No Spend Easter Fun

Two children indoors, surrounded by Easter eggs, one wearing bunny ears, while sorting their collection in a wicker basket.

Let’s be honest, Easter can get expensive. Between the mountains of chocolate eggs, the fancy Sunday lunch, and those adorable (but eye-wateringly expensive) Easter-themed decorations, your bank account might start looking as empty as your kid’s Easter basket before the egg hunt starts. But fear not! Easter doesn’t have to be an exercise in financial ruin.

We’ve cracked the code (egg pun very much intended) on how to have a brilliant Easter without spending a single penny. So put away your wallet, grab some enthusiasm, and prepare for a truly free Easter celebration.

The Great British Easter Egg Hunt – Home Edition

Why spend money on an official Easter egg hunt when you can turn your home into an obstacle course of pure joy and mild frustration? Instead of hiding actual chocolate eggs (because, let’s be honest, they’ll get eaten before they even make it to the hiding spots), use bits of paper with clues leading to a big prize, which can be a budget gift or a token for extra screen time.

DIY Easter Bonnet Parade (Using Absolute Rubbish)

Easter bonnets are traditionally a big deal, but who says you need to splash out on fancy materials? Raid the recycling bin and challenge everyone to create the most extravagant Easter bonnet using nothing but old newspapers, cereal boxes, and whatever’s lurking in the back of the craft drawer.

Add an extra layer of chaos by awarding prizes for:

The most ridiculous hat
The most structurally unsound bonnet
The one that looks least like a hat but gets points for effort

Bonus points if someone manages to attach an actual egg to their head.

A close-up of a decorative Easter bonnet adorned with flowers, a small bicycle, and a picket fence, worn by a person partially visible at the bottom.

The Classic Egg Rolling Championship

A proper old-school Easter tradition, find a hill (or just a slight incline, we’re not picky), grab some eggs (real, wooden, or imaginary if necessary), and see whose egg makes it the furthest.

This game is 100% free, unless you insist on using real eggs, in which case you might have to deal with some scrambled casualties.

If you want to add a competitive edge, try these bonus challenges:

Egg Dodgeball: Other players get to throw obstacles in the egg’s path.
Egg Bowling: Use empty bottles and see who can knock the most down.
Egg vs. Dog: Can the egg make it to the finish line before the family pet decides it’s a snack?

A family gathered in a cosy kitchen, baking together. A mother, father, and two children laugh as they mix ingredients, with flour on their faces.

Easter Bake-Off – Without Leaving the House

Sure, everyone loves a good Easter bake, but you’re not about to go out and buy fancy ingredients. Instead, turn this into an episode of “Cupboard Cook Off” where you can only use what’s already in the kitchen.

Creativity is key, so if all you’ve got is some flour, half a jar of peanut butter, and a questionable-looking banana, well, let’s just say it’ll be interesting.

Extra challenge: Present your creation with the confidence of a Great British Bake Off contestant. Even if it turns out to be a disaster, just describe it as “rustic” or “intentionally deconstructed” and you’ll be fine.

Easter Movie Marathon – The Nostalgic Edition

Skip the fancy cinema trips and dive headfirst into childhood nostalgia. Dust off your old DVDs (if you can find them) or scour free streaming services for Easter classics. Think Peter Rabbit, Hop, or if you’re really committed, the four-hour biblical epic The Ten Commandments (but good luck keeping the kids awake through that one).

Feeling extra competitive? Turn it into a drinking game (with hot chocolate, obviously) where you take a sip every time:

A rabbit appears on screen
Someone says the word “Easter”
There’s a scene with an unrealistically perfect family meal

A young child with short brown hair grins playfully at the camera, hands on cheeks, sitting at a table with a cake in the foreground.

The “Who Can Stay Silent the Longest?” Challenge

A personal favourite of parents everywhere. Announce a grand Easter challenge, whoever can stay silent the longest wins a mystery prize.

This game works best if you whisper something like “I bet you can’t do it” right before starting. Kids cannot resist proving you wrong.

For added fun, throw in a few distractions, tell a terrible joke, start rustling a bag of sweets loudly, or just give them The Look (you know the one).

Nature’s Easter Egg Hunt

Easter is basically spring’s big moment, so why not embrace it? Go on a nature scavenger hunt and see who can find:

A daffodil
A bird that clearly thinks it’s the main character
Something egg-shaped (stones count, and so do slightly oval-shaped crisps)
A squirrel that looks mildly suspicious
Somebody wearing pastel colours (although probably best not to point, apparantly that's frowned upon)

A grey squirrel perched on a tree trunk, holding food in its tiny paws, with a bushy tail curled behind it.

Easter Storytelling – With a Ridiculous Twist

Easter has plenty of classic stories, from the biblical tale of resurrection to the questionable origins of the Easter Bunny. But why settle for old tales when you can make up your own?

Each person gets 30 seconds to add a sentence to a story, and the rule is it must get more ridiculous with every turn. You’ll start off with something innocent like “Once upon a time, a rabbit found an egg”, and before you know it, you’re knee-deep in “And then the egg turned into a spaceship, and the rabbit became the King of the Moon.”

Easter Karaoke (Where Everyone is Simon Cowell)

No Easter party is complete without some questionable singing. Put together a makeshift karaoke night featuring songs that are vaguely Easter-related, like:

Here Comes the Sun – because spring, obviously.
Mary Had a Little Lamb – not one for vegetarians, because, well you know.
Eye of the Tiger – because… eggs come from chickens, which are birds, and tigers are also animals? (Okay, that one’s a stretch, but just go with it.)

Make it extra dramatic by having the rest of the family act as X Factor judges. Bonus points for someone doing the classic “It’s a no from me” line.

A mother and daughter sit on a bed in a dimly lit room, making shadow puppets on a brick wall using a flashlight.

Shadow Puppet Easter Storytelling

Who needs expensive decorations when you can put on a shadow puppet show with just your hands, a lamp, and a bit of imagination? Gather the family, turn off the lights, shine a torch at a blank wall, and let the magic happen.

Challenge each other to create Easter-themed shapes like:

A bunny (classic)
An egg (easy mode)
A chick hatching (advanced level)
A daffodil (if you’re feeling ambitious)
A cross (for a traditional Easter touch)

Take turns making up completely ridiculous Easter stories to go with the puppets. By the end, you’ll either have an audience captivated by your storytelling or doubled over in laughter because someone’s "bunny" accidentally looks more like a mutant lobster.

You don’t need to spend a fortune to have an amazing Easter. Whether it’s a no-budget egg hunt, a scavenger walk, or an ultra-competitive bonnet parade made out of cereal boxes, there are plenty of ways to make memories without emptying your wallet.

So this Easter, embrace the chaos, get a little creative, and most importantly, make sure someone else is on washing-up duty after that questionable baking session.

Happy (Free) Easter!