Hosting a Jesus Filled Passover

Passover is all about Jesus and I’m so thankful that you are interested in celebrating it! I always say that the Jewish people only have part of the story and we, Christians, only have part of the story, but when we combine it all, that is when we see the Lord’s full redemptive plan!

I have grown up in church all my life and it wasn’t until I started studying the Feast days that things started making sense to me. Seeing Jesus through the Feasts was the answer to so many questions that I had!

You are choosing to celebrate something that Jesus Himself celebrated. The world will try to tell you that Passover and the other feasts don’t matter anymore, but that is a lie from Satan! Satan has been trying to tell us that the things that the Lord said don’t matter since the garden and it is no different today.

American church culture certainly falls trap to this and has replaced Passover, a Feast of the Lord that is all about Jesus’ death and resurrection, with “Easter”. There is much I could say about this, but that is for another post.

You are here because you already feel the pull to celebrate Passover and want information on how to celebrate as a Christian. I’m so thankful that you are doing so! I hope that all of this information helps you celebrate and see how it is all about Yeshua (Jesus)!

What you need to get prepared beforehand

I want to be very clear here and say that these are all IDEAS. Don’t feel like you have to do every single one of these! The Seder plate and the matzoh prize are the most important things so make sure you do that but everything else can be adjusted to as much or as little as you want to do for the night.

Please, please, please don’t feel overwhelmed with this list. I have been doing this for 10 years and these are all of my ideas for the past decade! When I first started out, it was simple and sweet. The Lord has just been revealing new ideas over the past 10 years to me to add on. Do what you can and you’ll be pleasing the Lord!

Seder Plate

“Seder” means order and during the “Seder Dinner” there will be an order of different foods that everyone will take a bite of. These are not going to be “fun” foods, like your meal later in the evening will be. Instead, each food item has incredible significance. You’ll learn about each of the foods, why they are on the seder plate and what they represent further down in my notes. (If you don’t have an actual Seder plate, you can use a regular plate but make sure to have the food that I list below on the plate.) The foods to have are:

• A lamb shank bone – I called my local Publix and asked if I could have one from their butcher dept. They said yes and so that is how I have mine. I keep it in a zip-lock bag in the freezer and use the same one each year.) If you can’t find a real shank bone – print one out or have your kids draw one.
• Horseradish & Romain lettuce
• A small bowl of salt water
• A piece of celery or parsley (one for each guest at the table)
• Charoset (this is an apple, nut mixture. You can look up recipes online).
• A hard boiled egg
• Matzoh. I find mine at Publix.
• Wine or grape juice – enough for each person to have 4 glasses. The pours can be small as if everyone had 4 large glasses of wine each…well that would get crazy real quick. But the wine / grape juice is an important part of Passover so don’t forget it!

Kid’s Activities

If you have kids attending, you’ll want them to get involved because if they are having fun, the parents are having fun too. Also, it is so important to teach the next generation these things so that the information gets passed down!

In an effort to have the kids stay interested, here are some things that I love to have for them. I will say though, that I announce at the beginning that I do expect them to be respectful and not overly loud and for parents to make sure that their kids aren’t disruptive. However, I also know that kids need to get up and move around so I tell them that they are free to do so, just to keep the noise to a minimum. In addition, I tell them that by being well-behaved, there are great rewards throughout the night that I will give them. This always helps!

I want the kids to have fun while still learning. If they take away one piece of information each year, then I have done my job. I have been absolutely amazed at how much they are listening each year though. I’m talking about 40-50 kids really taking in the information while still being kids and having fun!

So with that, here are the things that I love to have for them:

Arts & Crafts Table

I love to have this available so that the kids don’t have to sit down at their dinner table the whole time. I try to include things that different ages would like.

You can use this list for ideas on what to put on the activity table or add in / change things based off the kids that will be at your Passover. 🙂 The things that I have had on my kid’s arts & craft table are below.

Younger kids activities / crafts:

• Making Moses out of toilet or paper towel rolls. For this, you’ll need toilet paper or paper towel rolls, glue, markers, and things that the kids can glue to the roll to make their own Moses and Pharaoh. This can be ribbon, cloth pieces, construction paper, etc.
• Have art supplies for kids to make a lamb. This can be a paper plate with cotton balls, markers, construction paper, etc. Make sure to have scissors and glue at the table!
• Coloring sheets and crayons / markers. Here are a couple that I have done for you to print out.

Older kids activities / crafts:

• Bracelet making items. I normally get blue and white beads to go with the Israeli flag colors and charms like crosses, hearts, etc. for them to put on it.
• Passover Bingo for the older kids is a fun way to keep them listening carefully. The one that I created is below for you to print out if you’d like to use it. I have a lot of different Bingo cards in this PDF as I host a lot of kids and wanted the boards to be different. Just print what you need for the amount of kids coming to your Passover. I would maybe have 2 different prizes just in case someone gets a Bingo early into the teaching.

10 Plagues Fun Ideas

While we celebrate that Jesus fulfilled Passover, a part of the night is also discussing the Exodus story as that is where Passover originated.

With this, the 10 plagues are discussed. It is tradition that during this time, everyone will dip their finger into their wine/juice as each plague is called out and then put the drop of wine/juice on their napkin or plate. However, I like to add on to this as it is a great spot where we can really have fun with the kids!

I have done many different things here as I like to switch it up to keep the returning kids on their toes. Here are some of the ways that I have done it in the past and it has been a blast! I have had so much great feedback from the parents and kids for all of these things. 🙂

10 Plagues Passover Song

This is sung to the beat of the “12 Days of Christmas” song. I can’t sing at all so I had my dear friend, Amanda, help me out with it. This was probably the most fun that we have had with the plagues! It gets wild but it is a memory for your family and helps the kids retain the information!

With this song, I had “Plague surprise bags” that the kids all grabbed from a basket when they walked in the door. They weren’t allowed to open them until this time. While we were singing the song, they were pulling the items out of the bags and using them right then.

As an example, for the Nile River turning blood red, I had red licorice they could eat. For the hail, I had cotton balls that they had to start throwing across the room! I’ll put a list below of the things that I had in the Plague bags to make it easy for you to gather these items too.

If you would like to watch how this went down the first time I did it, I have the video here (10 Plagues Song).

Some of the list below will be clickable and take you to the items that I have purchased in the past to make it super easy for you.

• 1st Plague – Nile River turning Red = Red licorice, Swedish Fish, or Chocolate Covered Cherries
• 2nd Plague – Frogs = Jumping or flying frogs or green gummies
• 3rd Plague – Flies / Gnats = Black Jelly Beans or I had my daughter wear this fly costume last year and go around buzzing at people.
• 4th Plague – Lice = Hair nets that they had to put on their parents. Makes for great funny pictures! I have also done Sno Caps candy as it kind of represents lice on a head lol.
• 5th Plague – Livestock disease = Cow tails (the candy) or animal crackers
• 6th Plague – Boils = Red dot stickers that the kids can put on the parents / themselves. Again, great for funny pictures! Candy dots can also be used.
• 7th Plague – Hail = Cotton balls or marshmallows to be thrown!
• 8th Plague – Locusts = Andes mints or green Mike & Ikes.
• 9th Plague – Darkness = I bought these blindfolds that the kids can put over their parents also. Dark Chocolate could also be an option.
• 10th Plague – Death of 1st born = We can go a couple of different directions here. I’ve done Sour Patch Kids, Lamb stickers because we are protected by the Lamb, red life saver candy, and even taken this time for the parents to speak blessings and protection over their kids in Jesus’ name.

Plague Candy Bar

Another idea is to do a Plague Candy Bar. I know that this seems weird to have the kids get candy for such terrible plagues, but this is all about teaching them!

People have a strong connection to food and this is why the Lord uses FEAST DAYS to teach us. If they remember the 10 plagues and how God delivered the people because they got candy as they were learning about it – well that is a win in my eyes!

You can use the list above for the Plague Bags to do a Plague Candy Bar and let them see if they can figure out which candy goes with each plague. 🙂

Plague Puppet Show

This is going to be for the kiddos on the younger side, but you can purchase finger puppets and have the kids play with them as you talk about the plagues.

Matzoh Prize!!!!

To me, this is one of the most important pieces of the night. You’ll see in my notes further down in this blog why, but it belongs in this section of “What you need to get to prepare beforehand” also.

There are 2 bags that you will need for this part. For the first couple of years, I didn’t have these bags and just did my best to fold a linen napkin to make it work. It was ok, but the bags are much easier and really tell the story better. Here are the two bags that I have.

• Big Afikoman Bag
• Little Afikoman Bag

Near the end of the Passover, the kids will need to go find the hidden matzoh that an adult hid earlier in the night. There is always a prize for whoever finds it. I typically do cash ($5 or $10), but some other ideas are gold chocolate coins, a gift basket, a gift card, etc.

The reason for doing this is because the matzoh represents Jesus and those who seek Him, get rewarded!

Only one person gets the big prize. However, once it is found, I like to reward everyone and open up the “Matzoh Dessert Bar” because “Finding Jesus is sweet!”

For a more recent view of the kids running to find the matzoh, you can watch this video here.

Matzoh Dessert Bar

I keep this dessert bar hidden under tablecloths until the matzoh is found so that it is a surprise to the kids. For returning kids, they know that there is a dessert bar, but they don’t know exactly what I have on it.

I always have a ton of matzoh and then stuff they can put on top of the matzoh. I call it the “Creation Station” and have a sign giving them ideas on what they can do.

• Choco Matzo = matzoh with chocolate frosting and crushed Oreos.
• God’s Rainbow = matzoh topped with white frosting and rainbow sprinkles.
• Caramel Apple = matzoh topped with caramel sauce and charoset (the apple mix that is on the Seder plate).
• S’mores = matzoh topped with Nutella and marshmallows
• Mexican Hot Chocolate = matzoh topped with Nutella or hot fudge, a dash of cayenne pepper and whipped cream

Get Ready for Elijah

It is tradition that there is a special cup that is set out for the prophet Elijah. There is a lot of significance that you’ll read about in the notes but to get ready for it, these are the things that I have prepared in advance.

• I have had someone dress as Elijah and surprise the kids when they go look for him at the door. This can be a friend, one of the parents that slips out to go to the “bathroom” but instead gets ready to play Elijah, and in my big Passover where I have 40-50 kids, I have even had one of my kids do it. I like for Elijah to hand out small gifts. I’ve done stickers, rubber band bracelets with a Jesus message on them, slap bracelets, etc.
• I have also done it where I buy plastic wine glasses from the $1 store and sticker gems for the kids to decorate their own wine glass for next year’s Passover.

The Passover Meal

Be warned that the meal part of Passover does NOT start when Passover starts. It is normally about half way through the night when it is finally time to eat. With this information, you may want to feed your kids a hearty snack before Passover begins. If you are inviting guests, make sure that they are aware of this too!

I have done the meal many different ways. Because we are not doing this to keep to strict Jewish law, I don’t worry about being Kosher. We are celebrating Passover to learn how Jesus fulfilled it and to learn about the deeper things of Christ. So don’t put too much pressure on yourself here!

• For my first couple of Passovers, when it was smaller and I could have it at my house, I fed everyone. I did a lamb (you can get lamb at Costco) and roasted veggies.
• When it got a little bigger, I had each family bring their own meal. I still provided the Seder plates and all of the other stuff for the night, but they were in charge of bringing the dinner part for their family. I had people bring anything from crockpot meals, charcuterie, to even picking up fast food on the way there.
• Last year, I decided to try catering. I had a Mediterranean restaurant cater and each family pay their portion of it. I still told my guest list that if they would rather bring their own meal instead of eating the catered, they were definitely able to do that. I just had them let me know beforehand for number’s sake.

You can find many great recipes by searching Passover meals on Pinterest. Have fun with it!

A side note…the Jewish people no longer serve lamb at their Passovers. When the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., that put an end to the Jewish people being able to sacrifice the lambs. They are in mourning to this day on Passover because their lamb is missing. They normally eat brisket or something like that, but no lamb.

However, we as Christians, know that Jesus is the ultimate sacrificial lamb! We aren’t missing the lamb!!!

Drinks

Wine is a huge part of Passover but if you aren’t comfortable with wine, grape juice will be fine. Make sure that it is red in color (no white wine or white grape juice) as it symbolizes Jesus’ blood!

If you are hosting a lot of people, I have had each family bring their own wine / grape juice to help out on cost.

Make sure to have enough wine glasses for everyone! Even the kids who are drinking grape juice will think it’s fun to drink out of a wine glass. 🙂

Extras

These are some extra things to prepare for that don’t really have a spot in the categories above.

• A few pieces of regular bread. Passover is the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Unleavened Bread is a week where we eat bread that does not have yeast in it. It is fun for the kids to go throw the yeast bread outside in the yard. If there are several kids attending your Passover, you can create teams and do a relay race to get the bread out.
• Celery sticks that the kids can GENTLY hit each other with to pretend that they are the Egyptians. Yeah, I know – this goes against everything in me as a mom but a Jewish friend of mine said that all of the little Jewish children love to do this on Passover night lol.
• A way to clean hands – it is customary for the head of the house to wash everyone’s hands before Passover begins. I have done this at my sink but when it got too big for me to have in my home, I put hand wipes on everyone’s table. Everyone took turns wiping each other hands down with the wipes.
• A candle – the woman of the house will need to light a candle in the beginning of the night.
• Passover props are also fun for pictures! You can get some here.

Passover Notes for host to use during Passover

On Passover, the Jewish people normally go through a book called the Haggadah. This is a book that is full of prayers, songs, and the retelling of the Exodus.

Because we are connecting the dots between Passover and Jesus, I do not follow the Haggadah as it is only part of the information!

Instead, I have taken the most important pieces from the Haggadah and did deep dive studies on how Jesus fulfilled Passover to gather my own notes and slideshow.

Below, you will find this in a couple of different ways.

1. Follow along Passover video

If you are uncomfortable presenting all of the information, I have prerecorded me going over all of it so that all you have to do is gather your family on Passover night and hit play.

I did this 3 years ago and need to redo it as each year I find more and more information. Until I do that, here is a video that you can follow along to make this a super easy Passover for you!

Click here for a follow along Passover video.

2. All of my notes to help you present Passover

If you would rather present the info and not just have the video above do it, feel free to use my notes below to help. I highly suggest that you go over them BEFORE Passover night so that you can see how the night will flow.

In addition to reading the notes during Passover, there is also a slideshow. I have uploaded the slideshow to Google Slides where you should be able to see all slides and videos. Please let me know if any of it doesn’t work.

Click here to go to the Passover slideshow.

Below are my notes that you can download and print. It is A LOT of information. However, I hope that it blesses you and your family by learning these deeper things of the Lord!

The Wrap Up

Passover is an incredible time to learn more about Jesus and God’s redemptive plan. I get so frustrated that most churches here in America don’t teach it. Even worse, most don’t think it is for us Christians!

However, you are doing exactly what Jesus did! I know that you and your family will be blessed because of it. I would love to hear how you all did Passover, if these notes are helpful, overwhelming, etc.

Thanks for reading! Now go be blessed and free this Passover season, my friends! Maranatha!