Last week my post, How Do You Do Easter?, sparked a lively discussion in the comment section.
I got a lot of great suggestions for candy-free Easter basket fillers, and I set to work making a list. I’ve already told the kids not to expect baskets full of candy so as to manage their expectations.
My son’s response was, “Can we at least have a chocolate bunny?
Okay, well, I’m not so heartless as to strip every last vestige of candy from the celebration, so I compromised on the bunny. In fact, I was already planning to pick up organic chocolate bunnies at my local whole food market, so I’m glad to know that is the thing that matters the most.
But beyond that, our Easter baskets this year will be pretty much candy free. Okay, there IS a package of Big League Chew for my son; I know, gross, but all the kids on the baseball team have it…
This is what I have so far:
I did most of my shopping at the Dollar Spot in Target. It’s easier to find things there for my girls than it is for my son, but I managed to find a few things for him too. They are each getting bubble tubes and paint-your-own garden stones. My son is getting water balls. The girls are getting Burt’s Bees lipgloss, notepads, water bottles, sidewalk chalk and gardening gloves. Oh, and I’d like to pick up some play-doh too.
In addition to the el cheapo stuff, I am including a new bathing suit and new pajamas for each child. I still have to get pajamas for the girls. Then I’ll fill a few of those plastic eggs with money and call it a day.
Now to keep my kids from seeing this post…
14 Responses
When my kiddos were little I used to get a collectible ceramic easter bunny or chick or whatever I could find that we could put in the china cabinet. My daughter especially loved this – she has little ceramic dolls, bunnies, and all sorts of cute little decorative keepsakes. I also used to worry about all the candy they got….
I totally loved Big League Chew as a kid! I probably thought all the real baseball players had some in their back pocket.
As of right now I have one squishy ball for each of my girls for their baskets. From Target dollar spot. The bummer is that they each got one recently at a friend’s b-day party and I realized that they really stink of who knows what chemical used to make them. So maybe I should start thinking…
Oh gosh seriously… I hadn’t thought about the chemicals in the cheap toys. BLEH. Is there no end to the madness??
We always got bathing suits, flip flops and sunglasses in our Easter baskets as kids, and I loved that more than the candy!
This is pretty much what we do for our kids as well.
Yeah, I wanted to do that but realized I already bought them flip flops. I suppose I could pick up some sunglasses, but they have this way of LOSING them. ARGH.
Bathing suits is such a cute Easter basket idea!
They’ll be thrilled … and you won’t have to throw away any of it! I love the idea of giving ‘consume-ables’ as gifts .. chalk, art supplies, food. Happy Easter!
Looking good Jolyn! I like the theme.
Don’t go buy play-doh, make your own! I’m sure you can easily google a recipe, I know my mom always made ours when I was growing up.
Good idea! I might do that. That would be fun and different.
Good for you! I always try to lessen the amount of candy in the kid’s baskets and put little trinkets in instead, but hubby always looks at me cross-eyed and acts like I’m killing Easter….
See!! Target’s dollar spot….told you! I did well there this year. I am actually EXCITED about what they are getting, rather than dreading it!
Baskets look great so far–I’m sure they are going to love them!
My son is only 13 months old, so he has no idea he’s supposed to want candy for Easter. Thank God.
He’s getting a few board books, some Happy Babies rice puffs, and some freeze dried fruits and veggies (all organic). I’ll probably make some homemade candy for the adults in our family, so he MAY have a taste of that as well. But all in all, it will be a sugar free holiday.
Good for you for going (almost) candy free! You definitely want to be careful of anything plastic you purchase as it may contain bisphenol-A (https://www.oeconline.org/resources/livinggreen/athome/BPA-FAQs) or soft plastics which may contain phthalates (they have effects on reproductive development).
I think it’s always great to get children things that they’ll use and be able to enjoy besides just an initial sugar rush 🙂