Palm Sunday or Easter outreach?

As we approach the Easter season, the natural instinct is to try to make Easter a big day.  Usually that makes sense because it is, after all, Easter.  But at one church I pastored, we made Palm Sunday our big Sunday.  Why?  Because school spring break was always scheduled from Good Friday through Easter week.

Our church consisted of families with school-age children, and as soon as school was out many of them headed to the beach or grandma's house for Easter.  After a couple of years of attempting to make Easter our big Sunday, we finally shifted our main outreach to Palm Sunday.

We planned special Sundays around Palm Sunday just like you would Easter.  Special music, guest musicians, palm procession, and a lot of celebration.  It was always a happy, joyous occasion as we shifted our emphasis on outreach to a Sunday that most of our folks would come.

Of course, Easter was special, too, but we learned that Palm Sunday would be a bigger day for attendance, and planned accordingly.  Which Sunday is your biggest attendance -- Palm Sunday or Easter?  What are you doing this year to enhance your outreach and why?  Share your experiences, whether successful or not, and let's create a conversation around this outreach opportunity.