friendly for us!– Mary C.
We did an Easter egg hunt last weekend while big sis was here. I just did some plastic eggs hidden in the house cause it had snowed.– Juanita P.
Every Easter after our morning egg hunt, we colour eggs with the kids and enjoy a family breakfast of fresh fruit, pancakes, eggs, and bacon. This is a tradition we started when the kids were two years old. – Paula B.
For now, our Easter traditions are starting to form year after year, making my wife and I feel we are doing something right with our son.
Happy Easter to all, from our family to yours. x
Discussion: What Easter traditions do you celebrate for the holiday?
-Mr.CBB
CBB Week At A Glance
This week was a bit out of the ordinary, as I had Good Friday off for Easter and stayed home after the terrible ice storm in the Greater Toronto Area.
The next day, we heard loud crashes from our neighbour’s house as ice from the metal roof melted.
It was so loud when it crashed down. I’m not a fan of those metal roofs at all.
I managed to get a few things done around the house while we were bound indoors for a couple of days due to the crappy weather, but I also spent time with the family and finished our income taxes.
I also managed to get in the kitchen again and do some cooking and lots of eating.
CBB Weekly Recap
If you have a question for Mr. CBB, fill out the Contact Mr. CBB form on the blog home page, and I’ll do my best to reply.
I’m happy to chat via email to bring your story to life.
New: If your story submission gets chosen and published, you will be entered into a yearly draw for a $25 Gift Card or $25 CDN via PayPal if you are from the USA.
- Does your property listing use frosted marketing language?
- Must-Have Kitchen Tools for the home chef on a budget
- The Best old-fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Top-performing CBB Post this week: How much should my grocery budget be?
Budget Brags From CBB Readers
Join the Budget Brag Challenge 2016 and WIN!!!
I love it the most when my fans share their excellent shops with me, whether groceries or other deals they find at a garage sale, online or freebies.
Hi Mr. CBB,
I have a budget brag for you!!
As I am sure most have heard by now, Air Miles Canada is changing things with their miles program, and if you have miles accumulated, you need to use them by the end of this year or lose them.
I picked up quite a few last year, with Foodland accepting and offering Air Miles when buying groceries every week.
After talking to my hubby, we looked at what we could use our Air miles on as hubby’s health isn’t good enough right now to try to plan a trip.
I’ve looked and wished for the big stand mixers in Canadian Tire flyers, so I had a peek to see what Air Miles Canada had to offer me.
I didn’t have enough air miles for the Kitchen Aid stand-mixer they had, but I did have enough for a Breville.
After talking to hubby and my boys, we agreed to cash in to buy a stand mixer.
For 2850 Air Miles and no cash out-of-pocket, I now have this lovely Breville stand-mixer, 550 watts strong, and It works like a charm!!
I am so happy with it, and hubby and the boys are pleased with the baking I can do with this.
My Air Miles I had changed to 100% Dream Cash to have extra funds for groceries and baking supplies.
–Christine Weadick
Top Recipe Pick
Food and grocery shopping are relevant to us because food is a significant part of people’s budgets that they struggle with.
We all have to eat to survive, but just because we have a budget doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy drool-worthy, home-cooked meals.
If you prefer buying convenience foods, consider cooking homemade meals or baking from scratch.
Not only will you save money, but you will be proud of what you’ve accomplished, and you’ll see that from the smiles on those you feed.
I’ve had a second Facebook page, The Free Recipe Depot, where I have exclusively shared recipes from food bloggers worldwide for the past two years.
This week, our Top Recipe Pick goes to the lovely Lori Lange at Recipe Girl, who has captured my love for food, especially sweets.
If you don’t have time to bake, Lori has these amazing-looking Butter Brickle Graham Cracker Bars that you must check out.
Let her know Mr.CBB sent you over for a sweet treat. 🙂
Top DIY Project
Now that Spring is here, many of you are starting your seedlings for your summer garden.
I thought it would be fitting to use this space to share gardening tips, such as this one: How to Grow Green Bell Peppers from the Premeditated Leftovers Frugal Living Blog.
There are plenty more articles on the blog about how to grow that may interest you.
Author of Prep-Ahead Meals From Scratch. Sharing recipes and tips for saving money, time, and reducing waste while keeping the kids alive.
– Alea Miham (Premeditated Leftovers)
Growing your garden does take some skill, but once you master that skill, you should be good to go season after season.
This post will take you in that direction to ensure you have beautiful green peppers.
Related: How to start your Spring garden using odd containers
Google Search Terms
Every week, I get thousands of people visiting Canadian Budget Binder because they did an online search and found my blog.
The spelling errors below are because I shared how they typed their search engine query to land on my blog. Some of them are serious, and others are meant to laugh.
- Does OSAP lower the loan amount if paid in one month? – Say what?
- Do used clothing stores wash the clothes– I won’t answer this!
- Canadian Federal Budget 2016– Ya, I see how this site might confuse some people, but this is not a government website.
- Gail Vaz Oxlade Mason Jars– The only mason jars on CBB are filled with spices!
Thanks for dropping by this week!
-Mr.CBB
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- The Saturday Weekend Review #163: Change Your Financial Behaviour from Zoom to Panoramic View
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When my daughter was young, I would get an outfit, toy and some treats but she grew up knowing that I was the Easter Bunny so she didn’t expect much and appeared happy with what I got her. We have let that tradition go but still try and get a chocolate bunny for each of us. That’s the extent of my personal family traditions. With the family at large, we gather at one of the siblings house and partake in a potluck. This includes nieces, nephews and anybody else that shows up.
Christine got a nice deal on the mixer and when I first looked at the picture, I thought it was a Kitchen Aid mixer.
Thanks for sharing your Easter traditions with us DEE and congrats on winning a UFILE code!! Yes Christine got an awesome deal on the mixer and has inspired me to see what we can get with our Air Miles now. Happy Easter Dee!!
Love the Easter traditions that you are creating with your son; love the pompom painting. He’ll look back and cherish those memories one day.
I had a message this morning from my 27 year old daughter who said, “mom, when I read about the Easter activities you’ve planned for B, (her nephew), it makes me wish I were a little kid again. I miss those days.”
Christine W. the rabbit cake is so cute!
I don’t spend a lot of money on Easter. My grandson would gladly hunt for the empty plastic eggs, he really doesn’t care if there is anything inside, he just loves the fun of hunting for the eggs. He loves to hide them as well, so we take turns hiding and finding the eggs. We actually have several Easter egg hunts over Easter weekend, some are scavenger hunts in which picture clues (sofa, coffee table, dining table etc.) lead him to the next location and others are simply finding the hidden eggs. The Easter bunny will make a visit tonight and the egg hunt tomorrow will involve some candy, but not a lot. He really reacts to sugar/chocolate so I try to keep it to a minimum. He’ll get a small Lego set ($20 range) as the main “treat”.
We will go to my parents tomorrow for a big family dinner and I do two scavenger hunts for my nieces and nephews. They are older now and don’t believe in the Easter bunny but still love the scavenger hunt. I may do a craft with them, that’s been a tradition in the past, but I haven’t decided on that for sure. I’m thinking about doing the galaxy Easter eggs, but not sure. I’ll take the supplies and we’ll play it by ear. One of the scavenger hunts will be based on the real Easter story so the eggs will be filled with items related to that – 30 pieces of silver, soap, etc.
I do themed food for my grandson for each celebration throughout the year. Some of the things I have for Easter are: juice boxes wrapped to look like the Easter bunny; waffles cut like an Easter basket filled with fruit “eggs”, sugar cones painted with orange candy melts to look like carrots, cupcakes topped with a meringue nest and filled with Eggies. Pinterest is a fantastic resource!
Happy Easter everyone!
Thanks Ladies, I really like using the stand mixer..it’s so fast to mix things!!! The cake is disappearing fast. We had my daughter and grandson here for Good Friday and they took the bunny’s ears home to eat there.
When the kids were small here I used to buy small toys for the basket and books, not much chocolate. And of course, they had the carrot bunny cake around Easter.
Happy Easter everyone!!!!!
Happy Easter! Easter eggs are part of our tradition. They symbolize spring and new life. I remember when I was young all eggs are hard-boiled eggs. Now it’s chocolate eggs or those filled in with candies.