We’ve finally done it. After the better part of a year spent in lockdown, we’ve reached the second Easter (in. a. row) where we’re required to stay cooped up indoors. Boo!
While we’d much rather be making the most of the long Easter weekend by taking an early spring jaunt to Europe, or even to the next town over at this stage, there’s still a slew of (super fun) ways you can celebrate the holiday inside this year.
First thing’s first: when IS Easter 2021?
Easter Sunday this year falls on Sunday April 4. It’s over a week earlier than last year’s date, which was April 12 because it’s determined by the Jewish calendar, which is based on lunar cycles.
What are the Covid Easter restrictions?
As part of step one of Boris’s roadmap, from 29 March, “the week in which most schools will break up for Easter, outdoor gatherings of either 6 people or 2 households will be allowed, providing greater flexibility for families to see each other. This includes in private gardens.”
Outdoor sports facilities, such as tennis and basketball courts, will be allowed to reopen, and people can take part in formally organised outdoor sports.
The roadmap stated: “At this point, the Stay at Home order will end, although many lockdown restrictions will remain.
“For example, you should continue to work from home where possible, and overseas travel remains banned, aside for a small number of reasons.”
Eat all the chocolate
Easter is synonymous with chocolate and we are not complaining. Don’t just limit yourself to chocolate in the form of an Easter egg either (although we will still be getting one – or three – of these too). Why not invest in a luxe hot chocolate gift set? Or a proper hot chocolate maker to enjoy lavish drinks as you cosy up with a film?
If you want to go all-out on the chocolate, you can order in some cocoa delights too. There’s an Easter Cookie Dough Box from The Good Baker that we’ve got our eyes on and you can never go wrong with an Easter-themed Colin the Caterpillar cake from M&S too.
For the hardcore sweet tooth, this creme egg chocolate slab from The Sugar Sisters should do the trick or why not try one of these DIY Easter bunny kits from cult brand Doughnut Time? Whatever you decide to do, make sure chocolate is involved.
Perfect your tablescaping techniques
Homeware site Sophie Allport has everything you need to perfect your tablescaping skills this Easter – along with the instructions for how to do it. If you want to make one of Allport’s bunny-shaped napkins you can simply follow along the instructions on her site.
Allport suggests pairing the napkins with painted eggs and features scattered across the table as well as making an egg wreath as the centrepiece. To make your own, gather up some florals and twist it along with moss around a circular wire.
Pretend you’re in Bake Off
It really isn’t Easter if you don’t have the smell of freshly baked hot cross buns wafting through your home at some point over the weekend. While making them from scratch could be a lovely, mindful activity – you can buy them freshly baked too. We like these ones from Gail’s bakery (who are also doing a stellar Easter afternoon tea hamper at the moment as well).
If you’re planning to have a Sunday lunch, why not bake yourself an Easter-themed dessert – BBC Goodfood has recipes for an Easter nest cake and Easter egg brownies (say no more). You could also try making your own Easter egg at home too, you’d just need to pick up fun moulds like these from Amazon.
Plan an Easter egg hunt
Bring back your favourite nostalgic Easter tradition this year with an Easter egg hunt. Even if you’re in a poky flat, you can buy a bunch of small Easter eggs and hide them around the house, creating cryptic clues for your housemates or significant other.
Splash out for your Easter lunch
Go big and stay home. That’s our Easter motto this year and, since we’ve got a lush four-day weekend to enjoy, why not utilise that time to create an epic Easter lunch? If you’re not up for roasting a leg of lamb yourself, or making your own mushroom wellington (this mushroom wellington recipe is so simple and so delicious), then arrange for a feast to be delivered to your door.
We love the look of Blacklock’s Sunday Roast kit which can be delivered to your door. Riding House Cafe’s Easter Box comes with an Easter chocolate pudding, champagne and macarons too (so fancy!). If you’re more of a brunch person, try Panzer’s weekend groceries box with smoked salmon, bagels and truffle crisps.
Let’s face it, you’ll probably be too occupied with eating to even look at your phone. But Easter could be a great time to switch off completely and allow your mind to take a breather. Turn your phone off (or at least pause all of your social media apps), go for lovely long walks, play board games and puzzles and use the time to finally make a dent in that stack of books on your bedside table.
Treat yourself to a beauty Easter egg
Beauty advent calendars aren’t just for Christmas. The beauty industry has expanded to the Easter market now too, with beauty product-filled Easter eggs. This year, there’s some excellent options out there. We love LookFantastic’s £65 egg (filled with £220 worth of product!) and Glossybox’ cool egg starts from £20 and contains products from cult brands like Nars and Laura Mercier. Your face has never looked better.
