Are you prepared for Easter?   Easter is only weeks away and I know that you want to make it a good day for your families.  I also know many of us are on a budget.  That does not, however,  mean that we have to be too stressed about money to enjoy ourselves.  The fact is, you don’t need to have expensive things and spendy activities to make it a great day.

Here are some fun, low budget Easter Activities that you can do to keep your family having fun, while you are able to keep from being too stressed about finances.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.  Many towns and neighborhoods hold community Easter Egg Hunts that are typically free for kids and feature lots of fun prizes and treats.  These Easter Egg hunts are typically broken down into different age categories so that the hunts are fair for all of the kids.  

Pot-Luck.  Want to have a get together with everyone, but don’t want to fork out all of the money that it would typically take to do that?  How about you host a pot-luck?  Each person or family can bring a dish and everyone can enjoy themselves without breaking the bank.

BBQ.  BBQ’s can be a fun, inexpensive party idea and since Easter falls as Spring is just getting started, you might actually find yourself with some nice weather to enjoy.  This is a way to have dinner for everyone, but can be much cheaper than a typical formal-type dinner.

Egg Painting Party.  Grab some Easter Egg Dye, some colorful paint, crayons and other fun decorating tools and invite your friends and family over.  Be sure to have your guests bring over their own cartons of eggs and have fun decorating!

Have you ever done Easter on a tight budget?  What activities did you do?  

Are you prepared for Easter?  I know that it is still a month away, but when you are on a shoestring budget it is good to prepare early.  Preparing early is exactly how you can make sure that your children have an amazing Easter without breaking the bank or going into debt (which happens a lot more often than you may think).

So, how exactly can you make Easter special on a shoestring budget?  Well, I have had some pretty lean years and my kids always talk about how amazing their Easter was during those times.  Here are a couple of things that I did:

Shop clearance.  There are still some clearance Christmas deals hanging out at some stores and I like to gather good toy deals to keep in my gift closet throughout the year.  These also make great toys for Easter Baskets.  Another clearance deal to grab hold of is all of the awesome Valentine’s candy that is marked significantly down right now (my local Rite Aid has it for 75% off).  Just because it isn’t egg shaped candy, doesn’t mean it can’t be great Easter candy.

Go Simple.  I know someone who spent $150 per child last year on Easter.  They have 3 children so that means that they spend $450 on Easter NOT including their food. I’m sorry, but this is just outrageous. Children don’t need to have extravagant gifts in order to have a great Easter.

Create your own basket.  Create your own basket, as opposed to buying a pre-packaged Easter basket and you will save a significant amount of money.  Especially if you purchase your basket at the dollar store or another similar store.  There is no need to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a basket that will hold goodies for a couple of hours.