I avoid candies and other processed foods for the most part, so I need to be creative every year and come up with other Easter basket ideas. As a child, my siblings and I always looked forward to Easter, grabbed a basket with a chocolate bunny and went to the Easter egg hunt. For these special memories, I work hard to make my kids basket special (there are few things like junk).
Our family focuses on giving experiences instead of material gifts, and I wanted to find a way to bring this to our holiday celebrations. Over the years I have found some unique ideas and themes for my annual basket. Not only does children enjoy digging into the basket on Easter mornings, they also encourage family experiences.
Healthy Easter Basket: Do you overdo it?
I have definitely heard objections that taking candy out of an Easter basket is a bit farther than the whole thing. If your ideas are running along these lines, consider the following:
Easter is the second biggest candy cellar holiday of the year after Halloween. Over 16 billion jelly beans are produced each year, and millions of neon marshmallow chicks and hundreds of chocolate treats. In a child’s Easter basket, fructose corn syrup, food dyes, ingredients were often not intended for our bodies (and certainly the children’s bodies).
My point is, if I’m extreme, it’s because I’m responding to a big problem.
Food dyes can affect behavior and many people can consume more than 100 pounds of sugar per year, making it increasingly important to consider healthy alternatives even on the holidays. These simple switches don’t take away any fun or tradition. It simply reduces the content of sugar and food dyes.
Certainly, the stress of choosing natural options can outweigh the benefits. However, I think this is definitely a holiday that can be improved. We can celebrate everything that Easter is meant to be at both ends of the spectrum without going to extremes.
Okay, that’s not in the way… into the Easter basket!
Easter basket ideas without over 25 candies
Here is a family favorite from Easter for many years. Hopefully some of them will turn the wheels and inspire the perfect idea for your family!
Experience-based/theme Easter basket ideas
These experience-themed baskets are more fun and last longer than sugar-filled candy baskets. Create Easter baskets based on activities and themes such as gardening, baseball, swimming, camping and more. Help your child to give new skills and gifts of entertainment of their choice.
These are some of my favorite themes from past Easter baskets.
Gardening basket
A favorite of the past and a theme we’ve chosen again each year. I use cheap clay pots in my “basket” and fill them up Children’s size gardening gloves,seed, Small garden toolsand other garden related items. Each child gets a different kind of seeds we use in our garden, plant them all year round in our raised beds, start watering them all year round.
Camping basket
For a year, each child received camping items in their baskets to help stock camping equipment. They got it sleeping bag, Flashlight, binoculars, whistleand Camping Silverwear.
Sports basket
Baskets with gear to play specific sports, as well as tickets for local minor league teams, are always my favorite to go to the game as a family throughout the year. For a year, I put a new attachment to the Ninja Line in my backyard.
Movie Night Basket
The kids really enjoy family movie nights, so their baskets include summer PJ and movie tickets and DVDs. Each child gets a different movie and “hosts” the evening of that movie by making snacks and setting them up for the movie. A perennial favorite at our home How to Train a Dragon and Cinderella.
Craft basket
Every mom knows the challenge of continuing to occupy her children comfortably and productively. It will be coming soon after Easter, especially in the summer months! Craft themed baskets are perfect for this. I might fill a basket with crafts like Construction paper, seaweed, Scissors, buttonand Clay modeling.
Scavenger Hunt Basket
With this idea, basketball is part of the experience. For several years I want to give one experience/gift to all the kids that don’t fit in the basket. I create a scavenger hunt around the gift and leave a clue in the basket. Hide some of the first clues in each basket so that your kids can work together to find the first clues and lead them to their final destination or Easter gifts in the Scavenger Hunt.
Easter basket filler ideas
If you don’t want to follow the Easter Basket theme, fill it up with a random assortment of healthy Easter Basket ideas.
And when you have time: try homemade!
Say no to neon jelly beans and marshmallow chicken! Consider skipping chocolate bunny and Cadbury eggs completely to make a healthier chocolate, marshmallow or gelatin fruit snack (maybe Easter themed pattern). You can also create these cute meringue nests.
And while it’s not that convenient, homemade candies come with a bonus.
If your child still likes to handle a fun Easter basket without all the sugar, there are plenty of options besides candy. You can choose from even healthier candies, such as dark chocolate and dye-free suckers. Here you can get the full list of my favorite healthy candy options. The next East Reet has a mix of store-bought homemade options.
Easter basket treat
Esater Gifts for Older Kids
Many of the ideas above are useful for older children as well, but here are a few ideas tailored to this age group. Even teens like to get gifts if they like!
easter egg
Easter eggs are a tradition that I can appreciate and have beautiful meaning at this time of year. Of course, there are a few suggestions regarding how to dye Easter eggs naturally. Check out this post for more details!
If you want to hide your treasures using plastic Easter eggs, try filling them with small items instead of candy. The egg can also contain “points” that can be used to “buy” larger prizes from the box. Better yet, hide real eggs or create a scavenger hunt with fun prizes and clues that end with destinations! There are also really cute, reusable cloth eggs that are a better option than plastic eggs.
Treasure Easter Basket
To come up with a new Easter basket idea, try thinking outside the box for a bit. But in the end, I’m sure my kids won’t feel blessed or miss out on the celebration of the season. In fact, it’s amazing how colorful, sweet and festive a healthy Easter basket is. We hope these ideas will help you fill your Easter basket with sweets, joy and health!
What special family traditions do Easter value? Do you have a healthier Easter basket idea? I want to hear it!
