George K.
Easter is one holiday that you can’t miss. Unfortunately, many of us are still social distancing while others are allowing small family gatherings only. While Easter this year may be affected by the pandemic, you can still make it a special holiday for the family while remaining healthy and safe.
1. Keep Grandparents Involved
Just because you want to keep the senior family members safe doesn’t mean that you have to exclude them from holiday festivities. While caring for your elderly parents may mean ensuring that they social distance, they don’t have to be completely left out.
One way to keep your grandparents included in Easter this year is to drop easter gift baskets on their doorstep and stay at least 6 feet away when watching them retrieve them. After a long year of social distancing, they will be happy to see you any chance they get. If you don’t want them exposed to any potential dangers, you can communicate with them through a window and create signs that say, “Happy Easter.”
Continue to include them in all the family activities through video chats so that they can watch their grandchildren hunt easter eggs in the house or yard and still be a part of all of the normal Easter activities you’ll be celebrating with your household.
2. Virtual Easter Egg Hunt
Your easter egg hunt doesn’t have to consist of just immediate members of the household. Suppose you’d like to get more of the family involved, but they’re from multiple households. In that case, you can try a virtual easter egg hunt by video conferencing and make it similar to “I spy,” where those hunting remotely can guess where eggs might be hidden room by room.
3. Have a Small Get Together
If remote Easter feels a little off, you can always have a get-together or small gathering that utilizes social distancing to keep everyone safe. As long as your guests wear masks and you have your celebration outside, you can minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19.
Remember, it’s always important to check the rules and regulations where you live that will let you know how many households can be together at a certain location and what types of small gatherings are allowed. If you live in a highly-populated area that has an increased risk, it may not be possible to have a small in-person celebration.
4. Enjoy Television Together
You may choose to have a different type of celebration this year and have a real party next year when you can all be together in person again. If that’s the case, you can still spend some quality time with the family with a watch party. With a watch party, you can stream movies and television shows at the same time as your friends and family so that you can essentially watch television together and even chat about it in real-time.
5. Include the Easter Bunny
It’s possible that the person who usually plays the important role of the Easter bunny won’t be able to make it this year, but that doesn’t mean you have to entirely forgo the experience. Ask your favorite Easter bunny to record a personalized message for the children so that they know he is alive and well and has left them some goodies for them to find.
6. Go to Virtual Services
Ask your church if they have online services that you can watch in real-time on Easter. You can also check their website to see if there is an online option that you can go to instead of attending in-person Mass. If attending services is something your family does every Easter, you can keep the tradition alive by attending services in your own home to keep your family safe. If your church hasn’t made the switch to online services, you can contact other churches to see how you can join their online Mass instead.
