list of candy-free easter basket themes

Most of you probably have dozens, if not dozens and dozens, of those plastic eggs from years past. They can be filled with items other than candy. I am trying to have a candy-free Easter this year. I will probably end up tossing a few jelly beans in their baskets for good measure, but my mother-in-law always goes way overboard with the candy, and despite my pleas to reduce the sugar the sugar remains. Last year I placed all the candy on the scale and it weighed nearly 5 pounds! In the end most of it got tossed or eaten by Mom and Dad. I hate to waste the money by tossing candy and I really don’t want to be eating it this year. So here are some ideas that I came up with that I might use for my candy-free (for the most part!) Easter baskets.

list of easter baskets that do not include candy | ListPlanIt.com

I do recycle the baskets we have in the basement so and that saves a good bit of money too. The following are mere ideas… add to them as you wish!

  • Arts and crafts basket
    Fill basket with green grass. Put the following in plastic eggs:
    • pom-poms
    • googly eyes
    • mini craft hole punches
    • buttons
    • paper clips
    • foam pieces
    • Play Doh, either store bought or home-made!
    For the basket, choose from the following:
    • crayons
    • markers
    • colored paper
    • white paper (in different sizes)
    • glue sticks
    • small bottles of glue
    • paint brushes
    • paints
    In our house we run out of glue, paper, and other crafty stuff around this time of year. Markers dry out, crayons break… so while this may not be the least expensive basket it will be a worthwhile basket!
  • Gardening Basket
    I plan on doing this for one or all three children!
    • Fill basket with terra cotta pots and little gardening tools that are found at Target for a very good price.
    • Fill the plastic eggs with dirt and seeds (separately). Use the seeds to grow herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, basil, rosemary that can then be placed in to larger pots and reused over the summer. Use these herbs in recipes all summer long!
  • Outdoor/Summer Fun Basket
    Fill your child’s basket with any number of the following:
    • bubbles
    • chalk (I’ve seen chalk that comes in Easter Egg shapes)
    • shovels and other beach digging tools
    • small plastic boats
    • small kites
    • small balls
    • flip flops
    • sunglasses
    • sunscreen
    • chapstick
  • Newborn – 12-month-old basket
    My mother-in-law made these baskets for my kids when they were wee little ones. I have always loved these very useful baskets!
    • baby toy, rattle or chew toy
    • feeding spoons
    • jars of baby food
    • a bib (a duckie or chick would be great for Easter)
    • formula sticks
    • a baby bottle or sippy cup
    • a cute onesie
    • little socks or booties
    • cardboard book
    • Tylenol or Motrin (for teething!)
    • teething ring
  • Jewelry Making Easter Basket
    Rebecca is huge into making jewelry these days. Fill plastic eggs with the following:
    • assorted beads of different shapes and sizes
    • memory wire for bracelets and necklaces
    • elastic, thin enough to use for beading
    • clasps, earring hooks, etc. (With the memory wire, clasps are not necessary as the wire maintains its circular shape)
    • a pair of pliers used to round off ends of wire

What other kinds of baskets can you come up with?

Jessica Ryan is a List-Loving Mom who is admittedly better at writing them than following them. A former freelance writer, she decided to put the professional world on hold to raise her three entertaining kids. Jessica was dubbed by some of her friends as the Entertaining Mom. Jessica has been blogging for about a year now, about her family and her life, documenting the good, the bad, and the funny!

Visit her blog, The Entertaining House

Subscribe via Email


8 responses to “list of candy-free easter basket themes”

  1. Abbie Park says:

    I just Love the baby baskets for infants! I am going to a shower (actually for 4 moms-to-be) and I think a will make these to take!
    I still haven’t decided what to make my kiddies for Easter.

  2. Jan from BetterSpines says:

    What wonderful ideas. And also a reminder that Easter is not ONLY about chocolate. And why rabbits have eggs is still beyond me!

  3. Gwennie says:

    I don’t do the candy thing either, instead the boys baskets will be filled with: bird whistle, Silly Putty, kite, bubbles, compass, rock crayons, paddle ball, Slinky and a small stuffed animal (this year one is getting a chipmunk).

  4. momstheword says:

    These are great ideas. When the kids were little I would try and go to the $1 and buy some little things, as well as maybe a t-shirt and shorts outfit for spring, or whatever. Anything to avoid just giving candy.

  5. Stacie says:

    I too am always trying to find other things to put in the Easter Baskets. Every year our 3 kids always get a pair of sunglasses, a pair of flip flops, a beach towel and a movie. Then we fill the eggs with fruit snacks, candy, quarters and a few special eggs with a $1 bill in them.

  6. EntertainingMom says:

    Marie, I bump into you in the wierdest places! LOL

    I LOVE the preteen basket! Bonne Bell lipsmackers! I used to have a collection.

  7. Marci says:

    We don’t do candy in the baskets at our house – except for one chocolate easter bunny…I can’t resist. Growing up, my mom always put summer stuff in our baskets – sunglasses, flip-flops, a summer outfit, bubbles, sand buckets and shovels… We do the same with our kids now. I like the art theme, too. Our kids would love that.

  8. Marie says:

    Fancy finding you here. :) We do a combo of the arts and crafts and outdoor baskets. I do throw in some candy too but not a whole lot. A beauty gift basket would be fun for a preteen/teen girl…brush, hair stuff, perfume, nail polish, etc.

Login

So you can get your list on.

 
 
Reset Password
-->

Register Today

Sign up for a free account to give ListPlanit a try.

Or click here to sign up for unlimited access to all of our lists for just $5 / month.

×

No problemo.

Enter your email and we'll send along password reset instructions.

×