Can you believe Easter is almost here? For Christians around the world, this is the most joyful season of all as we celebrate the victory of good over evil. Like other holidays, our Easter festivities aren’t always kind to the planet. If you’re looking for green and eco-friendly Easter celebration ideas, read on for tips on everything from Easter chocolate to spring outfits.

Easter is big business. The National Retail Foundation’s annual Easter survey reported Americans planned to spend over $20 Billion on Easter in 2021. Top drivers of spending are gifts, clothing, food, and, of course, candy and chocolate.

How to have an eco-friendly Easter celebration

No matter how you plan to celebrate Easter, here are some ways to keep your celebrations sustainable.

Easter egg hunt

Is there anything more fun than an Easter egg hunt, especially when the weather cooperates and you can take it outside?

My daughters may be grown up now, but they would still happily hunt for eggs if I took the time to hide them. When they were little, I’d sometimes hide them so well, we didn’t find them all on Easter morning. It’s always fun to stumble upon a hidden chocolate treasure weeks after Easter. 

When I was doing research, I saw refillable wooden eggs as an alternative to plastic. But honestly, the plastic eggs are so pretty and colourful. Plastic has a bad reputation for good reason, but it’s only a serious issue for the planet if you use it once and throw it away. We have used the same plastic eggs since my girls were small, and they’re still going strong twenty years in.

Chocolate and treats

A bigger concern for your Easter egg hunt is what you put inside the eggs, rather than the eggs themselves.

According to the National Retail Foundation, Easter is the second biggest holiday for candy sales in the USA, after Halloween. I gave up chocolate and candy for Lent this year, so I can’t wait to indulge on Easter morning. Here are some alternatives to cheap, plastic-wrapped chocolate:

• Make your own treats like my easy and delicious Breton brittle.
• Look for chocolates wrapped in foil or packaged in cardboard boxes. Even better if it’s fair trade.
• Find a local small business that makes handmade chocolates.

As my girls got a little older, I used to put one- and two-dollar coins in their plastic eggs. Money is always a hit!

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Easter baskets

Like the refillable eggs, find Easter baskets that you can use year after year. Even the dollar stores have some beautiful wicker and metal baskets that won’t cost a lot of money.

As for filling those baskets, here are some eco-friendly ideas.

• Line the baskets with paper Easter grass instead of plastic. Better still, use newspaper or some of the shredded paper from your shredder.
• Spruce up a plain wicker basket with a colourful, fabric bow.
• Fill the baskets with practical gifts that your loved ones need. When the girls were small, new summer socks were a standard part of their Easter baskets every year. Other ideas are soap and shampoo bars, colouring books and pencils, or any of the items on my list of low-waste stocking stuffers.

Alternatives to gifts

Instead of a bunch of stuff you and your family probably don’t need, consider alternatives to physical gifts. Giving the gift of experiences you can share will create memories that will last a lot longer than that plastic trinket from the dollar store.  

Check out this post for 12 experience gifts you can enjoy with your loved ones.

Easter outfits

Finally, the Easter bonnet might not be a thing any more, but who doesn’t love a new spring outfit?

Clothing is still a popular purchase for Easter, but you can reduce the impact and cost of your Easter celebration by choosing to wear an outfit you already own.

As for your kids, while I have great memories of my daughters’ beautiful Easter dresses, they wore most of those dresses only a handful of times. If your kids have outgrown their Easter outfits, check out local thrift stores, or buy nothing groups for good-as-new clothing items.

For those who celebrate, I wish you a joyful, blessed, and eco-friendly Easter.

Do you have other ideas for eco-friendly Easter celebrations? Tell me about them below.