Decorating rooms for the Easter holiday weekend is becoming more and more popular.

Gabrielle Fagan finds out how you can add some special touches EASTER is a lovely opportunity to decorate the home and let the children lend a helping hand. Whether you want to roll out the rabbit bunting, hang hand-decorated eggs on an Easter tree, or simply fill vases with bunches of spring flowers, all those personal touches will add to the sense of occasion.

“It’s now fashionable to decorate your home for Easter, the same as you would at Christmas, with many people looking for ways to make the four-day weekend a special event for friends and family,” says Katherine Mitchell, of John Lewis.

“If you’re entertaining this Easter, decorate your table with fresh pastel colours and have as a centrepiece a small Easter tree or a glass bowl filled with pretty decorated eggs.

Add to the atmosphere with chick and bunny decorations.”

A blend of nature and delicate decorations works best, says Sylvia Oakley, stylist for Villeroy & Boch china specialists. “I like to take long, fresh blossom branches and display them in an oversized glass vase. Fill the base of the vase with painted eggs in soft spring tones – either bought on the high street or do them yourself. Alternatively, hang an egg off each branch,” she suggests.

She advises keying into a spring palette – of yellow, green,orange and pink. “I use a strip of Astroturf down the centre of my table and Astroturf squares as placemats. Then I accessorise with small baskets filled with daffodil heads,” she reveals. “If you like to use a napkin ring, pop a fresh daffodil or tulip in, to add a splash of colour to a plain white napkin.”

She likes to involve guests in the party by having an egg hunt for adults and children, with the first clues written on luggage labels and hung on the back of each chair.