Vintage Easter Decorations

There are so many options for this year's Easter eggs. Try these floral details to add a vintage Easter feel. The vintage flowers are achieved by applying temporary tattoos to dry dyed eggs. A bowl filled with greenery (including fern leaves) makes a lovely display, and the low centerpiece allows for conversation across the table. 

Inspired by delicate sugar eggs that house intricate candy scenes, these boxed displays are easy to fashion with materials from crafts stores. Start with small cardboard boxes and cover the insides with colored paper. Line the bottom of the boxes with artificial moss. Create miniature scenes with tiny baskets and toy chicks or images cut from vintage Easter postcards. Give your display a three-dimensional effect by attaching image cutouts to a small branch or by scattering additional elements—such as a piece of eggshell and individual paper blossoms—around the image.

Coordinating pieces come together to form a beautiful vintage tea set. The pastel coloring gives a springtime vibe, and if you a look closely, the little ducky is the perfect shout-out to Easter. 

Vintage teacups and their saucers are ideal containers for tiny flower arrangements that will brighten up a kitchen counter, bedside table, or powder room. Fill the cups with well-soaked floral foam or use a small metal florist's frog to hold the flowers in place. Look in your yard or at the flower shop for small blooms, such as grape hyacinth or lily of the valley, which match the scale of the cups.

These scales bring back memories of Grandma's kitchen. But fair warning, old technology might be better used as Easter decor than as cooking utensils for your Easter meal. Vintage cookbooks add to the overall aesthetic.

Copyright-free holiday illustrations are the starting point for these old-fashioned egg holders. (Books and CDs of these illustrations are available at bookstores and online.) Color-copy the images or print them from your computer; cut out and glue each one to a strip of colored paper. Wrap the strip into a circle large enough to hold an egg upright and secure the ends.

Showcase spring treasures by using a clear glass cloche elevated on a footed cake plate. Silver-tone accents pair nicely with blue-violet blooms, a vintage photo, and paper ducklings. Varying the height and scale of the objects adds interest to the Easter display.

Make your favorite cake the belle of the Easter ball by turning it into the centerpiece of an adorable display. Use your favorite Easter pieces—like a ceramic rabbit—to let your guests know that spring has arrived.

Head to your local antiques shop and have a look around. Vintage tea sets come in all shapes and sizes. A "neighborhood" of these house-shape teapots makes for an adorable Easter centerpiece or display.

Small raised dishes, flowers, eggs, and butterflies make this Easter table decoration pop. Paint quail eggs and butterfly cutouts to match the color of the table runner for a cohesive piece of Easter decor. The butterflies are attached to branches with hot glue to give the entire decoration depth. Since the flowers serve as a "nest," choose an open round flower like the peonies shown here or a rose.

A simple Easter tree is made even cuter when it's propped inside a blue pail. To make the decoration, gather branches and spray-paint them white; after drying, arrange branches inside a pail fitted with foam. Add stones, glass pebbles, or sand to decorate and weigh down the container. Hang blown-out egg ornaments and homemade crafts to decorate this Easter favorite.

If you can hand-deliver your Easter greeting, make it a blooming card. Create a card using cardstock and then glue a piece of scallop-edge vellum to the front of it. Layer a decorative envelope on top and cut a hole big enough for a small florist's tube just above it. Insert a few flowers into the tube and push it through the hole in the card.

Velvety leaves of lamb's ear are hot-glued to a plastic-foam wreath to create this pretty look. Be sure to cover the sides as well as the top to hide the entire foam ring. Hot-glue silk flowers to the leaves for colorful accents, and then hang the wreath with a ribbon or set flat on a dining table as an Easter centerpiece.

Editor's Tip: In lieu of fresh leaves, use artificial ones to create a timeless wreath.

Large chocolate bunnies bring out the kid in everyone. Set each place at your Easter table with a treat like this and add a place card dressed up with delicate floral stickers.

These adorable chick-shape egg cozies—a playful take on British tea cozies—keep soft-cooked eggs piping hot. Cut two simple chick shapes from yellow terry cloth. Layer the two pieces on top of each other (wrong sides out) and stitch the edges together, leaving the base open. Turn right sides out. Finish by stitching eyes with black thread and sewing on a black felt beak.

Remember those shoebox dioramas you made in grade school? We've given them a grown-up, artful twist with purchased white shadowboxes. Cover the inside backs of the boxes with bright paper, then tuck in mementos from Easters past. Or choose a springtime theme and decorate the boxes using artificial bird's nests, eggs, and feathers.

For this vintage inspired decor, look to newfangled technology. A quick internet search for vintage photos is where the process for this Easter ornament starts. Print the photo in color and carefully cut it out. Attach a string to the back.

Decorate ceramic bunnies in their Easter best. Ribbons and flowers in springtime colors add to the overall vintage Easter theme. You never know what you will find at an antiques store, or even better, in your grandmother's old holiday decoration collection.

Fuzzy bunny friends will be nice and cozy on your couch, complementing your spring decor. When you are perusing your local thrift shops or antiques stores, make sure to swing by the toy department for hidden treasures like these.

Pansies in a colorful planter are perfect for vintage Easter decor that has its place indoors or outdoors. Attached faux butterflies add even more springtime color.