Courtesy Becca Spiro
Don’t know what to do this weekend? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Pull up a seat to the counter, and I’ll tell you about everything that’s hot and happening.
Summit County’s famous egg hunts that draw hundreds of participants unfortunately aren’t happening this year due to the novel coronavirus. However, you don’t have to let that stop you from enjoying Easter. Here are some ideas on how to spruce up your home and celebrate the holiday indoors. Best of all, they utilize common household items, thereby limiting trips to the store.
One decoration Becca Spiro, owner of The Frosted Flamingo mobile art studio, suggested is a chick puppet. Made from a handprint, similar to the kid-friendly turkey crafts for Thanksgiving, you can glue on feathers, eyes, accordion legs and straw to hold it up.
Borrowing from another holiday, a Spiro suggested making houses for marshmallow Peeps out of graham crackers and icing. They can then be decorated with chocolate eggs, Easter grass and other candy, like you would decorate a gingerbread house.
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“There’s always substitutes,” Spiro said. “If you don’t have watercolor paint, that’s OK. Use tempera paint or whatever you have. That’s the fun part about art; sometimes the best things come out of improvising.”
Ashlie Weisel of The Sunny Side Up Studio enjoys honoring and adapting different traditions, as well. Because she lived in Germany, she recommends making an Osterbaum for something unique. Take a houseplant or an artificial tree — maybe one from Christmas — and don it with painted plastic eggs filled with treats to be opened on Easter.
You can also cut out bunnies to string on the branches like garland or use Easter-themed stencils to repurpose cardboard takeout boxes to either hang on the tree or become its own canvas.
“Paint over something that’s from Christmas,” Weisel said. “You don’t even have to worry about going to the store. Just use what you have and upcycle it.”
While there’s nothing wrong with dyeing hard-boiled eggs or painting hollowed-out shells with acrylics, Weisel and Spiro have a few alternatives in mind if you don’t have eggs on hand.
For one, you can paint wooden eggs found at craft or big-box stores. But if that isn’t an option, they suggest making some out of Play-Doh or salt dough — a homemade clay-like mixture of flour, salt and water — that can be shaped, dried and decorated. Spiro also recommends cutting an egg out of a thick piece of paper, like cardstock, and using a combination of shaving cream and paint to give it a marbleized appearance.
Then it’s time to hunt for the eggs. Spiro and Weisel suggested making a scavenger hunt with clues, which can be a good way to involve older siblings by having them pitch in on coming up with hints. For younger children, like Weisel’s 3-year-old, she likes to print out bunny paw prints that lead to egg locations.
If you need more ideas or guidance, The Frosted Flamingo and The Sunny Side Up Studio are also selling Easter craft kits and posting tutorials online.