Five ways to have an egg-cellent, budget friendly Easter

Read our guide with five ideas on how to celebrate Easter with your kids and family on a budget. Instead of buying lots of Easter eggs and gifts, get creative and have fun with these budget-friendly ideas to help you make happy family memories.

1. Have a low cost Easter egg hunt.
2. Throw a family and friends Potluck.
3. Have a bake off.
4. Have an Easter picnic (if the weather stays nice).
5. Get creative with cheap Easter decorations.

Low cost Easter egg hunt

If you’ve got kids, a great way to keep them entertained is to set up an Easter egg hunt. However, Easter egg hunts can be expensive, especially if several kids are involved.

For instance, a Cadbury’s Crème egg is currently about 60p, if you hide 5 eggs per child, that’s £3 per child and if you have 10 children taking part in the Easter egg hunt, that’s £30 just on eggs! Then you’ve got to think about the baskets the kids need to collect the eggs in

Take a look at these cost-saving tips to keep your Easter egg hunt pocket friendly.

• Reuse or upcycle gift baskets – Before your Easter egg hunt, invite the kids along to decorate or design gift baskets they’ll use on the hunt. You can upcycle baskets you had last year, gift bags, cardboard boxes, paper bags, or even discarded egg trays. That way you can make the event fun-filled and creative.
• Use fillable eggs – Another cost effective option is to fill your own eggs . You can get fillable eggs online or from craft stores for around £10 for 100. You can then fill the eggs with sweets or whatever you want. A cheap and cheerful surprise for the kids when they find them.
• Decorate eggs – One of the cheapest ways to have an Easter egg hunt is to decorate some hard-boiled eggs. Simply buy a tray of eggs from the supermarket, and hard boil them before the hunt. Ask your kids to decorate them and hide them in and around the garden for the children to discover. You could give them a small prize at the end of the hunt.

Throw a family and friends Potluck

If you want to bring family and friends together at this time of the year but are worried about the costs involved, why not throw a potluck party; that’s where everybody brings a dish they’ve made for the table.

Here’s how to plan it:

• Pick a theme. Choose a country and base your meal around its food. For example Greek, Mexican, Indian, or just have a good old fashion buffet, the choice is yours.
• Plan your menu. If you’re choosing a sit down meal for example; two big mains, two big sides, two big desserts. If you are doing a buffet, you can get people to bring savoury or sweet.
• Create a Whatsapp group and add everyone to a group chat so it’s easy to ask questions. Make sure you put the time and date in the group description so you don’t keep getting asked ‘When’s the party again?’
• Start a shareable spreadsheet or list. Include who’s cooking what? Add a spending limit and special dietary needs.

Have a bake off

Baking at home is a great way to be creative but also an excellent opportunity to save some money, the kids will love helping too.

Bake some Easter cookies and cakes so your friends and family have some delicious sweet treats that don’t break the bank when they come over

You’ll find some delicious ideas for Easter bakes on the BBC website

Have an Easter picnic

If the weather is nice why not meet up with family and friends for an Easter picnic. You can mix and match most of our other tips into your picnic plans too; the Easter egg hunt, games and the cakes and cookies you made. It’s also a great way to use up the left overs from your Easter potluck buffet!

Find the perfect place to throw down the picnic blanket from our list of picnic spots across Portsmouth

Plan some Easter-themed games

To keep the kids (and adults!) entertained, set up some free Easter-themed games you can play at your party or if you go on a picnic. You could have an egg and spoon race, sack race, or even tin-can bowling.

Make your own low cost Easter decorations

Get creative! It’s time to think about decorating your home to celebrate Easter with your family. While it might be tempting to head to the store to pick up some ready-made Easter decorations, the reality is that they are usually expensive at this time of the year.

Take a look at these ideas that all the family can try at home:

• Eggshell candles – So cute! But probably not one for the kids as there are hot things involved.
• Homemade carrot garland (to keep the Easter bunnies happy) Watch this video on how to make it.
• Hand-drawn Easter bunnies – watch how to draw an Easter bunny
• Easter bunny banner – Draw and decorate your own Easter bunting or download free printables to cut out
• Simple Easter centrepiece for the kitchen table – Find some great, low cost ideas.