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By Buzzy Leave a Comment
Today I’m sharing how you can make the best Easter baskets for kids year after year! The best part? You don’t have to fill baskets with tons of stuff to make them special! I’ve got some easy-to-apply, creative tips to make it easier and hopefully save you some stress.
Essentials to Consider When Assembling an Easter Basket for Kids
Have you heard of the “something to wear, something to read, something you want, and something you need” gift-giving mantra commonly discussed at Christmas time?
That’s a great starting point for gift-giving for just about any major occasion. Christmas, yes, but also birthdays and Easter!
You might add in a couple extras, it isn’t a rigid rule that you must stick to four items or else you broke some sacred gift-giving law – it’s simply a starting point. Best of all, considering the “wear, read, want, need” categories always helps me eliminate the “junky” purchases.
Sure, that cheap little squishy toy might look cute, but is it going to end up in the trash or worse, cluttering the kids’ room or the countertops eventually? Then I generally refrain. Why spend our hard-earned money on something like that?
Are you a list person? I highly recommend making a quick list of something each of your kids would wear, read, want, need as the starting point of your Easter basket fillers!
Easter is a bright, spring holiday, and I like to keep those feelings alive when I’m choosing Easter basket fillers and the basket itself so I keep that in mind when paring down my list to final selections.
Before we get into the fillers though, we need to decide what the “basket” part of our basket will be.
“What do you mean, Buzzy? It’s going to be a pastel pink/green/yellow/blue shallow basket that I store all year long, obviously.”
Hold onto to your hat, I’ve got something else in mind!
Creative Ideas for the Easter Basket
Where will your easter basket fillers go?!
I seriously LOVE getting creative with this part. Don’t bother storing Easter baskets year after year – you can use a non-traditional Easter basket that is more useful and unexpected fun for your kiddos!
Here are some of my favorite “baskets” we’ve done in the past:
- a baseball cap (upside down, fill it!)
- 2 gallon buckets (Home Depot sells bright orange ones for $2.77 each (at the time of publishing) and my kids played with the buckets for YEARS after!)
- an actual basket, but repurpose-able. No weird, long handles across the top. Something that can hold books or even blankets after! Local thrift stores & yard sales can be a great place to snag these if you’re into bargain shopping.
- matching storage bins for use in their room or organizing a closet after Easter. We’ve done smaller ones like this set of 4 and bigger ones similar to this 2 pack!
One year, we just didn’t need anything in particular and instead of spending money on Easter baskets, I simply used our dining room table and carefully arranged a lovely little place setting for each child. What I would have put in an Easter basket, I artfully arranged at each child’s place at the table.
I also sprinkled a little confetti across the table, and placed some filled Easter eggs to look like a centerpiece across the middle of the table. The kids thought the table looked SO magical, and no one even mentioned “baskets.” They used paper grocery bags that I let them decorate with markers and stickers for collecting their Easter eggs later!
Great Fillers for Easter Baskets for Kids
Now that we’ve covered fun ideas for containing (or not!) the Easter basket fillers, let’s get into what you’re going to put inside of them!
Unique Toy Ideas for Easter Basket Fillers
- Foosbots (my #1 Easter basket pick for 2024! Easy to tote around and the kids can play it just about anywhere with a flat surface!)
- Left, Center Right Dice Game (my family can’t stop playing this fun, quick game!)
- Jixelz
- Clixo
- Thinking Putty or Mad Mattr
- Chip Prank
- LEGO Building Set (there are tons to choose from, but I think this parrot set is cool!)
- Wooden tops
Art Supplies for Easter Basket Fillers
- Scratch Boards (multi-packs like this make shopping for multiple kids so much easier!)
- Puffy Clay (and a how-to book!)
- Do-A-Dot Markers (and a fun free printable!)
- My First Pencil
- Scented Pencils (buy this pack & save some for stocking stuffers later this year!)
- My favorite Watercolor Set for nature journaling!
Bookish Easter Basket Fillers
- Favorite Easter Books for Kids
- Yoto Player
- Yoto Cards
- A Child’s Book of Poems
- Booklight!
Wearable Easter Basket Fillers
- Socks! Funny or practical
- Lip balm
- Piggy Paint
- Baseball cap (you can use as the basket as mentioned before!)
- A new t-shirt
- Dress-up clothes (my preschooler is obsessed with this sparkly cape!)
What are your favorite Easter basket traditions? Are there things you like to include in your kids’ baskets every year? What part do your kids look forward to the most?!
Pin This For Later
You Might Also Enjoy:
- Christian Easter Coloring Page
- Best Audiobooks for Kindergarteners
- Caterpillar Dot Marker Printable Math Activity
