http://arizonamoms.com/justformoms/10-ideas-for-filling-the-kids-easter-...
This post has some really cute ideas.
I have a few ideas for filling Easter baskets as well from things we have done in the past.
Try bathing suits since it will be swim time following Easter. Sports stuff like gloves or soccer balls, coloring books, suncatchers and paint kits, character fishing poles, dvds.
I don't like putting a ton of candy in their baskets.
Most importantly I teach my girls the true, Christian meaning in Easter. I teach them that baskets and eggs are a fun tradition not the meaning of Easter :) Please share any ideas you have for your baskets. I want to do something different this year but can't think of anything new.
Jennifer is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com and mommy to four beautiful girls who range from 9 to 4 years of age.
I always thought that this
I always thought that this was cute....I had brothers and they were alot older but my parents (Easter bunny) used to hide little toys for us, like an easter egg hunt but this was always done seperate from our family easter egg hunt to prevent others from getting jealous. But they would hide our little toys here and there and we would go looking for them. My mom did that for my son a few years ago and he was just walking then but we plan on doing something like that this time around.
My parents always hid our
My parents always hid our Easter baskets (because the Easter bunny that came to our house was michievious). And we were supposed to find them in the morning. It was the last thing my mother did before she went to bed.
Well, the one Easter morning, when I was 6, and my brother was 9, she woke up, turned on the oven to preheat for the ham that would be cooking while we were at church and went to take a shower. Fully forgetting that she had hidden my brother's Easter basket in the oven. My brother was/is not a morning person and was not up yet. I was and after a few minutes, I smelled melting plastic and got my Mom and she pulled out a singed/melted Easter basket. Thankfully, my brother was a little older, and wasn't too terribly upset. But I think he still likes to tease her about it.
The Easter Bunny stopped hiding our Easter baskets after that.
I think it's okay to have at
I think it's okay to have at least one hollow chocolate Easter bunny, so long as an adult teaches the kid to fill it up with milk and drink. To me, the true test is what kids take out of the basket (or Christmas stocking) and enjoy. What's old to us is probably brand new to them.
Not to knock, but even the youngest child is apt to be less than enthusiastic about any "gift" (like clothes, etc.) that they'd expect they'd get anyway. If you regularly buy them coloring books, they won't be much impressed with a couple more.
However, it's very possible to stock an Easter basket with very cool things that kids don't expect, and that they will enjoy, and not spend much money. My favorites require some adult coaching, but I think that that's a good thing, especially if Grandma and Grandpa can get involved.
Jacks. Pick-up-sticks. Water balloons. Water pistols. Jump ropes. Sidewalk chalk. Silly putty (of course, with a comic book). Pay-doh. A Slinky. Balsa-wood planes. Those paddles with a rubber ball attached by an elastic string. Super-balls. An Old Maid or Uno or Concentration deck of cards.
Oh my gosh! I love the
Oh my gosh! I love the roasted easter basket story, thats hilarious. We have never hidden the baskets ( we always leave them on the dinner table) so we will try that. I am going to get jax because I looooooved them when i was little. Great ideas , thanks so much. Not_the_mama, we usually take most of the things you suggested camping, (dont ask me how this started) but I think I may fill their baskets with alot of those items and new fishing poles and be like this is all stuff for when we go to the cabin which they love doing so THANK YOU for your suggestions. I am excited now. I think we are going to hide eggs with quarters and dollars too. Thanks again!
Jennifer is a discussion leader for arizonamoms.com and mommy to four beautiful girls who range from 9 to 4 years of age.
LOL...we'll never forget the
LOL...we'll never forget the Easter that my mom inadvertently reached for and drank from a cup of vinegar and food coloring, instead of her soda, while we were coloring eggs!
We try to avoid making Easter a "mini Christmas" with to much stuff! My kids can expect (and actually like) a new outfit, a new bathing suit, tiny toys and candy that can fit in the basket (flash cards, action figures, art supplies, etc.) and one toy. Last year, it was scooters. This year, it looks like it will be bow and arrow sets.