Frugal Easter Ideas

Being a frugal mom and raising a family on one income I want to share my best frugal Easter ideas and tips with you so you too can have a frugal Easter that you and your family enjoy.

Easter this year will be on April 9th and it is quickly approaching. I am here to help you with some frugal Easter ideas if you start planning and preparing now, you can save your budget and have a great Easter. I would love it if you leave me your best ideas on how to save money on Easter at the bottom of the post.

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Frugal Easter Ideas for Easter Activities

The Best Resources for Frugal Easter activities

The place I have found to be the best resource to look for free activities such as the Easter Bunny and Egg Hunts is mom groups on Facebook. Most cities and towns have a mom group. Just search for your town name and mom (or parents) and see what groups pop up. These moms usually have lots of information about activities going on in your area.

Check out Facebook for local pages like the library, police department, churches, community centers, etc. Like their page but also check them out from time to time since Facebook doesn’t always send out notifications when there are new events.

Grab an Easter Budget Planner

Writing down and keeping track of all your Easter expenses is a great way to stay on track with your Budget. My 14-page Easter Budget Planner can help you make budget goals and stick to your budget. It includes a budget overview, budget breakdown, purchase tracker, savings tracker plus various worksheets. It is available for purchase in my shop. If you want to test out some of the planner, sign up for the freebie library where you can grab two pages of the planner for free.

Budget-Friendly Easter Bunny pictures

Going to see the Easter Bunny and getting pictures with him is a tradition for my family.

Malls usually have an Easter Bunny but they cost….a lot. I just looked up my local mall and the cheapest package available this year will be $24.99 and it goes up to $49.99 (the best value they claim, um, no thanks).

To see the Easter Bunny for free we have been creative in the past. We have been able to see and get pictures with the Easter Bunny for free at a children’s consignment shop, a local grocery store, and a local party store. Keep your eyes open when you are out in the community as places will normally advertise these types of events.

If you aren’t able to get a picture of your children with the Easter Bunny, the next best thing is catching a picture of him in your house. There is a free phone app that allows you to do just that. It is called Catch a Character. It is totally free. You can also use it for Santa and Tooth Fairy.

Easter Egg Hunts that are Budget Friendly

It is very easy and frugal to have your own Easter egg hunt. Either in your backyard or in your house, if the weather is an issue or you don’t have a yard.

Shopping at a dollar store or a dollar section of a bigger store is a great place to find plastic eggs and goodies to fill them with. We also like to fill some with change or dollar bills.

Get together with neighbors or friends and work together to pitch in and make a bigger egg hunt.

Check resources in your neighborhood. Many churches offer free Easter egg hunts. We have also been to ones put on by a nursing home, a community group of volunteers, and grocery stores.

The site Easter Egg Hunts and Easter Events is a great resource. You can narrow down events to your state and area. They are working on updating it for 2021 but you can still use the information they have on there from past years and go to the link or do a search for the organizations listed to see if they have updated information on their website or blog.

Easter movies

Many people don’t have cable anymore but there are many streaming services that people use. Yes, they do cost money but all of the services below have a 30-day free trial. You can’t get more frugal than that.

• Amazon Prime Video comes free with your Amazon Prime Membership. If you don’t already have Amazon Prime I suggest you sign up for their free trial. You get so much more than just Prime Video. Some of the Easter movies available on Amazon Prime Video are Jesus of Nazareth (we watch this yearly), The First Easter, The New Adventures of Peter Rabbit, Here Comes the Easter Bunny, Pieces of Easter, and many more.

• Netflix currently has Peter Rabbit and Easter in Bunnyland. There will be more Easter movies released on Netflix as we get closer to Easter.

• Hulu currently has Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, Hop, and Easter Parade. Hulu will also have more available once Easter is closer.

• Pure Flix has many wonderful Easter movies. Tomb of Jesus, Last Supper, Resurrection, Easter Promise, Pieces of Easter, and much more.

Free Easter Bunny Tracker

There is actually a website and a new app that lets you track the Easter Bunny. This year it will start tracking the Easter Bunny on April 3rd. You can see where he is as makes his trek around the world. The website also has games, coloring pages, pictures, and poems. They even have a countdown timer to Easter. Something fun and totally free is totally frugal, my favorite word!

Dying Eggs the Frugal Way

The pretty, the fun, the messy art of dying Easter eggs is the tradition my kids look forward to the most (well, maybe tied with the egg hunt).

The first step is hard-boiling the eggs. Rachel Ray has the best foolproof method I have found.

Then you need your color. Normally I buy a dye kit after Easter then they are 50-75% off. A few times I will space it, not get to the store in time or misplace it (because of moving). They really aren’t that expensive but why pay more than you need to!?!

There are also alternative ways of dying Easter eggs. A few of my favorite alternatives are:

McCormick has a super-easy way to dye eggs with their food colors.

One year we did food coloring with whipped cream. You can also do it with shaving cream but since my kids were young I wanted it to be something they could ingest. Holly with Spend with Pennies has a tutorial on how to do this.

Have you heard of Kool-Aid Dye? I know it sounds crazy but it really works. Living on a Dime has a great post to help you make your eggs really kool!

To read some more fun, frugal ideas you can do with Easter eggs take a look at these ideas from The Spruce Crafts.

Inexpensive Arts & Crafts

Coloring pages are one of the things that my kids enjoy. I will print off a couple of copies of different Easter pictures. Of course, they like the cute bunny and decorative egg coloring pages but we also like to do religious ones and hang them around the house. It is a great way to teach children what Easter really is about.

The Twisty Noodle has some great free coloring pages to print out.

Last year my kids and I tried making Peep Slime from KidsActivities.com. It actually turned out pretty good, but it dried out pretty fast. They had fun and it was a cheap activity so a win for us. We will probably do it again this year.

We also tried something new where we took bright colors and ripped them into strips, glued them on paper, and then cut out crosses and Easter Eggs. The kids had so much fun and we still have those crosses hanging on our walls from a year ago.

Frugal Easter Ideas for Easter Clothing

Easter Sunday is when to dress your best. The kids look so precious in their Sunday best. But we all know how fast kids grow. Around here we are lucky if they wear their Easter outfit more than once or twice before they outgrow it.

Clearance Easter Clothing

My favorite way to save on good Easter clothes is by purchasing them after the Easter/Spring season when they are on clearance. I usually buy a size or two bigger than what my child currently is in.

If for some reason we didn’t get anything for one of the kids the year before when they were on clearance then we like to check out the thrift stores and consignment shops in town. Many of them have one day a week or month that they discount things even deeper.

Hit those Clothing Sales and Use Coupons to Save More

The Children’s Place usually has great sales, even before the holiday. I just scored my son an Easter shirt yesterday. It is a Boy’s Striped Jersey Polo. Originally $12.95 and on sale for $4.99.

I also grabbed Girls butterfly Hair Extensions for my daughter’s basket. Even though not clothing, I scored a great deal and will use it for Easter for her. The original price was $12.95 as well and on sale for $6.47.

I then got free shipping and had a $5 coupon from a previous purchase. So my total would have been $25.90 for those two items and I paid $7.13 after tax. Plus I used Rakuten to get cashback. It was only 1%, so not much, but pennies do add up.

Sign up for The Children’s Place emails and get $10 off your order.

Cash back sites

So let me tell you a little about Rakuten. Rakuten is a site that allows you to get money back on your purchases. You just create an account with Rakuten (they credit your account with $20 once you make your first purchase) and use their search to find the store you want to shop at and shop like normal. You get cashback in your PayPal account or a check. They send payments out every three months.

Swap Clothing with Other Moms

Where we use to live there was a mom’s group that held swap meets. If you don’t have a group in your area you can start one yourself. You would need a place to hold the swap with tables and then set up a time for people to drop items off. Have some volunteers help sort things by size and gender or type of item (you can do baby/kid gear and stuff too, not just clothes). Then have a time that everyone comes to shop. It is a great way to get new to you things but also pass on what you don’t need.

Frugal Easter Ideas for Food and Meals

Holidays=Food! And lots of yummy goodness.

You don’t have to be Martha Stewart to whip up some super cute and super yummy food. It is much cheaper to make your own than buy something store-bought, even though that would be easier, it isn’t very frugal.

Start planning early. I usually pull up Pinterest and let my 12-year-old browse the recipes. I will let her know what I am looking for and how many of each I am looking for, such as veggie dishes, side dishes, treats, or desserts. Once she picks some out we will work together and narrow it down by what is easy and most affordable.

By planning early I can also keep my eyes open for sales on items I need that are shelf-stable instead of running to the store a few days before and not only deal with the crowds but higher prices.

Typically we have a big family get-together for either Easter brunch (my favorite) or Easter dinner. The best way to do this is to make it potluck style. It’s not only is it easier and more frugal but it saves a lot of stress and gives you more time to enjoy the day with family.

With all those hard-boiled Easter eggs you now have, you can use them to make some deviled eggs. They don’t last very long around our get-togethers as they are easy finger food for either a snack or with the meal.

The Spruce Eats has a super cute Deviled Egg Chicks recipe. And Stockpiling Moms have actually colored deviled eggs (not the shell but the eggs). These ideas are super cute.

Frugal Easter Treats

Something that I have been collecting for many years is chocolate molds. I get them when I see them on sale or have an event that I need them for such as a baby shower or wedding or after the holidays when they are on clearance. Even if you don’t find them on clearance, they are very reasonably priced. I will then buy chocolate in bulk and melt it down and put it in the molds and make cute little chocolate shapes. I love giving gifts of these cute chocolates that are very frugal and fun to make and they are great for Easter baskets as well.

Another fun Easter treat are these cake pops from The Spruce Eats. They are so beautiful and colorful.

My kids love these Rice Krispie Easter Eggs from Two Sisters. Super easy and frugal to make. Last year we used Fruity Pebbles and made some colorful rice crispy treats.

Frugal Easter Ideas for Easter Baskets

The baskets that are in stores already put together are overpriced as they charge you for the items and the time. It is more frugal and fun to do your own.

I typically save our basket stuff from year to year or if we need new ones I will purchase them after Easter when they are on clearance. I get everything but the candy on clearance. The baskets, the plastic eggs, the grass.

If I don’t have or can’t find something and it is just before Easter I will go to the dollar stores or the dollar section at stores such as Target.

One really cute and functional way to make a basket is by using something that is needed, such as rain boots like I Heart Arts & Crafts made. Other ideas are an Easter bonnet, an umbrella, a laundry basket, a toy shopping cart, a wagon, a toy dump truck, etc.

Pinterest is full of cute and creative ideas for Easter baskets. Create a board and pin all the cute frugal Easter basket ideas you find and refer back to it year after year. Even if you don’t do exactly what someone else does, it is sure to spark some ideas.

Having two girls that love unicorns I am going to attempt to make this basket from The Keeper of the Cheerios this year. Thinking about the toy dump truck basket for my son but haven’t decided for sure yet.

The Easter Basket Stuffers that are easy on the Wallet

The good stuff (the stuff inside of the basket of course) of the Easter basket can be done frugally as well. Using plastic eggs year after year is very cost-effective and there are so many small things that you can fill them with from little toys from the dollar store, coins, or candy such as jelly beans, Reese’s Pieces, M&M’s, or any miniature candy.

Basket stuffers are a good thing to keep your eye out for throughout the year for things on sale or clearance. I have a basket in my closet where I stash small items when I come across them for a good deal and use them for baskets, stockings, or to give one of the kids when they have done a great job around the house or at school.

Buy items in bundles like candy or bubbles and then open the package to split among the children.

For other ideas of what to fill your basket with, other than candy, I have compiled this list:

• Arts and craft supplies such as crayons, gel pens, markers, colored pencils, glitter pens, glitter glue, rubber stamps and ink, paint set, glue sticks, and more
• Beauty items such as body wash, body spray, bubble bath, hairbrush, scrunchies, hair clips, make-up, and more
• Toothbrush with a character on it
• Kinetic sand or play dough which you can buy or make yourself. Earth Grown Kid Doughs sells really pretty and scented KidDough and Stockpiling Moms has a recipe to make your own cloud dough
• Gift cards
• Rain boots
• Pajamas
• Water bottle
• Water Gun
• Pool toys
• Beach toys
• Board Games
• Sunglasses
• Slippers
• Yoyo
• Slinky
• Kite
• Bubbles
• A jump rope
• Jacks
• A frisbee
• Sticker book and Stickers
• Books
• Balls (bouncing balls, soccer ball, basketball, baseball)
• Stuffed animal
• Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars
• Homemade coupon books like this one from Thrifty Jinxy

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Hopefully, I have given you some great ideas to get your Easter planning started. If you have a tradition in your family or some frugal ideas, I would love to hear them. Leave me a comment below and my family can try them out as well.

Check out some of my other great posts:

Mother’s Day isn’t too far behind Easter. Check out Frugal Mother’s Day Ideas.

Grab Your Copy of the Finance Planner for Moms