Easter is almost here and I don’t know about you, but I feel like I just finished packing away my Christmas decorations! Nevertheless, we’re all still excited to celebrate this special holiday!
As I was making plans for the kids’ Easter baskets this year, I decided I wanted to do something a little different for a change.
You see, every year they attend a big Easter egg hunt. They come home with HUGE bags of candy.
Candy that lasts for weeks!
They also tend to get a little Easter gift from their grandparents, which includes more candy, little toys, and a new stuffed animal.
But, here’s the thing — our house is already overflowing with stuffed animals and little trinket toys that never get played with for longer than 20 minutes before they are on the floor and I step on them.
Their beds are so covered in stuffed animals already that there is hardly any room for them to lie down and sleep! And they certainly don’t need any more candy!
This year as a family we are trying to focus less on STUFF and more on making memories together.
So I decided, rather than giving my kids more candy, little knickknacks, and stuffed animals that they certainly don’t need, I’d create a special Family Easter basket – an Easter basket full of items that the whole family could enjoy, together!
Every Friday night in our house is “Family Night”. My kids look forward to this night so much and literally count down the days each week. One of our favorite things to do as a family is to play games together, so I headed over to the board game aisle where I picked up 2 new games for our family.
I know the kids will love them! Then I hit the book section where I found a great treasury of Berenstain Bears books with Christian themes. Since we often read books together before bed, it seemed perfect for our Easter basket, so I added that to my cart.
As I meandered through the store I found myself in the DVD section where I spotted a new Scooby-Doo DVD which featured 4 movies I knew my kids hadn’t seen yet.
Anyone with multiple kids knows that it’s often hard to get them all to agree on the same thing, but when it comes to Scooby Doo, they are all thrilled to sit down and watch, even my 3-year-old!
I placed the new DVD in my cart and that’s when the thought occurred to me that supplies for an ultimate family movie night would be the perfect final touches for our family Easter basket! I headed straight for the snack aisle to grab their favorite movie snacks.
Have you assembled your Easter basket(s) yet? Instead of loading your basket(s) down with candy, this year, consider some of their favorite snack foods, then add in games, coloring books, toys, and DVDs.
Family Easter Basket Ideas
Want to create your own family Easter basket this year? Here are twenty-five ideas of things to put in your basket! (Some of these items would be a little bit too big to put into a basket, but you could always include a note in the basket, letting your family know where to look for the family gift!)
- Snack Foods
- Play-Doh
- Board games
- Card games
- Books (like these Easter books for toddlers)
- DVDs
- Movie tickets
- Gift card to your favorite frozen yogurt or ice cream place
- Gift card to your family’s favorite restaurant
- Zoo passes
- Aquarium passes
- Museum tickets
- Puzzles
- Coloring Books
- Art Supplies
- Tickets to a show
- Sports supplies (e.g. a basketball hoop and basketball)
- Water Table
- Swing Set (we love our custom wooden swing set!)
- Sand Table
- Gift card to a local bowling alley
- Gift card to a local skating rink
- Mud Kitchen
- Trampoline (we did that one year and it gets used SO much)
- Magnetic Building Blocks or LEGOs
Happy Easter!
Whether you decide to make a family Easter basket like me or individual baskets for each of your kids, I’ve got a nice list of non-candy Easter basket ideas if you need some inspiration.
Related Posts
Planning your Easter meal? Check out these 30 Easter Breakfast Casseroles and this Challah Bread Recipe.
For a fun Easter craft you can make with your kids, try this easy Easter egg garland craft.
Maria Egan
Monday 4th of March 2024
I like your ideas for gifts other than candy and stuffies. I think this year, I will give my grandkids a membership to the aquarium.
Alisa
Sunday 14th of April 2019
I was thinking of doing the same this year, for the same reasons! How did your kids like it?
Janessa
Monday 15th of April 2019
They loved it! We've had a lot of fun playing the games together and they always love a good movie night too!
Linda Manns Linneman
Friday 25th of May 2018
These are such great suggestions. My family loves Slim Jim's so they would really like getting these in their basket. Thank you so much for sharing this
Mia
Wednesday 21st of March 2018
Such good alternatives to just candy in the basket. I am always looking for other ideas and these gave me a good starting point.
Nancy Thompson
Tuesday 20th of March 2018
Great idea!