40+ Ideas for Holy Week in the Catholic Home:

We are still waiting, waiting, waiting on that beautiful spring weather to arrive in Iowa. My body yearns for some sunshine and the kids’ are itching for outdoor play, but I am choosing (or attempting to choose) contentment.

Cold and rainy days are my favorite times to sit down with a steaming cup of coffee and plan (of course, using my planner!).

I’m hoping to inspire you to plan your family’s Holy Week. I’ve compiled a mega list of ideas for Holy Week to use in your own Catholic family.

So grab a pen and start jotting down the fabulous ideas that tickle your fancy as you read ideas from our own home as well as other Catholic bloggers around the net.

(And nab your free printable Holy Week planner in the Subscriber Printable Library.)

40 Ideas for Holy Week in the Catholic Home

Create a Resurrection Garden to display on your Easter feast table.
Finish any last minute Easter basket shopping (60+ Unique Catholic Easter Basket Ideas)
Plan a week of meatless meals (33+ Simple Meatless Meal Ideas)
Make a Paschal Candle
Or use my printable votive cover (in Subscriber Printable Library)
Discuss Paschal Candle symbolism using the printable fact sheet (also in the Library)
Participate in the sacrament of reconciliation
Decorate Pysasnky (I would LOVE to do this…..some day!)
Bring out some inspiring Catholic Lent Decor (it’s never too late!)

Plant something or explore your spring garden with your children, drawing analogies to dying and rising again!
Plan a meaningful gift for your priest – a spiritual bouquet perhaps?
Display art work in your home or on your feast table depicting the Passion (here are affordable prints)
Remove religious artwork from the home (to be rehung after Easter vigil).
Bake homemade pretzels, a traditional Lenten fare.

Do a major decluttering of your home and donate unused items to charity.
Do a major deep spring cleaning of your home.
Choose several major organizational tasks to conquer.

Tackle a larger household project (painting a room, rearranging, etc.).
Paint the Holy Week in Handprints with your children (from Catholic Icing).
Notebook about Holy Week with these notebooking printables from Catholic Icing.
Make a Holy Week banner (you could also create this as a timeline to add to all week). – from The Diary of a Sower
Teach very young children about Holy Week with Resurrection Eggs. (Catholic Icing has a nice post about these)
Pray the Station of the Cross at one point during the week (obviously, Good Friday is appropriate, but you may choose to take several stations each day of the week)
Decorate a cross to reflect the day of the week (from Catholic Inspired).
Give alms by making a donation to a favorite charity.

Palm Sunday

Practice your hand at palm braiding (see Catholic Inspired for directions).

Wednesday

Serve Judasers (basically shape any good roll recipe into the shape of a noose).
Hide 30 silver coins for your children to find (remember the reward Judas was given for betraying Our Lord.)

Holy Thursday

Remember the Lord’s Supper by celebrating a simple version of a Seder or Passover meal.
Wash one another’s’ feet in your family if you are unable to attend Mass on Holy Thursday.
Make unleavened bread (or just make yeast bread) – try our family’s favorite Blue Ribbon Wheat Bread.

Watch Prince of Egypt on Holy Thursday to remember the Passover.
Make a Last Supper scene with Catholic Icing’s printable.
Watch Brother Francis: The Mass and talk about how the Last Supper was the first Mass. (this is in our children’s Easter basket this year!)

Good Friday

Serve Hot Cross Buns for breakfast.
If your children are teens or older, consider watching the Passion of the Christ on Good Friday (this is a very gruesome movie and not for young children!).
Go to a local church and venerate the cross on Good Friday.
Make a paper crown of thorns (from Catholic Inspired).
Give your children a hammer and nail and let them pound the nail into a piece of wood to illustrate the brutality of Jesus’ Passion.
Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.
Observe silence and stillness during the 3 hours Our Lord hung on the cross (traditionally observed from noon to 3 pm on Good Friday).
Pray the Stations of the Cross as a family (resources here)
Have your child color and pray through the Stations of the Cross Prayer and Coloring Book

Fast.

Holy Saturday

Dye Easter eggs for an Easter egg hunt on Easter morning.
Make Resurrection Rolls (we did this one year, but, while fun, we didn’t think they were that tasty!)
Make Easter Story Cookies. -from Catholic Icing

Decorate a family Easter egg tree (a symbol of new life).
Read from your Lenten Book Basket (find a complete book list here).
- The Tale of Three Trees