Easter eCard

Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March, so it moves between 22 March and 25 April in the Western calendar. Good Friday is two days before and Easter Monday the day after.

Orthodox Easter usually falls on a different date, often a week or more later.

Match the message to what Easter means to them. For religious recipients, a wish about hope, renewal or blessings on the season fits; for everyone else, keep it light: a good weekend, time with family, more chocolate than is sensible.

When in doubt, "Happy Easter" plus one warm personal line covers both.

Fewer than at Christmas, which is part of why one stands out. Easter cards are common in some countries and rare in others, so a card arriving is often a genuine surprise rather than one of a stack.

For families spread across countries it is an easy way to mark a weekend usually spent together.

Keep it short, playful, and about the fun of the day. Egg hunts, chocolate and rabbits are the entire brief.

Choosing the crack-an-egg reveal gives them something to do before the message appears, which is usually more interesting to a child than whatever the message says.

Only if you write it that way. The card itself carries no religious content, so the message can be a straightforward Christian Easter greeting or a secular note about spring and the long weekend.

For a mixed list, a warm seasonal message avoids assuming either.

Send it on Good Friday or Easter Sunday morning. Easter Sunday is the centre of the weekend and a card arriving that morning fits the day; Good Friday works if you know they will be travelling.

There is no posting deadline to plan around, so you can decide on the day.