Easter is approaching and it is time to break out the plastic eggs and prep those baskets! And whether it’s for allergy reasons or not, Easter baskets tend to be trending towards non-food fillers. Can I get a ‘whoop whoop!’
The Back Story
Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. Growing up, I spent the day at my Grandparent’s house with most of my extended family. I have a lot of cousins around my age, so the holidays were always full of fun and playtime! My favorite Easter activity? The egg hunt, of course! My siblings and I would go to my Grandparent’s house a day or two before Easter and help my Grandma dye not one dozen…not two dozen… but three dozen eggs! Like I said, big family!
When it was time to hunt for eggs the grown-ups would send all of us kids to the basement to play while they hid all 36 eggs (and 10 Easter baskets) on the main level of the house. 30 minutes later, we’d be ready to hunt! It was always a race to see who could find the most, but in the end, it really didn’t matter. What was most important was who found their Easter basket first. There were 10 kids searching and it still amazes me that the adults seemed to find 10 new places to hide the baskets each year! Once all of the eggs and baskets were found, my cousins and I would spend the day playing and enjoying our Easter goodies, most of which came in the form of chocolate goodness!
Fast Forward
A lot has changed since the Easters of my childhood. Between the 10 cousins that I grew up with, there are now 14 little ones (from 1 – 12) running around! And, besides the additional energy balls keeping us busy, the way we celebrate Easter has changed a lot too. We no longer dye regular eggs or include food in the baskets. Instead, the 14 littles hunt for plastic eggs and receive baskets complete with toys and other non-food items. While this switch is pretty on trend right now, my family did it for other reasons.
Between the 14 littles, there are at least 4 that have food allergies. My sweet middle child being the most severe. When you have a child with a life-threatening allergy, your perspective on the holidays completely changes. Instead of being carefree, as I once was, I am now constantly watching what my little is doing and trying to figure out what allergens he may run into during our day.
Don’t get me wrong, my family has been extremely supportive of his allergies and has stopped serving certain items all together to decrease the likelihood of him eating something he shouldn’t. But with egg, peanut, and tree nut allergies, it is nearly impossible to get rid of everything that he can’t have with a gathering as large as ours.
Related: Check out the 5 BEST EASTER ACTIVITIES to engage your littles!
The Easter Switch
As difficult as it was to stop the tradition, the dyed Easter eggs had to go for the safety of my little man. And I’ll tell you what; I actually love using plastic eggs! Not only do we get to fill them with all sorts of fun trinkets, there is no egg smell that lingers all day, haha! (We once had a hard boiled egg that we couldn’t find for almost 2 weeks after Easter…talk about a nasty surprise, haha!)
My little with all of the food allergies is only 3 1/2, so we haven’t been doing plastic eggs for that long. He was around crawling age at his first Easter and I wanted to make sure he didn’t have contact with any actual eggs, so I offered to bring plastic eggs for the hunt. It was a huge success and helped me relax and enjoy the day knowing that my baby was safe from his allergens. Plus, I think the kids liked cracking open the eggs and collecting surprises much more than using real eggs. Toys are much more fun than real eggs…am I right?! And now, my Aunt fills some with quarters! I make sure my kiddos get a few of those. You know, for them…wink wink.
As for the baskets, those went (mostly) food free as well. With the variety of allergies amongst the kids (eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, gluten), it was just too complicated to find food suitable for all of them. And at their young ages, we didn’t feel comfortable handing out different treats to each kiddo and hoping that food wouldn’t get shared. The only treats that remain are fruit snacks and Enjoy Life Chocolate. I am obsessed with their line of products! They were an absolute life saver when my sweetie was starting to eat real food and I couldn’t find allergen free snacks for him. Life saver!
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Egg Fillers for the Easter Hunt
Here are a few of my favorite plastic egg fillers:
- Small Animals
- Small Dinosaurs
- Small Vehicles
- Money (Mommy’s favorite for sure!)
- Enjoy Life Chocolate
- Stickers
- Homemade Crayons
They are all small enough to fit into plastic eggs and can all be used for activities further down the road (except the money and chocolate that is)! Here are activities for the small animals, small dinosaurs, and stickers.
Non-Food Easter Baskets
You are probably wondering what kinds of things we include in our Easter baskets. Truth be told, they change from year to year, but here are some of our favorites and what you might find in our baskets this year!
- Easter/Spring book
- Melissa and Doug Activity Book
- Bubbles
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Kite
- Play Dough
- Swim Suit
- Sunglasses
There are endless possibilities here! Think more practical and add items like pajamas, a spring jacket, or rain boots. Or go the bigger gift route and choose one or two more expensive items like magnetic tiles, building blocks, or a cleaning set. The sky is the limit!
And get creative with the basket too! Try using a sand pail to prep for beach play, or throw everything in a backpack to use for summer travel. So many options here! And to get your creativity flowing, here are just a couple themed Easter baskets that are perfect for your kiddo this year!
Themed Easter Basket Ideas
- Beach Basket – sand pail, shovel, sunglasses, kite, beach towel, way to play road and cars, beach book
- Sensory Bin Basket – Sensory tub, dyed rice or chick peas, measuring cups and spoons, funnel, small glass jars, book (Check out our huge selection of sensory bin play options here!)
- Travel Basket – backpack, water wow, sketch book, dry erase book, metal lunchbox, magnetic letters or pictures, water bottle
- Arts and Crafts Basket – crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks, glitter glue, stickers, paint, smock, paint brushes, paper
- Animal Lover Basket – Safari Ltd. animals, animal play mat, Melissa and Doug animal sticker book, small stuffed animal, animal t-shirt
- Backyard Fun Basket – bubbles, chalk, hat, sunglasses, bucket for treasures, ball, kiddie pool,
- Early Learner Basket – ABC Cookies, shape puzzle, lacing beads, shape sorter, ABC puzzle, ABC Water Wow, Usborne first ABC, Color, or Number books
- Play Dough Basket – homemade play dough, rollers, stamps, Safari Ltd. animals, cookie cutters, gems/buttons, book
- Dinosaur Lover Basket – dinosaur figures, tree/rocks, dino land mat, dino eggs, book
- Bookworm Basket – Usborne Young Reader set, flashlight, tent, shine-a-light books, lift the flap books
- Camping Basket – backpack, sleeping bag, water bottle, binoculars, flashlight, book
- Athletic Basket – sport balls (soccer, football, baseball, etc), jump rope, hula hoop, orange cones, water bottle
- Little Chef Basket – apron, chef hat, Melissa and Doug cutting food, wooden mixer
- Imaginative Play Basket – play costume (fire fighter, astronaut, doctor, etc), doctor kit, multi-use basket, Safari Ltd. animals, magnetic tiles
- Builder’s Basket – blocks, hard hat, tool belt, drill, construction book
- Princess Basket – crown, wand, princess dress, nail polish, hair accessories, brush
There are so many possibilities when it comes to Easter baskets. Theme it up, or pick out all of your kiddo’s favorites. You can’t go wrong with fun like this!
Thank you so much for reading sweet friend! I love sharing my ideas with you and truly appreciate you taking the time to stop by. As always, you can find me on Instagram and see what is inspiring us on Pinterest. I hope you and your family have a fabulous Easter!
Looking for a Spring activity to keep the fun going?! Check out our Flower Sensory Bin for some beautiful and fragrant fun!
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