In many homes, Easter is traditionally a holiday that revolves around eggs, milk chocolate, and jellybeans. It might seem near impossible to enjoy all of the same yearly traditions without the animal products, but thankfully there are so many alternatives available to help you and your family have a wonderful plant-based Easter without missing out on anything. This guide has loads of ideas and suggestions to help you plan the perfect Easter celebration.
Eggs
Let’s face it – Easter and eggs have become a packaged deal. Rather than leave the eggs out, let’s explore some ideas for enjoying chicken-less eggs in our celebrations.
Easter Egg Hunts
While most Easter hunts are pretty much exclusively egg hunts, there are lots of “eggs” that didn’t come from chickens. Of course there are always the classic plastic eggs that can be filled with vegan candy, money, stickers, etc. If you don’t want to buy plastic, chances are you might find some in the basement or at your local thrift store. There are also alternatives to plastic such as metallic eggs and wooden eggs. Items other than eggs can always be added to hunts such as small toys and other candies. You might even find egg-shaped items such as Easter Egg Chalk.
Coloring Eggs
If egg coloring has been an important part of your Easter traditions, you can still enjoy this activity without using chicken eggs. It might look a little different, but what is important is the time spent together being creative. You can purchase egg decorating kits with artificial eggs or change things up and decorate larger paper mache eggs.
Egg Recipes
Many people enjoy eating eggs and recipes that use eggs during Easter time. There are many plant-based egg alternatives available such as Just Egg and Follow Your Heart VeganEgg. There are also lots of recipes for egg-free cooking such as Vegan Fried Eggs and Vegan Egg Salad. For more egg-free ideas and inspiration check out our Egg-Free Cooking webinar.
Candy
When it comes to Easter candy, this is where you may have to do a little “hunting” yourself. If you plan far enough ahead of time, you can order vegan Easter candy online from places like Natural Candy Store and Yum Earth.
If you don’t have time to shop online, you can go hunting at your local stores for some vegan Easter options such as Skittles filled eggs and Sour Patch Kids filled eggs. You can also usually find jelly beans that are vegan-friendly, but this is where the hunt gets interesting. As brands tend to change their recipes from time to time, it’s difficult to rely on any brand to have a vegan jelly bean—your best bet is to read the ingredients on every brand you find to see which ones left out gelatin, beeswax, and shellac (aka confectioner’s glaze).
If all else fails, you can always make your own Easter chocolates at home with some simple recipes and an egg-shaped mold. With a few simple ingredients you can create egg-shaped candy bars and peanut butter cups.
Hopefully you found some useful tips to help you plan a great Easter celebration. Continue to follow our blog for more info and tips for your plant-based lifestyle.
