Irish Catholic upbringing here, so we had to endure a lot of masses and religious ceremonies in the run up to Easter Sunday - Palm Sunday, Spy Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday etc. The Stations of the Cross (Good Friday) went on forever. When I was in first year in secondary school, our teacher made us put on a Good Friday pageant. I was picked to be Pontius Pilate 'cos I was very tall. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough (having to play the part of a MALE), I had to wipe the blood off Jesus (a.k.a. Mark) behind the altar, so he could do the whole resurrection thing. I was only mortified 
! Thank God there were no smart phones back then. Anyone else remember that cheery dirge - "Hanging on a tree he was, hanging on a tree".
Good Friday was supposed to be a day for reflecting on Jesus's suffering for our sins. So you weren't supposed to do anything fun like watch TV, unless it was a religious film like 'The Song of Bernadette' or 'The Ten Commandments'. It was supposed to be a day of fasting - you could only have three small meals and no snacks. And no meat, although you weren't supposed to eat meat on any Friday. Most shops closed for the day and the few that did open would close for the afternoon, to allow the shopkeepers to attend the Stations. Pubs were all closed and you couldn't buy alcohol in a shop or restaurant. This rule only changed in 2018!
On Easter Sunday we'd have boiled eggs for breakfast. Mam and Dad would present us with a chocolate egg each. There was no Easter Bunny and we didn't miss it 'cos it just wasn't a thing back then - nobody in school talked about it either. We didn't get lots of eggs like kids today do. Our aunts and uncles didn't buy us eggs because they had their own kids to buy for. And my Granny had 30 odd grandchildren, so she didn't buy us eggs either. We were a working class family, but we always got new outfits for Easter Sunday - a dress and maybe a cardigan and sandals. Everyone would go to mass dressed in their new outfits. At some point during the morning, Dad would turn on the TV to watch the pope give his 'Urbi et Orbi' address from Rome.
You were expected to give up something for Lent. Children usually gave up sweets or chocolate and adults would give up smoking or alcohol or sugar in their tea. So it was a real treat to tuck into chocolate after 40 days of no sweets or chocolate. After we'd demolished the eggs, we'd play with the boxes. I seem to remember setting up an obstacle course with my siblings, which involved jumping over the boxes. Or we'd build towers out of them. Can you tell there was no internet back then 
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The other thing I associate with Easter is the 'Easter Parade' film. Mam loved it and never missed it. She especially loved the scene where Judy Garland would stick out her tongue to attract the attention of the strollers passing by (to prove that she had that star quality). Mam would roar laughing at that scene. It was always on TV on Easter Sunday, but now it has been relegated to some obscure time like 11 a.m. on Good Friday. Anyway, Dad and I always check the TV Guide to see what time it's on and then we text each other, so we can record it and watch it on the big day.
We'd have a nice cake for our tea - something very sugary with yellow icing and little chicks and egg decorations on top. I was fascinated by those miniature chicks.