Easter alternatives: here's what to do now that your previous plans have been cancelled

From eggs hunts in stately home gardens to child-friendly afternoon teas to being in another country entirely, skiing or swimming, it's safe to say our Easter plans have gone out the window.

That doesn't mean the kids can't have a fun - and special - Easter. It's just going to happen at home instead. Thank goodness we can still get our hands on some scrumptious chocolate eggs, chicks and bunnies to munch on as we Facetime grandparents, cousins and friends all over London and further afield.

Photo: Deliveroo

Deliveroo's Invisible Easter Eggs

Deliveroo is adding a twist to traditional Easter egg hunts with their new invisible eggs, which are available to London customers from Good Friday (April 10).

We think ordering in during Easter weekend will certainly make it feel more like a celebratory holiday for parents who have spent much of the past few weeks cooking and cleaning more than usual, as well as trying to work, entertain and educate their kids, so we were sold at the idea of pizza, but these Easter eggs will be a fun treat for kids and grownups alike.

The translucent eggs are made from gelatine and come in a chocolate flavour for kids and an adults-only Cointreau egg, which include three pots of edible decorations like glitter, as well as art supplies to get kids food crafting. Prices start from £1.95 for the chocolate egg.

Indulge in some really amazing Easter eggs


Photo: Fortnum & Mason's 'Scotch egg' chocolate egg

We've definitely been those parents in the past who have tried to minimise the chocolate consumption around Easter, but this doesn't feel like the time to do it. In fact, this year feels like we should be doing quite the opposite and enjoying life's simple pleasures, like chocolate. And if these chocolate Easter eggs look like something they're not, even better - the kids love a good trompe-d'oeil food trick.

A few that fit the bill? We love Fortnum & Mason's Easter praline Scotch chocolate egg (now £11.75), as well as Melt's giant strawberry Easter egg (also vegan, £29.99) and M&S's Sundae eggs (£20 for two eggs) which look like a moreish ice cream sundae. Yum.

Photo: Boba Jaglicic

Crafts, crafts and more crafts

April will certainly be a month of crafting like no other. Families are already busy making rainbow cards and artworks with inspirational messages to put in their windows and send to patients and nursing homes.

Easter crafts include everything from decorating Easter bonnets to making fluffy chicks, and while kids usually do most of their crafty Easter artwork at school, there's no time like the present to go all out on a crafts activity in the comfort of home.

Yes, we're talking about painting, dyeing, glitter-coating and stenciling eggs. You can do this with cardboard or wooden eggs, or hard boil actual eggs if you have a few going spare from trying to support every local bakery and restaurant you love.

A gorgeous tattoo stencil kit can turn your eggs into Insta-perfect creations: Little Lulubel has a gold-foil tattoo egg decorating kit that's divine, as well as every single bit of themed kit necessary to create an Easter party at home, like carrot plates, bunny cups, chick balloons and more.

Fashion illustrator and author of the Claris the mouse series, Megan Hess, has created the chicest and most adorable Claris-themed printables for Easter, including bunny ears, cupcake wrappers, eggs to colour and more.

Photo: Melissa Walker Horn

Easter baking

Hot cross buns, carrot cake, bunny biscuits, fairy cakes topped off with Easter chicks... what's Easter without a little baking en famille? Enjoy the treats while watching Peter Rabbit together, or rereading all of your fave Beatrix Potter books.

Or, you can always pick up some hot cross buns at Gail's Bakery locations in Soho and Southbank - open for Click & Collect (and home delivery, to certain postcodes).

Spend Easter in the garden

April is a great time of year to plant, and getting kids gardening is a life skill many parents are embracing during these don't-leave-home times.

If you're keen on kitting your little one out in a festive Easter outfit for all of those Zoom convos with family far and wide, then Marylebone Village's Rachel Riley is your go-to, and each online order includes a bonus: a bag of seeds so kids can plant their own sweetpea flowers in the garden or window box.

Easter hunt and virtual bonnet parade

Outdoor space or not, we'll absolutely be doing an Easter egg hunt in our flats, homes or gardens - if it's the one Easter-themed thing we do.

Instead of just letting the kids run wild, you can turn it into a game by making clues tied to their favourite items in the home, or you can print out Twinkl's handy Easter pack, which combines physical challenges with Easter clues (use the code CVDTWINKLHELPS for a free month of resources).

Younger children in nursery and reception would have likely had an Easter bonnet parade at school, where they designed their own festive headgear and walked around the block wearing it. Help kids to make their own bonnets and then schedule a Zoom playdate with the class or a couple of their close buds so they can have the parade virtually.

Another thing kids will love doing is making cards for all of their pals in school who they're missing quite a lot by now. You can drop these at the door of a few friends on your daily social distancing walk, and the kids may want to add one of their homemade crafts as a present.

Live church service

Even those who feel that their church attendance should be limited to Christmas and Easter exclusively will probably be craving some kind of religious messaging next week. Westminster Abbey has launched Abbeycast, a podcast with readings, prayers, blessings and choir music, while St. Paul's has a Hymn Flash Mob project going for keen singers. The BBC also has a selection of Easter services and choral singing.