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Easter hasn’t always held a special place in my heart. I love all of our Easter family traditions – I love the big meal and how we cook together and eat together, I love watching my kids color eggs, I love hiding plastic eggs and watching my kids’ faces light up when the eggs are found and opened, and I also love putting together special Easter outfits for my kids (even though my 11 and 15 year old are over this tradition and my toddler prefers to be naked.)
But we don’t necessarily celebrate the religious aspect of Easter (although we have family discussions about it), and I don’t love all the candy and sugar it’s associated with, and I don’t love the pressure society seems to put onto parents about celebrating the arrival of the Easter bunny and filling basket with loads of chocolates, jelly beans, and peeps – the latter of which usually end up in the trash because we all know when there’s a choice between jelly beans, peeps, and chocolate, chocolate will always win.
So, yeah Easter isn’t my favorite holiday. But I do appreciate the family traditions that it brings, and I have to admit societal pressure or not, I have a lot of fun putting Easter baskets together for my kids.
When I put my kids’ Easter baskets together I like to choose things that are meaningful and useful and offer open-ended play. I also try not to go overboard with candy, and choose only candies that I know my kids (and me…and my hubby ;)) will enjoy.
*This list is geared towards baby/toddler Easter basket fillers, but let me know if you’re interested in a post what I put in my 11 and 15 year olds baskets (yes, I still make both of them Easter baskets, too ;)).
#1: Books
I always put at least two books in my kids’ Easter baskets. Some of our favorites are:
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- DK Baby Touch and Feel: Bunny– My babies always loved the Touch and Feel books!
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- Where Are Baby’s Easter Eggs by Karen Katz- You really can’t go wrong with any Karen Katz book, and my almost two year old still wants to read them all the time.
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- The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
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- Ollie’s Easter Eggs by Oliver Dunrae- We only recently discovered the Gossie & Friends series at the library, and my toddler loves them. The story lines are easy for a toddler follow and the illustrations are kept simple.
#2: Little Toys
I love adding little toys to their Easter baskets, too. I try to stay away from toys that seem junky or trendy, and choose ones that I know will get played with and use.
- Teethers- Infantino Good Bites Carrot Teether is super cute for Easter, or this classic Banana Toothbrush Teether was my babies favorite.
- This Color Matching Egg Set is going into my toddler’s Easter basket this year. It comes with a dozen eggs, and each egg has a different color and a different number of dots to encourage color matching and counting skills.
- The Learning Resources Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog is a great Easter basket toy. It’s even a finalist for the 2019 Toy of the Year Award.
- These First Words Flashcards are another item I’m putting in my toddler’s Easter basket this year. We can use them to practice speech and to practice learning letters. As he gets older, we can also use them to practice reading sight words.
- Something snuggly is always a hit, too- The Melissa & Doug Burrow Bunny Rabbit is super soft and cuddly, or for something more baby-friendly go with the Mary Meyer Oatmeal Bunny Lovey Blanket
#3: Art/Craft Items
What’s an Easter basket without some arts and crafts fun? I love adding in things we can use for spring time crafts.
- Crayola Sidewalk Chalk: My kids go through an obscene amount of chalk. This goes in my kids Easter baskets every year. We use it to make giant driveway murals, hopscotch, and to make “streets” for my toddler to drive his trucks on.
- These are my go-to kids paints: Crayola Washable Kids Paints. My toddler actually painted a portion of our kitchen wall with these paints and it wiped right off with a wet towel.
- If you’re looking for something to add that’s less mess, check out Alex Discover Button Art – it’s still an art project, but it’s reusable, minimal mess, and great for developing those fine motor skills.
- ALEX Discover My First Scribble is another great option with minimal mess and encourages your toddler ‘s creativity.
#4: Other Fun Easter Basket Fillers
- Bath time fun: Bath Drops to make colored water, Munchkin Fishin’ Bath Toy, Bath letters and numbers, or a cute hooded organic cotton bath towel
- Snacks: Annie’s Fruit Snacks , Organic Yogis (my toddler was obsessed with these), Happy Baby Puffs, or Annie’s Bunny Cookies
- Springtime fun: Sunglasses, Sun hat, Garden tools, Bubbles, or Rain Boots
Also, Easter Baskets…
I have to share the baskets I picked out. They are from Hobby Lobby – I’m not an affiliate but I wanted to share because they’re just so cute. They were around $7.99 a basket, and they come in several different colors. So, I picked a different color for each of my three kids. This will be the second year we’re using them and they’ve held up great so far.
I hope you found this list of Easter helpful! I’ll update in the next week or so to share my toddlers completed Easter basket – I’m about halfway done ;).
Feel free to say hi, and leave a comment. I’d love to hear what you put in your child’s Easter basket! Also, does your family have any special Easter traditions?
Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!
P.S. For more, check out my Insta: @semi.crunchy.sahm 🙂