My memories of Easter are that of decorating eggs, beautiful Easter baskets filled with goodies, a new dress made by my Mother for Church services and Sunday dinner with family. Those same traditions I have passed down to my sons. Well except for the Easter dress!
I still love the process of preparing the Easter baskets, even though my sons are all grown up. The younger they were, the easier it was to find fun little items to put into their baskets. Small toys and candy were a big hit. Over the year the contents of their baskets have grown up with them.
Ideas are endless. Consider putting together a themed basket based on their interests and hobbies. Don’t get caught up on the idea of an Easter “basket”. Any container will work, such as a bucket, box, tin or bag/tote. Here are a few ideas:
- For your inspiring artist, fill a basket with crayons, markers, coloring books, sculpting clay, glitter, stickers, paint and paint brushes.
- For your inspiring beauty queen, fill a basket with nail polish, hair ribbons, makeup, lip gloss, temporary tattoos, blush and jewelry.
- For your inspiring cook, fill a basket with an apron, cookbooks and utensils.
- For your inspiring gardener, fill a bucket with gloves, tools, seeds, small pots and watering can.
- For your avid reader, fill a bag with books, book markers and reading light.
- For your inspiring writer, fill a box with beautiful paper, pens and journal.
- For your inspiring magician, fill a decorated box with cards, magic tricks, hat and maybe a stuffed bunny.
- For your movie buff, fill a basket with movies, popcorn, candy and drinks.
- For your inspiring musician, fill a basket with musical instruments from the dollar store.
- For your music buff, fill a bucket with a CD and earphones. Copy the lyrics to the songs on the CD and include that.
- For those who love playing games, fill a decorated box with playing cards, board games and puzzles.
- Fill a colorful bucket with a flexible (plastic) cutting board with an assortment of colorful plastic cookie cutters, and Play doe.
- Give a stuffed animal and place a piece of jewelry on its arm or around its neck. You could also place a small bag around its neck filled with candy and goodies.
- Instead of a basket, fill the compartments on either side of a plastic lap desk with paper, crayons, markers, colored pencils, stencils, stamps—you have endless possibilities on this one.
- Fill a basket with everything to do with a hobby, such as jewelry making. Include some beads and an instruction booklet.
- For older children fill a small bucket with plastic eggs filled with some cash (always a hit)!
- For young girls, fill a small purse or tote with some candy/goodies and include a gift card to her favorite store.
- Purchase a gift certificate to hobby classes, such as cake decorating, jewelry making, art classes. Check with Michael’s and Hobby Lobby.
- Gift a beautiful monogrammed Bible.
- Start a tradition of gifting a collection such as coins or stamps. Then every Easter add to that collection.
You can’t go wrong with the good ole standby–fill a basket up with all their favorite candy and goodies and let them enjoy it! Over the years I have become a little more health conscious, so I got creative with I put in my son’s baskets. Here are a few ideas:
- dried apricots
- beef jerky (a big hit)
- fruits & nuts
- health bars
- fruit rollups
- homebaked goods
Photo by Fly/Flickr
Shop the day after Easter for the next year. You will find everything is marked down to 50% and usually much more. I have found some beautiful baskets for very little. Don’t forget the plastic eggs and grass. Remember that you have the entire year to pick up small items to add to the baskets. Take advantage of sales and clearance items and don’t forget to check out the dollar stores. I have had to buy very little during the years because I reuse the baskets, grass and the plastic eggs from year to year. Just a word of warning–store the grass in baggies. You don’t want any little critters taking up residence in the grass. Oh yes, that happens!
Once you have everything in the basket, you can either wrap it with colored cellophane or better yet, I love to use the coarse netting that you can buy at any fabric store. I buy mine at Walmart for only 67 cents per yard. It makes for a beautiful presentation. Add a beautiful handmade bow or some curly ribbon to finish it off. Use what you have.
A few years ago, I prepared my boy’s Easter baskets the night before, as usual. They were filled with a small package of peeps, jelly beans inside plastic eggs and sprinkled with small bite sized chocolates. Oh, and of course, the chocolate bunny. I left the baskets on the dining room table for my boys to find the next morning. That morning we woke up to find them under the dining room table empty!
Our beloved golden retriever Goldi, removed the baskets from the table and feasted on everything in both baskets while we slept. She even managed to pop open the plastic eggs to finish off the jelly beans. She ate the chocolates (including the bunny) wrappers and all! She pooped candy wrappers for days. They say chocolate can kill a dog or at the very least make them ill–well, the candy didn’t faze her, we were lucky! So remember to put the Easter baskets up out of your pet’s reach.
Wishing you a Blessed Easter.
