Decorate Your Home With Free Easter Printables

Easter is more than egg hunts, bunnies, and baskets of candy.  Easter is a time to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Because of His resurrection, we can be with our loved ones again.  Death is not the end.  What an amazing gift our Heavenly Father has given us.  My kids are old enough to remember both of their great grandmothers passing away.  And while that makes them sad, they are happy to know they will see them again.  

We celebrate Easter by spending time with family and sharing.  Easter activities such as egg hunts, Easter baskets from the Easter Bunny and decorating our homes are also part of the fun.  

Today, I have some free printables to help with the home decor part of things.  Since Easter is a spring season holiday, you don’t have to look too far when searching for inspiration for decoration, especially if you want to keep things cheap like me. It's amazing what you can make from colorful flowers and green leaves and how you can turn your home into a joyful and cozy Easter setting.

There are many online tutorials (thanks Pinterest) on how to make these crafts, but that’s not all. If you really want to make your celebration memorable, you should try out some additional resources like this set of fun and free Easter printables.

If your family and guests have an eye for details, then these cute stickers will certainly catch their attention. You can apply them as egg tags, use them for decorating egg holders or egg baskets.  Also, these stickers are perfect for making interesting clues for egg hunt activities or invitations for your Easter dinner.

As an addition, you can use pencils in different colors and various washi tapes to make unique egg and dinner table decorations.

All you need to do to turn these freebies into stickers is download the pdf version and print it on a self-adhesive paper. With a pair of scissors and a little bit of imagination, you can turn this decoration process into some quality family time.

If you are looking for more Easter Activities be sure to check out my ideas for:

Hosting an Easter party and Egg Hunt for 35 kids!

Easter crafts and food

Remembering Christ during Easter

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Easter 2017 recap

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday.  We had gorgeous weather and played outside a lot.  I am loving this spring weather, having the windows open and listening to the kids playing outside. 

Holidays are a great time to get a family picture since the kids are dressed in their Sunday best.  This Easter I wasn't able to get one with all of us.  The best I could do was individual pictures of 3 out of 4 of the kids.  Oh, well, Mother's Day is right around the corner and I'll try again then.

Since we like to focus on the true meaning of Easter on Easter Sunday, we did all the Easter baskets and egg hunts on Friday and Saturday.  Here are the kids opening their Easter baskets at our house on Friday.  I try to put in spring/summer things like outdoor toys and summer clothes.

Then we had an egg hunt.  In previous years, I've hidden different colored eggs for each kid so each one has to find only their color.  This would allow me to hide eggs in the grass for the youngest kid without having to worry that the older kids would take them all.  This year I didn't bother with that, I just told the older kids not to take the eggs on the grass, so much easier that way.  I don't know how I've accumulated so many eggs.  I hid them all over the yard this year, including the front and sides.  It took the kids a while to find them all and some of them needed to grab another basket to put all their eggs in.

Saturday we went to visit my family.  There were more Easter baskets and egg dyeing.  This year we not only dyed eggs the traditional way, but also with little egg rollers which the kids really enjoyed. 

We tried the toddler friendly egg in the whisk trick.  It worked OK.  This little guy really loved painting the eggs and wasn't afraid to get his hands, and the rest of him, dirty.

I made this cute Peeps Easter Garden Brownie.  I got the idea from HERE.  The original recipe uses a cake, but I used brownies instead and it was delicious.  Finally an Easter dessert that didn't fail.  If you want to check out last year's Easter food fails, just click HERE.

One of my favorite Easter Bunny books is The Country Bunny.  Recently I've been feeling a little like the Country Bunny in the sense that my 'babies' no longer take all of my time and can do some of the work for me.  It's great having older kids to help out with the younger kids, especially babysitting so I don't have to take everyone with me whenever I run errands.  This book has a cute story of how a mother country bunny with 21 children became one of the Easter bunnies.

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Fingerprint Easter Egg Basket

I saw this cute Easter basket with fingerprint eggs on Pinterest and thought we'd give it a try.  You can find the original idea over at craftymorning.com.  They'd make great Easter cards or decorations for around the house.

I had my older daughter put her artistic talent to work by drawing the Easter basket.

While she created her mini masterpiece, the younger kids colored some Easter pictures while they waited to add their fingerprints.

Instead of using paint (which is messier than I wanted to deal with), I colored the kid's fingers with markers and let them add their fingerprints that way.  I do think the original idea with the paint turned out better because the fingerprints are more vibrant. 

After all the fingerprint eggs were added, the younger kids colored the basket.   

As you can see it didn't turn out quite like my inspiration, but the kids still had fun making it. 

If you're looking for more Easter ideas, check out my Pinterest fails from last Easter HERE

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And if you're still in need of some non-candy ideas to fill up those Easter basket, I've got a long list for you HERE.

And if you're feeling ambitious and want to host an Easter party for a whole bunch of kids, find out how I easily hosted an Easter party and egg hunt for dozens of kids HERE.

Of course Easter's not all about bunnies and candy...

More than 2,000 years after Isaiah called Him the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ is still our key to peace. This year, in the week leading up to Easter, we've been watching videos that focus on different ways to honor Him and find His peace in our life.  Find out more at mormon.org

Click on the links below to watch a video about one of the eight principles to find His peace in your life:

Finding peace through FAITH

Peace through God's Word

Peace through COMPASSION

Peace through GRATITUDE

Finding peace through PRAYER

Peace through FORGIVENESS

Peace through REPENTANCE

Finding peace through HOPE

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Easter 2016 Pinterest Success and Fails

This year for Easter, we tried to duplicate several cute things found on Pinterest.  Of course, most didn't turn out like the Pinterest perfect pictures, but they were still delicious.

This fruit bunny looked easy enough.  We couldn't get the ears just right so we improvised.

There are several ways to make this bunny cake and it's really easy.  The hard part was icing and decorating it.  HERE is where I got my inspiration.  My daughter wanted a chocolate bunny so we used chocolate icing.  She also didn't want the bow tie, so we left that out.  I used white icing dyed pink for the ears, nose and mouth and marshmallows for the eyes.  

I can't take credit for these bunny napkins.  And the person who made them wishes to remain anonymous.   Needless to say after watching the video and working on them for almost an hour they still didn't turn out right and wouldn't stand up either.   If you want to attempt to make these, you can find the napkin bunny tutorial HERE.

Thought about making these bunny pancakes but the kids were hungry and I didn't have time to be creative, so plain old round pancakes it was.  In case you have time to be creative and want to make these next year, you can find out how to do it HERE.

This last one, I'll call a success.  They were easy to make, just a little time consuming.  These would be great for baby showers, mother's day and even birthdays.  To find out how to make these pretzel flowers, check out THIS post.

If you want to pin these ideas, here's a picture with all my pinterest success and fails for this Easter.  I wonder what I'll attempt next year.  I've already got a couple of new ideas pinned, you can find them on my Easter Pinterest board HERE.

I didn't find this idea on Pinterest, rather it was on the box of cookie mix.  The girls helped mix the dough and form the sheep.  To my surprise they actually turned out like the picture.  Another success.  Or maybe not, as they didn't taste good at all.  We think it was the banana flavor.

Since a lot of our desserts were Pinterest fails, I wanted to have something that looked pretty.  I have a friend who makes the most delicious and decorative cake balls so I ordered up some from her and she did not disappoint.  Not only did they look cute and spring like, they were so moist and yummy inside. 

Of course I have to throw in a couple of pictures of my kids.  Here is my almost 18 month old sporting his older brother's bow tie.  It's actually the Easter bow tie I made several years ago.  I couldn't get my 13 year old son to wear it, but luckily my toddler was much more cooperative.  Yeah, it's a little big, but he's just so darn cute, he can pull it off.

It's hard to get a good looking picture of this crazy bunch, but I try.  The girls and I wore a navy and pink/orange theme.  

We had a wonderful Easter weekend spending time with family as well as doing the traditional Easter activities.  Hope yours was full of good food, time with family and feeling blessed.

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Easter 2015 recap

We had a fun filled, family visiting, food eating, faith promoting Easter.  We really focused on the Savior and the last week of His life using the activities and videos from HERE.  

Life got busy and one of our kids spent a few days at Grandma's house so we didn't do everything on that list, but we did try to catch up on Sunday.  

We also made these delicious resurrection rolls on Sunday.  I've seen the recipe floating around on Pinterest for a couple of years now and finally decided to try it.  I was pleasantly surprised that they actually worked!  

They were really easy, I just used THIS recipe.  All you do is coat a large marshmallow with butter, then dip in a cinnamon sugar mix and place inside a crescent roll and bake. After they come out of the oven, the marshmallow has disappeared.  There is some symbolism with each ingredient so be sure to read all about it HERE if you want to do this with your kids for next Easter.  Next year I may have to make two batches because they were so good.

Here's some more cute kid pictures of my two youngest.  Love the bunny tights my 4 year old is wearing.  And I can't believe my little man is 6 months old already.

We like to focus on the true meaning of Easter on Easter Sunday so we do all the Easter baskets and egg hunts on Saturday.  This year since Sweetie Pie was spending the week at Grandma's we did our Easter baskets on Tuesday before she left.  This gave me the idea to do Easter baskets on the Monday after Easter as part of Family Home Evening.  Then I could buy the Easter candy during the day on Monday when it's all on sale.  Maybe I'll try it next year. 

As for this Easter, we visited my parents the Saturday before Easter and did more Easter baskets, an egg hunt and egg dying.  

Several other family members came over to join in the festivities and to celebrate my grandmother's 94th birthday.  

Here's a picture of the oldest and youngest members of my family:

The kids got some pretty neat stuff for Easter.  Since the girls love horses, they both got a chocolate pony instead of the traditional chocolate bunny.  They also got some swim wear, books and summer clothes - all useful stuff, I loved it.  

They did get a pretty neat toy called a Heli Ball (amazon link in case you want to check it out).  It hovers above you hand and if you raise your hand, it rises.  Somehow it turns off when you point any remote at it and press the remote's off button. Here's a video to show how it really does hover. 

If you are looking for more ways to celebrate the true meaning of Easter, check out the ideas HERE. 

How was your Easter? 

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Happy Easter 2015

We've enjoyed focusing on the Savior during the week prior to Easter by using the ideas found HERE at the Mercy River blog.  We've modified it a bit to fit our family and schedule and we plan to do it again next year.  I'll write a post next week with more details about the rest of our Easter week activities and Easter celebrations.  We've also enjoyed the videos from mormon.org about the life of Jesus and the Easter Week messages which tell about each day of his life leading up to the Resurrection.  #BecauseHeLives 

Jesus Christ lived. He walked the Holy Land, working miracles and teaching truth. Then He was crucified. But His death was not the end. Because of His Resurrection, we will live again. Because of His sacrifice, we can rise above sin to experience true joy. Because He lives, we can find His help and healing every day of our lives.

(http://www.mormon.org/easter)

Enjoy your Easter Sunday!

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Bunny Mask, Easter Party Ideas and more Holy Week activities

Made this cute bunny mask with my 4 year old.

I used a paper plate, some black construction paper, some bunnies ears (made from white and pink paper - I had them left over from THIS EASTER ACTIVITY), a craft stick, glue and scissors.

FYI:  After trying to glue the ears, whiskers and craft stick on unsuccessfully, I used my hot glue gun instead.

Here the two littlest are trying on the mask.  So cute.

And if you are looking for some fun Easter Party or Activity ideas, be sure to check out my post about how I hosted an Easter Party for 35 kids.  

Games included:  pin the nose on the bunny, guess the number of skittles, roll-a-rabbit, hot carrot, an egg coloring contest, spoon relay, story time, and an egg hunt.

Click HERE for all the details including how I made it stress free!

We know Easter's not all about bunnies, eggs and candy.  If you're looking for Christ centered ideas including activities to do each day from now until Easter Sunday, click HERE for my post about celebrating Holy Week.  For the original inspiration and ideas for celebrating Holy Week, check out click HERE to go over to the Mercy River blog.

Here's what we've done so far:

On Sunday we learned about Palm Sunday and reenacted Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

On Monday we learned about Jesus cleansing the temple and acted that out too.

Tuesday we learned about some of the parables Jesus taught.  There are several videos to watch and talk about in this lesson.

Wednesday we learned of Judas' betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  I had some coin scrapbook paper that I let the kids cut up.  We also practiced counting to 30 with my 4 year old.

I love all the ideas and activities to do this week.  Even though our schedule it getting busier and we'll be skipping a day or two and combining lessons, I love being able to teach my kids the true meaning of Easter.

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