23 Vintage Easter Decorations for a Nostalgic Spring Celebration (2024)

A Look Back: 100 Years of Easter at Better Homes and Gardens

Pastels and Gingham

It's a garden party—indoor edition—at stylist Eddie Ross's house for Easter, where vintage Easter decorations like ceramic bunnies perch amidst 1950s cabbage plates and sunny ranunculus on the dinner table. Thanks to a tight color palette and versatile collectibles, everything is on theme but not over the top. "These are all things that, when they come together, read Easter," Eddie says. "But you can really use them individually year-round." Create the look for your table by embracing vintage and rounding it out with quick DIYs.

Vintage-Inspired Floral Easter Eggs

Start your Easter decor with a basket filled with vintage Easter decorations crafted from vintage-inspired eggs. Give your display retro touches by applying temporary tattoos to Easter eggs that have been dyed and dried. Use all-natural Easter egg dyes to create subtle muted colors. These patterned eggs look best when displayed with greenery or arranged in a vintage ceramic Easter basket.

Earthy Bouquet

This centerpiece plays up the carrots' sunny colors. You need carrots with their frilly greens still attached and a clear vase to show off the roots. Pair with yellow and orange ranunculus, tulips, or other spring flowers in similar tones from the grocery store. Wash carrots thoroughly (but don't peel) before arranging to keep the water clean.

Vintage Teacup Decorations

Vintage Easter decorations can be as bold or subtle as you would like. For just a touch of nostalgia, delicate teacups and saucers are the perfect vessels for small flower arrangements. Fill each teacup with soaked floral foam and add in small blooms, like grape hyacinth or lily of the valley. These precious arrangements add springtime color to a side table, kitchen counter, or powder room.

Easter Countdown

Stylist Eddie Ross keeps the egg decorating simple in his treasure hunt display using washi tape ($5, Joann) and stick-on glittered numbers. Inside the eggs are on-theme clues like "Where might you find dust bunnies?" leading to gifts hidden around the house. (Under the bed, in this case.) He arranges numbered eggs and candy-filled eggs on stacked cake stands.

Boxed Easter Displays

Miniature spring dioramas are vintage Easter decorations from the Victorian era. This DIY version captures the look with the help of modern crafts supplies. The scenes are built into small cardboard boxes lined with colored paper and artificial moss. Bring each box to life with old-fashioned figurines, tiny toys, or images from retro postcards. Consider displaying your finished scene alongside a vintage Easter bunny.

Bunny Napkins

Bring a smile to everyone's face when they sit down for the big Easter meal with these adorable bunny napkin holders.

To make:

1. Draw the bunny face on a circle of cardstock (trace around a glass) with a pom-pom nose glued on. The jaunty bow tie is a loop of patterned cardstock.
2. Glue ends of a 6-inch strip into a loop; pinch and glue together at center.
3. For the bow tie knot, wrap a 2-inch strip around the cinched center; glue ends.
4. Glue back of bow to bunny face, then glue back of bunny face to the paper band around the folded napkin.

Vintage Pastel Tea Set

Hosting a retro Easter brunch starts with a bit of antiquing! Throughout the winter, keep your eyes peeled for dishes in coordinating pastels like yellow, pink, or baby blue. Mix and match patterns for dishes that make lovely vintage Easter decorations.

Vintage Easter Egg Holders

Plain eggs get an old-timey twist with these vintage decorated Easter egg holders. To create these antique Easter eggs, start with illustrations that fit into your vintage theme. Nostalgic images like Easter bunnies, flowers, or butterflies are ideal designs.

Print and cut out each design. Glue the images to a strip of pastel construction paper. Wrap the strip into a ring large enough to hold an egg and secure with glue. Fill each holder with a white egg.

Vintage Scales

Time to raid grandma's cupboards! Old-school scales are the perfect vintage Easter decorations for your kitchen or arranged on your springtime mantel. Old cookbooks are a great way to round out the display. Try checking out a local secondhand shop if grandma's old cookbooks are too tattered to display.

Easter Glass-Encased Centerpiece

Vintage Easter decorations can be a bit more fragile than their contemporary counterparts. Encasing a decorative display of spring blooms, antique silver dishes, colored eggs, and a vintage photo will keep your decor safe and intact. Try mixing up your treasures under a clear glass cloche. Vintage Easter figurines, tiny ceramics, or even paper bunnies are all fun additions to this centerpiece.

Easter Cake Display

Of course, Easter dinner is a big deal—but so is Easter dessert! Tempt your guests with a beautiful Easter cake display for the sweet treat ahead. Dress up your special occasion cake stand by surrounding it with classic Easter decor. We added one of our favorite vintage Easter bunny figurines and a simple potted white orchid.

Teapot Houses

These vintage Easter decorations give a whole new meaning to tiny houses! Check out your local antique shop for retro teapot houses that inspire a spring tone—we love the ones featuring flowers. Incorporate a "neighborhood" of these teapots into your decor by arranging them with other flea market finds to form a simple centerpiece.

Butterfly and Flower Table Decoration

Make your Easter table decor pop! Start with a table runner in a springtime hue. Paint quail eggs and butterfly cutouts to match. Hot glue the butterflies to cut branches and arrange them on the table. Fill small raised dishes with faux peony blooms and fill each flower "nest" with the painted eggs.

Tabletop Easter Tree

This DIY Easter tree will fit in perfectly with your vintage Easter decor.

To make:

1. Spray paint a bunch of gathered branches white and arrange them in a pail lined with floral foam.
2. Weigh down the pail with sand, stones, or pebbles.
3. To decorate your Easter tree, hang blown-out pastel eggs with ribbons and finish with handmade paper bird ornaments.

Spring Floral Card

Floral Easter cards might not technically be vintage Easter decorations, but they harken back to the good old days before "Happy Easter" text messages. Plus, you can't email the smell of fresh flowers.

1. Fold cardstock into a simple card shape, then glue a piece of scallop-edged vellum to the front.
2. Glue a small decorative envelope on top of the vellum.
3. Once all the layers have dried, cut a small hole through the vellum and cardstock just above the decorative envelope. The hole should be just large enough for a small florist's tube.
4. Fill the tube with water and a few springtime blooms and fit the tube into the hole.

Spring Lamb's Ear Wreath

Welcome your Easter guests with a handmade spring wreath. Start by wrapping a foam wreath form with satin ribbon. Hot glue faux lamb's ear leaves to the wreath form. Cut faux blooms and hot glue them to the wreath.

Chocolate Easter Bunny Place Card

Chocolate Easter bunnies are a springtime classic. Delight everyone around your Easter table with a simple place setting that's good enough to eat. Set each place at your table with a large chocolate Easter bunny and finish with place cards decorated with floral stickers.

Chick Egg Covers

This quick sewing project is both practical and an adorable vintage Easter decoration. Inspired by British tea cozies, these little chicks will keep soft-cooked eggs hot.

To make a cozy:

1. Trace and cut out two simple chick shapes from yellow terry cloth.
2. Layer the two chick shapes, wrong sides out.
3. Hand-stitch the edges together, leaving the base open. Turn right sides out.
4. A black French knot stitch makes eyes, and a black felt becomes a beak.

Easter Memory Boxes

Think of these as the grown-up, vintage version of shoebox dioramas.

Purchase or make white shadowboxes. Line the back of each box with colorful paper. Then, add your favorite pieces of vintage Easter decorations. Easter figurines, bird's nests, and others create a lovely treasure trove of memories.

Try switching out your favorite pieces for a handmade, vintage Easter decoration that pays homage to the old while being fresh each year.

Photo Vintage

Sometimes, throwback Easter decor is more vintage-inspired than actual antiques. Try a DIY version if you don't have genuine vintage Easter decorations. Cut old-time photos to make festive paper ornaments. Then, attach each image to a ribbon or string and hang it on your Easter tree.

Vintage Ceramic Bunnies

Dress your vintage Easter bunny in his Sunday best! Add some springtime flair to each one with colorful ribbons and flowers. Display your figures as part of a sweet spring centerpiece.

Butterfly Planter

Pansies are the perfect flower for a colorful springtime arrangement. Use a vintage ceramic Easter basket as the planter for this assemble-it-yourself decor piece. Fill the basket with soaked floral foam and top with green moss. Insert cut pansies and finish with a few paper butterflies.