How to Celebrate Easter as a Christian in 2025
Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar. It celebrates Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, three days after he was executed. It takes place on a Sunday and varies in date each year. In 2025, Easter falls on Sunday 20th April.
I was baptised on Easter Sunday, 2001. This means, as well as honouring the resurrection of Christ and our new eternal life in Him, I also use this date to celebrate my own personal salvation.
Familiar Easter Traditions
There are many lovely traditions related to Easter. From eating lamb for Sunday lunch (with all the trimmings, of course) and dressing in pastels to symbolise spring and rebirth. Whether you’re painting them or eating the chocolate variety, eggs are a big part of easter, as are chicks, bunnies and floral displays. But there is so much more to celebrating Easter as a Christian.
How to Celebrate Easter as a Christian
1. Lent
Easter follows a long period of fasting during Lent. The purpose of this is to increase our awareness of barriers that might prevent God from acting freely in and through us.
This year, I am fasting from lie-ins and snoozing my alarm. Instead of staying in bed a little longer or scrolling before getting up, I’ve been getting up 15 minutes before my children to spend some time alone in prayer. This practice is preparing me for the joyful celebration of Easter and has given me an opportunity to draw closer to God.
2. Read a Gospel or Two, Maybe Even All Four
There is so much richness in these eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life. As they are written by four different people who spent different amounts of time with Jesus, and had different points of view, it’s exciting to read all four one after the other or in parallel and see the same stories told from different perspectives.
3. Watch The Chosen
As long as you remember it’s a dramatisation of scripture, The Chosen is a great watch. They’ve added bits and taken some liberties with artistic license, but it still brings the gospels to life. I would encourage you to read it in scripture first, so you can identify which storylines have been made up and added in the 2020s.
4. Holy Week
I’ve designed a Jumbo Holy Week Colouring Page for Easter featuring events like the triumphant entry, the crucifixion and the resurrection. This is a great activity for children throughout Holy Week, and you can read accounts of these things together as they colour.
At some point during Holy Week, we also make an Easter Garden. It’s a great activity to do in groups, so why not invite some friends over and make your gardens together?
5. Palm Sunday
On Palm Sunday, we remember Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey to rejoicing shouts of Hosanna by the crowds. He was hailed as a king, though was humble, not coming on a white horse, but on a donkey, fulfilling prophesies found in Zechariah 9:9.
Going to church, especially a church that observes the Christian calendar, is the best way to celebrate Palm Sunday. The preaching and singing will focus on this. Children will also learn about Palm Sunday through stories and crafts.
We also like to find a branch on Palm Sunday to create an Easter tree. If you need decorations for yours, I have just the thing! >>> Set of 4 Christian Easter Decorations
6. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are sombre days where we remember Jesus’ willing walk to the cross and death by crucifixion. Although these are low points in the Christian calendar, our enjoyment and appreciation of Easter can be amplified through how we choose to observe them.
Many churches hold Maundy Thursday services, which sometimes include feet washing and communion. This is the day of the Last Supper, where Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and instituted the Lord’s Supper. It is also when Judas betrayed Jesus, so the style of worship usually reflects this.
The arrival of Good Friday means it’s finally time for hot cross buns! I have a particular fondness for these as I was born on Good Friday, and my mum was at a friend’s house eating hot cross buns when she went into labour!
You could make your own, but we usually get them from the shop and have them for our afternoon snack. We use this time to read the narrative of the crucifixion. As Jesus was the Passover Lamb, a sacrifice for all, we sometimes reflect on the story and history of the Jewish Passover.
Once, when I was at university, a group of us celebrated the Jewish Passover on Good Friday. We explained every detail, both in terms of how the Jews celebrate and how Jesus fulfilled each element. It was so eye-opening and encouraging – I always love seeing how the Bible interweaves and connects.
7. Holy Saturday
For us, Holy Saturday is a quiet day. We prepare for Easter Sunday, and usually take a daytrip as a family. Alternatively, there are church services held on this day too.
8. Easter Sunday
Sunrise services are often held on this day. I don’t recommend them if you have small children who still wake in the night, but if this isn’t an issue, finding your nearest dawn service is a great way to start Easter Sunday.
Sundays are special for us anyway. They are set apart, so we always have a pancake breakfast, and Easter Sunday is no different in this regard. However, instead of our regular conversation, we read the narrative of the resurrection. Together with the children, we consider what it would have been like and why different characters responded the way they did. I’m frequently amazed that even though they were close to Jesus throughout his ministry, the disciples often didn’t understand or believe what Jesus was telling them. There are some fantastic conversations to be had, and the children’s understanding and points of view on these things are regularly challenging and encouraging.
After breakfast, we have an Easter egg hunt in the garden. It’s so fun to watch the children scurry around the garden, up trees, and behind hedges until they find what they’re looking for!
9. The Easter Feast
Sharing food and feasting are great ways to celebrate Easter. As Douglas K McKelvey writes in Every Moment Holy: New Liturgies for Daily Life, ‘to gather joyfully is indeed a serious affair, for feasting and all enjoyments gratefully taken are at their heart, acts of war. In celebrating this feast, we declare that evil and death, suffering and loss, sorrow and tears, will not have the final word.’
Personally, I like to prepare lamb in the slow cooker while we’re at church, so lunch isn’t too late. We always have friends or family over, feasting in celebration together. To make Easter lunch even more special, consider decorating the table with fresh flowers, matching plates and even pastel napkins.
10. Easter Music
My favourite Easter song is ‘His Heart Beats’ by Andrew Peterson. It describes what happened in physical and spiritual terms when Jesus rose from the dead. We play this while breakfast is cooking on Easter Sunday. I also have a Spotify playlist for Easter filled with lots of great songs to play during lunch. You can listen and download it here.
Thanks For Stopping By
I hope you have a blessed Lent leading to a joyous Easter filled with hope and peace. If you’re interested in reading more about being a Christian in 2025, you might find the following links useful…
