Frugal Easter Basket Fillers

[Crafty Amanda]

Here are some ideas for basket fillers courtesy of Kim Tilley, what other ideas do YOU have?

Bunny Poop (Raisinets with a cute poem to go along with them)

Egg Buddies (little stuffed egg-shaped toys, can add ears and tails for all kinds of animals)

Carrot Treats - use sandwich baggie, fill with something orange - orange jelly beans, candy corn or even Cheetos (they are the perfect color!). Tie this off so that the orange goodies in the bag look like a carrot shape, then add some green plastic wrap, wrapping paper, or fabric to the top to look like a carrot.

Homemade Chocolate Eggs - There is a great recipe from TopSecretRecipes.com for some Cadbury-type eggs, but I found that it was hard to get the egg shape, though they tasted great! This year I'm trying a mashed potato candy recipe, sounds weird, but I'm guessing it will be pretty good. Here is the link to that one:

Mashed Potato Candy
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-b...6831-23336.txt

Chocolate Bunnies - You can get the forms to make your own chocolate bunnies in the cake and candy making section at the craft store. Just melt some chocolate chips (Aldi's are good and cheap) and then pour into molds.

Ohio Buckeyes - make them egg-shaped instead of balls - taste like peanut butter cups. Recipe is here:

Ohio Buckeyes
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-b...6969-23438.txt

There is also a recipe called snowballs - you could make them and call them "bunny tails" and I bet the kids would love it.

Snowballs
http://www.thefamilycorner.com/cgi-b...7396-23794.txt

Here are a few more ideas, a little healthier:

Instead of using that awful plastic Easter grass, how about growing some from seed in a container that would fit in your baskets?

How about giving some real carrots in the basket - the kids get enough candy! It would look really cool to give the kind of carrots with leaves attached, or the mini carrots.
Only $2.35!

How about coupons in the Easter basket - for bunny hugs, snuggles, or doing special special with the family.

Books might also be nice, and they don't have to be new.

All that said, we don't go all out and have mountains of candy for Easter. Lately we've been doing and egg hunt with minimal candy in their baskets, and then focusing on the religious aspect of the holiday.

[LJsmom]

Each year the Easter Bunny brings seeds. You can get them 10 for $1 . Some years he brings veggies, others just flower seeds. The kids look forward each year to see what will be growing in our yard.

[bar_bar]

have plastic eggs with money inside. as kids always love to have coins

stickers

coloring books and crayons

little books

craft project for the older kids

balls and jack or other little games

package of treats such as rice Krispies, fruit roll ups or the other fruit kinds of candies

for little girls those tiny dolls

the dollar stores has all kinds of neat things that would fix in a basket for a dollar

straws those crazy kinds

earrings for older girls

there are so many other things beside candy
even gun would work.

[LJsmom]

Dh and I empty our pocket change into the plastic eggs also. This is great for the littler ones. They think they are rich!

[morelia92]

I really like the seed idea.
I try to get my gang according to their interest.
For example...

Memin and Angel are diehard fishing fans. With trout season begining in the spring I can't go wrong there!

Delia is now REALLY into postcard collecting and writing letters. With her stamps, stickers, pens, stationary, ect.

Maggy is a bit more difficult, but she isn't too picky. Actually give her chocolate and she is good. LOL~

Dayne is wanting to get into postcards and he kinda goes with the flow!

I plan to make bags of SALVATION jelly beans and RESSURECTION eggs!

I also plan to make the buckeyes and mashed spud candy

I enjoy the dollar tree and Ollies!
WOW the stuff you can get there. For example I found LEFT BEHIND on audio cassettes, regularly $20 or more at Christian Bookstores for....$1.99 ! I couldn't believe it!!!!



I love Easter !
Christ's love and New Beginings!

[ajrsmom]

Im am putting books in my sons Easter basket this year. He is learning to read and has discovered that he really likes the Cat in the Hat books. I came across a lady that was selling 3 Dr. Seus books and 5 other good books for $2.00! Shipping media mail, it will only be $4.50!!

Of course, he will get a choc. rabbit too......he has been talking about one since the day after Valentines Day! LOL!

I really like the idea of using coupons too. He would love this.


DD will be really easy this year since she will only be 10 1/2 months old!

[ajrsmom]

If you look forward to giving Easter baskets to your children each year but don't enjoy the high price of expensive pre-made baskets, here are some simple ideas for saving money on this fun holiday tradition. Like anything else you buy, it helps to set a spending limit -- maybe $5 per Easter basket. Then have fun being creative and trying to keep within your basket budget. Our family usually reserves Easter baskets and Easter Egg Hunts for the Saturday just before Easter -- saving Sunday for church and family celebrations.

I try to shop for Easter basket fillers in advance (I use the same principle for Christmas stocking stuffers, too). You can keep a basket in the corner of a closet for storing these types of items found throughout the year. Keep an eye out for small games and toys in clearance bins at the grocery store, at dollar stores, and during any stops to thrift stores or yard sales.

In the days immediately following Halloween, bags of candy often go on sale for half price (or less), so I'll sometimes purchase several bags of family favorites and stick them in the freezer. Frozen candy will keep quite nicely until Easter.

Small, fun items that you'll probably need to purchase for your children during the course of the year can be saved to include in their Easter baskets: crayons, felt pens, glue stick, glitter glue, novelty toothbrushes, fun-flavored toothpastes, hair ribbons, barrettes, a new hair brush, bubble bath in fun containers.

Ideas for the Basket Itself:


Wicker baskets can be reused year after year (a nice tradition in itself). These can be used other times during the year for decoration or for storing small items. You can also reuse the decorative grass from year to year.

Paper bags decorated with bunnies, eggs, flowers, etc.

Easter bonnets. If you're going to be purchasing an Easter bonnet for your daughter, turn it upside down and fill with goodies.

Inexpensive colorful plastic sand pails. Include a shovel and sand mold.

Plastic mesh storage containers. Reuse to store toys, games, socks, childhood treasures, etc.

Lunch box.

New novelty pillowcase.

Flower pot (fill w/packet of seeds, soil, drainage rocks, gardening gloves, instructions for growing their own Spring flowers).

For older kids/teens, try a make-up container (including sample sizes of soap, perfume, lipgloss, nail polish, etc.), a fishing tackle box (include a few lures), a personal popcorn bowl (containing a bag of gourmet popcorn), or a new purse.

For teen-agers or grown children, try a grocery bag filled with their favorite foods.

Filling ideas:

Plastic eggs can be reused every year. Fill with jelly beans or small plastic toys of interest to the child. Bags full of fake bugs, dinosaurs, etc., can often be found at dollar stores for under a $1 per bag.

Homemade candy and treats.

Homemade frosted Easter-shaped cookies individually wrapped. You can also make cookie lollipops by adding a lollipop or ice cream stick before baking.

Crispy Rice Treats or Popcorn Balls colored with pastel food coloring and shaped like eggs.

Sidewalk Chalk Eggs: Mix 1 cup plaster, 1/2 cup water and several drops food coloring. Pour mixture into empty egg carton sections. When dry, peel away the carton and hot glue two sections together at the center to form a complete egg.

Toys from fast food children's meals can be found in "like new" condition at thrift stores and yard sales for $0.25 or less.

Rubber stamps and stamp pads.

Homemade play dough.

Crayons.

Small bag of potato chips.

Bubbles.

A jumprope.

Jacks.

A frisbee.

Chopsticks.

Fancy shoelaces.

Stickers.

Books.

Stationary, note cards, envelopes, stamps.

Coloring books or coloring sheets. Find some simple Easter related clip-art and print the picture out in black and white for homemade coloring sheets, or print out several and staple them together for a custom made coloring book.

Audio tapes you've made of yourself reading their favorite books aloud. Be sure to include a signal for them to turn the page if they'll be reading along with you.

Look for small Dover Books at your local bookstore. These books are high quality and usually under $1 each. They have paper dolls, holiday activity books, coloring books, etc.

Happy Spring!

Ideas from the Dollar Stretcher website

[barbszy]

I got my kids each a gift for their baskets, on sale...free shipping....and for Luke that meant a BOGO Little Tykes truck! He will have a great basket! My 12 year old DS is getting a Lego build an airplane set; he loves Legos. And my 8 year old DD is getting a Crayola modeling stuff set. So, if we have a rainy day during Easter vacation, they'll have something to do that does not involve the TV or Nintendo!

That, and a "sleeve" of Peeps is all that comes in each basket. Then we have an Easter Egg Hunt. Each kid gets to find 1 dozen eggs. 1 child gets speckled eggs, 1 gets regular eggs and Luke gets "big" eggs because I'm afraid he'd stick the parts of the little eggs in his mouth and choke

Inside the eggs the kids will find an assortment of:
pack of fruit snacks
handful of Goldfish crackers
handful of "bunny marshmallows" (Kraft makes them)
2 or 3 mini-Reese's cups or peppermint patties

The Easter Bunny leaves a funny note telling the kids whose eggs are which color/size, and what room they might find them in.

Normally I try to get them some sort of religious gift but I had sick kids all last week, and I lost my shopping time. I think we're going to try making Resurrection Cookies this year though.