Easter Dinner That Is Simple And Beautiful, Plus Hosting Tips

Easter Dinner Logistics

The first thing you need to do is get the logistics figured out. After this part of your Easter dinner is planned, you can move onto what I think is the fun stuff… the meal and activity planning and the decorating!

• Who is coming? How many adults? How many kids?
• What time will they get to your house?
• What time will dinner be served?
• Are there any dietary restrictions you need to know about?
• Are your guests bringing any dishes or beverages? If so, what are they bringing?

Host Hack

• Start a group text thread with all your guests, so if there are an questions or changes you can update everyone in one place.
• If any of your guests have babies or young children that might need a nap, have a place all set up where they can do so.
• Make room by your front door for guests to put their coats and shoes. Consider putting out a large basket for guests to put their purses in.

What to Serve at Easter Dinner

If you want a more traditional menu, The Food Network: 30 Most Popular Easter Dinner Recipes is a great post highlighting some delicious looking food!

I have this goal to one day, when the kids are older, to cook these elaborate dinners and spend hours in the kitchen. However, right now, in this stage of motherhood, we keep things simple. So our Easter menu looks more like this, which is simple, but delicious.

• glazed ham
• wheat rolls
• mashed potatoes
• scalloped potatoes
• steamed corn
• slow cooker carrots
• lettuce salad
• fruit salad
• festive desserts

Have fun with the desserts

I much prefer baking over cooking. I think it’s because I have more fun with baking by thinking of fun ways to tie the holiday into the dessert. On this particular Easter we made bird nest cupcakes and bunny sugar cookie cutouts. They were a huge hit and so festive, both kids and adults enjoyed them. We also had apple pie, which I got from Costco. Pinterest has so many cute Easter food ideas if you want to take your holiday game up a notch. I have some of my favorites saved to my Easter Food Ideas board.

Host Hack

• Prepare kid friendly food to go along with the Easter dinner. Avoid the arguing on Easter and just make a big pot of mac and cheese.
• If it’s in your budget, select a few menu items to purchase premade. This will save you time and energy in the kitchen. This will also free up some time to focus on what is fun for you to make. For me, I wanted to make the bunny cookies and the egg cupcakes with my kids, so we bought the pie from Costco.
• Select dishes for your Easter menu that can be made the day before and simply warmed up. No one will know the difference and it will take some of the pressure off you on Easter morning.
• Make sure your dishwasher is empty to make clean up fast.
• If you won’t be eating right away when guests arrive, set out appetizers for everyone to enjoy right away.
• If you have cooking to do for the main meal after guests have arrived, try to have all the detailed prep work already done ahead of time so it’s easy to carry a conversation with your guests while also still preparing the meal. For example, if you are making a dish that calls for a sauce, make the sauce ahead of time so you aren’t having to read measurements from the recipe and talk to your guests at the same time.

How to Decorate For Easter Dinner

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Make the food the decoration

You can either have the food set out buffet style where everyone grabs a plate and walks through before they are seated, this is what we did. Or you can serve the food family style which is placing all the food in the center of the table and everyone passes the dishes around. However you decide to serve the meal, make it stand out with beautiful serving dishes.

My starting place for decorating is always to start with the serving dishes. When I shop for serving ware I try to only buy things that can be used for multiple styles and occasions. Over time I have accumulated a small collection of white, glass, galvanized and wood toned items, I pick what color(s) I want for the party and go from there into planning the linens, place settings and centerpiece.

Multipurpose serving ware ideas

Don’t forget the dessert table

My favorite part of a party is styling the dessert table. I like to use different height cake stands to give the table some interest and movement. Take elements of your main table décor and bring those into the dessert table. Here I carried over the pops of color from the flowers that I had used on the main table.

Create a beautiful table

Layer with linens

Linen or cotton table coverings not only look nice and add some texture to your table, but they ground your table and make a wow statement. In the same way I shop for serving dishes, I buy linens that can mix and match with many themes, such as rustic, classic, vintage, farmhouse, etc.

Here are some of my favorite table coverings from Amazon and Target

Personalize the place settings

I like to start with a neutral charger plate, like these acacia wood chargers and then layer with a classic white dinner plate and a cloth napkin. Next, I like to use a fun Easter themed plate to tie in the colors and add a playful element to the table. To round out the place setting I use basic flatware and drinkware, but you could also bring in some color here, too, and use gold or matte black flatware. To make your guests feel welcomed and loved try a personalized place setting with a small gift. In the pictures at the bottom of this section you will see I have at each plate setting a small container of flowers for each guest, labeled with their name using a garden label. They can bring the flowers home with them.

Here are some of my favorite place settings from Amazon and Target

Make a statement with the centerpiece

I think the best way to make a simple yet beautiful Easter tablescape is with a pop of color. If you buy anything, besides food, for your Easter dinner let it be fresh spring flowers! You can use them as decoration around your house and also in your centerpiece. They add a pop of color that is so welcoming this time of year, serving as a reminder that spring has arrived! A few vases of colorful flowers is all you need to make a big impact.

How to put it all together

Host Hack

• Deep clean your house a couple days before the dinner and then the night before go through and give the main traffic areas a quick tidy up.
• Don’t forget about the front entrance of your home. If you have it, hang a wreath on the door and put out a spring door mat. Add a vase of flowers in your front entrance for guests to see right as they walk in.
• Set your table the night before. Put out all your food dishes, write on a small piece of paper what food goes in what dish and put the paper in that dish so in the morning you know exactly where you want things.
• Play music in the background during the dinner. Keep the music soft enough that your guests can easily talk over. This helps set the mood of your dinner and is great for background noise.

Easter Dinner Activities For Kids

Create an epic Easter kids table full of activities that will keep the kids entertained until it’s time to eat. Use a bright colored table cloth and fun Easter themed paper plates and cups.

Activity ideas for kids:

• Fill up an Easter basket with plastic eggs and inside have pieces of paper that ask a question or have an action the child needs to do. For example, What is your favorite animal and why? Or, Walk backwards around the table 2 times.
• Print and set out Easter themed coloring pages, I spy sheets and word searches, along with a bucket of markers or colored pencils. Find free printables and other Easter craft ideas on my Easter Crafts for Kids board.
• Make playdoh (my favorite recipe) and add pastel food coloring to make pink, yellow, blue, and purple. Have a few traditional playdoh tools but also throw in some spring themed cookies cutters, too.
• Host an Easter egg hunt.

READ: Easter Basket Ideas for Girls and Boys

Easter Dinner Activities For Adults

• Similar to the kids game, the adults can play an Easter egg game too, Easter egg truth or dare. Fill plastic eggs with a dare the person must do and on the back have a question they must answer truthfully if they decide to skip the dare and answer the truth. Just remember to keep it light and fun! No one want to end up offended, crying or harmed on Easter.
• Don’t just prepare an Easter egg hunt for the kids, but host a hunt for your adult guests too. Hide plastic eggs with little candies or whatever you want inside, but in one egg hide a surprise. Some ideas for the surprise egg are cash, a gift card, movie rental codes, or a piece of paper that says what they have won, but couldn’t fit in the egg, like a bottle of wine or a basket full of snacks.

Host Hack

• Prepare all the activities weeks in advanced. Don’t hide the eggs in advanced for the Easter egg hunt, but you can fill all the eggs. Also write on the paper for the Easter egg games for the kids and adults. Make the playdoh and store in a zip lock bag and make sure you have all the playdoh accessories. Print all the coloring sheets, the I Spy activities and word searches and set aside the markers or coloring pencils. Just make sure to keep everything out of sight of your kids so your hard prep work doesn’t go to waste!