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Vegan Easter Guide

Mar 29, 2024 (Updated May 20, 2024) By: Gina House

This guide to celebrating a vegan Easter will help you navigate the holiday without harming animals! Find the best vegan Easter basket options, delicious vegan Easter brunch menu ideas, vegan chocolate bunny brands, plant-based Cadbury cream eggs, and even tips to make your Easter more eco-friendly. Enjoy!

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As spring blossoms forth, Easter hops right in, promising vibrant festivities, delectable feasts, and, of course, the traditional egg hunts. Thoughts of woven baskets full of goodies, creamy chocolate bunnies, and wearing your best Sunday dress (or suit!) come to mind. But how can we revel in all the joy and merriment of Easter without cracking a single egg or succumbing to the dairy-laden temptations?

Yes, fellow bunnies, it’s time to unleash the power of a plant-based Easter holiday celebration that’s as cruelty-free as it is scrumptious! Join us on a journey through this Vegan Easter Guide, where we’ll explore tantalizing vegan Easter recipes, crafty alternatives, and eco-conscious tips that will make your Easter celebrations truly egg-cellent!

Vegan Easter Bunny in a Flower Crown saying "Hoppy Vegan Easter"

Table of Contents

How to Celebrate A Vegan Easter

If you’re wondering, it’s easy to celebrate a vegan Easter without any ethical compromises or personal sacrifice. Plus, this holiday is a great opportunity to teach your kids about the importance of living with kindness and consideration in all aspects of life. I’m happy to share some cruelty-free options for your plant-based Easter celebrations this year.

Vegan Easter Baskets

Fill your Easter baskets with goodies that are sure to delight both young and old alike. Think dark chocolate bunnies, dried fruit snacks, and gourmet nuts—all vegan, all delicious, and all guaranteed to bring a smile to your loved ones’ faces.

Easter Basket Sweets

Vegan candies (including seasonal bunny-shaped sour patch kids!)
Chocolates galore
A vegan chocolate bunny
Dairy-free cream eggs

Straw easter basket with a purple stuffed beanie baby bunny and OCHO vegan chocolate caramel candies.

Small Toys and Candy-Free Easter Basket Gifts

A stuffed bunny, chick, lamb, or other animal
Stickers
Small children’s book
Dino egg bath bombs
Coloring pages
Sketchpad
Art supplies
Bunny pasta
Small puzzle
Small lego set
Shiny coins or money

Peep! While you’re carefully considering what to add to your vegan Easter baskets, please remember not to purchase Peeps. Although they are sweet, soft, and squishy, Peeps are made with animal skin and bones (gelatin). Yuck! Instead, try out this super cute vegan marshmallow peeps recipe from LiveKindly.

Vegan Chocolate Bunnies

It makes me so happy to see that several online chocolate shops now offer a selection of vegan Easter-themed goodies—including vegan Easter bunnies. Chocolate bunnies are iconic for Easter, as well as shiny, foil-wrapped chocolate eggs. Just be sure to double check that items are vegan, as some companies that make vegan chocolates also offer products that aren’t vegan.

No Whey Chocolate (100% vegan)
Moo Free (100% vegan)
Vegan Treats (100% vegan)
Coracao Chocolate (100% vegan)
Amanda’s Own
Divvies
Lake Champlain

Vegan Chocolate Easter Bunny in a box named franky from No Whey Foods

Etsy is also home to many craftspeople who sell homemade vegan chocolate bunnies. Plus, you’ll be supporting a small business!

Vegan Cream-Filled Chocolate Eggs

If you’re a lover of the ooey-gooey, cream-filled Cadbury eggs, you’re in luck. Several companies have started to replicate this using all vegan ingredients. No Whey Chocolate and Moo Free make vegan Cadbury eggs and they are awesome. You can also find foil-wrapped vegan chocolate eggs (as well as bags, boxes, and vegan chocolate bunnies) at Amanda’s Own.

Making your own vegan cream-filled chocolate eggs might be fun, too! Here are a few recipes that are super close to the original. If you don’t mind taking the time, they’re worth it. Each cream egg recipe is slightly different in texture, flavor, and shape, so choose whichever looks best to you.

Vegan Chocolate Creme Eggs by It Doesn’t Take Like Chicken
DIY Vegan Chocolate Eggs With Raspberry Cream by Vancouver with Love
Vegan Cream Eggs by A Virtual Vegan
Cadbury Vegan Creme Eggs by Hell Yeah, It’s Vegan!

Sustainable Easter basket Swaps

Instead of using plastic eggs that open, choose colorful little canvas drawstring bags for storing small gift items.
Wrap your basket with a patterned print fabric and cloth ribbon. The clear plastic gift bag and ribbon that are traditionally used creates a good deal of waste at the end of the day.
Have a hide-and-seek game with chalk eggs! After all of the eggs are found, each child can receive a little chalkboard to draw on or have a section of the driveway to create original pieces of artwork. So much fun!

Eco-Friendly Easter Basket Options

We all want to be more Earth-friendly, so I wanted to list some awesome alternatives that will save you money and also save you from using so much plastic waste. As always, only do what you can, you don’t have to be perfect. Even a small swap will make a big difference in the long run.

Don’t Buy New Baskets – Reuse baskets you already have at home or go to the thrift store to find baskets in good condition. I’ve bought at least five baskets this way and they only cost $1 each! Choose natural materials over colorful plastic so that you can use the baskets all year long for different holidays and seasons.
Say No to Decorative Straw – This is a hard one. I know that the translucent green (or pink!) filler is incredibly appealing, but it’s horrible for the planet. I have two suggestions, though. If you really must have this straw, buy it once and save it from year to year. Because it’s plastic, it can be rinsed or washed if necessary, but you can just throw it in a storage bag to use the next year. A better option (if you haven’t already bought any filler) is to find paper green “grass”. You can even get recycled paper grass at Five Below stores, which can be saved, composted or recycled when you’re done.
Earth-Friendly Fun – Pass on the plastic when purchasing vegan Easter toys and gifts for your baskets. Buying a ton of cheap plastic trinkets will only add up to more unwanted junk in your house, and will also leave more refuse for the landfill. Choose wooden puzzles and toys, books, coloring pages, crayons (these are even egg shaped!), art supplies, construction paper, and maybe some vegan yarn and wooden knitting needles.

Vegan Easter Eggs (For Painting)

Before you reach for that carton of eggs, consider this. Every conventional egg subjects a hen to 24 hours in a battery cage (or similarly miserable conditions). The poor hens! Instead of painting chicken eggs, look for more creative and caring alternatives.

Say goodbye to traditional Easter eggs and hello to a world of creative alternatives that are as fun to make as they are to hunt for! Gather round for a DIY session where you can paint rocks, craft origami eggs, or even create eco-friendly plantable seed eggs. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination!

Wooden Easter Eggs: Buy a set of lovely wooden eggs and adorn with acrylic paints, stickers, or cover with your favorite fabric. Visit our vegan art supplies guide for inspiration. There are endless, creative ways to make this activity fun for children.
Paper Egg Cutouts: Cut egg shapes out of pretty patterned card stock and accent with fun, sparkly stickers. Or, use pastel construction paper and color them with markers. You can hang them on the fridge and save them for years to come. Add a small picture of your family to the front and you also have a fun family heirloom, too!
Avocados: Paint an avocado! Or cover it in a piece of fancy foil and boom—the ultimate vegan Easter egg. Just make sure that it’s not overripe!
Cookies: Bake a batch of egg-shaped vegan sugar cookies and decorate them with vegan royal icing or frosting made with vegan butter! Check out this Vegan Food Coloring guide for more rainbow-color inspiration.

Vegan Easter Brunch Menu Ideas

Easter brunch is one of the highlights of my Italian Grandma’s family celebration. She can spend weeks deciding what to make, which cookies to bake, and which candies to buy. Though meals will differ from family to family, here’s a list of fantastic vegan Easter recipes that can easily be substituted for traditional Easter meals. They’re delicious! What are your family favorites for Easter?

Drinks to Serve at Easter

Bubbly Strawberry Peach Sprirtzer In a Glass Garnished with a Fresh Strawberry

Searching for egg substitutes or more plant-based egg recipes? Our Vegan Egg Guide is the perfect place to start!

Easter PSA: Please Don’t Buy Live Rabbits

If you’ve made a thoughtful and long-term decision to welcome an adorable bunny into your home, that’s wonderful! But please be sure to adopt and keep in mind that some bunnies are high maintenance, especially Angora bunnies. They can also be pretty destructive and love chewing on electrical cords and furniture. Sadly, most rabbits given as Easter gifts wind up neglected and unwanted when the novelty wears off.

Different breeds of bunnies also have numerous health issues. It’s a good idea to do some research ahead of time to be certain that you have the time and energy to commit to this sweet, sensitive animal. If you feel that you’re 100% committed, you can find many resources for adopting at the House Rabbit Society.

Rabbits can live up to 12 years, and the estimated cost of caring for a rabbit over that time is between $3,000 and $4,000 dollars. If that doesn’t fit in your budget, then visit an animal sanctuary or head to your local animal shelter to volunteer and play with bunnies instead. Volunteering is far more rewarding with no expense or obligation.