14 // Non-Candy Easter Basket Ideas
Non-Candy Easter Basket Ideas
try these 4 core ideas for making your child’s basket fun AND festive!
Are you looking for non-candy Easter basket filler ideas? Whether you need some alternatives to candy to put in those colorful eggs or you are trying to think beyond the chocolate bunny for what to put in your little one's basket, this episode has it all!
Ashley spells out safe and easy ideas to fill eggs with that don't lack fun, plus festive ideas that fall into one of Ashley's core four categories for filling an Easter basket. These are tried and true by this dietitian mom and are sure to add some egg-citing additions to your family's upcoming festivities.
So pop in your airpods on the way to Target and take note of a few things you may want to pick up while there!
Listen to this episode of The Veggies & Virtue Podcast now!
Full Episode Transcription
Please note this a raw transcription. If something doesn’t read correctly, toggle to that timestamp in the show so that you can listen in on what was actually being said!
00:00:00] When I was looking at some of the metrics on my website recently, I was seeing my post about Easter basket fillers that are non-candy going crazy this past month. And I realized I should really do an episode about this because I'm sure if you have not already gotten some items to fill your kids' Easter baskets with that, it is always helpful to hear from fellow moms about what items are a hit.
[00:00:22] And especially if we're trying to kind of steer clear of just filling a basket totally full of. Which I'm not against either, but personally, I like to add a little bit of rice. And to make sure that I'm incorporating some of the things that I know that my kids are already going to need as we transition out of the winter season and into spring and summer.
[00:00:39] So I wanted to share with you some of my family's favorites over the last eight years now, I guess, as motherhood in terms of what I've been putting in, both my kids, Easter baskets, as well as the Easter eggs that we hide around.
[00:01:36] Okay. So as we dive in today to talking about things, to fill either the plastic, Easter eggs with at Easter time or an Easter basket with, I want to put out there from the very get-go, I have nothing wrong with you deciding if weather and what candies you want to include in your child's Easter basket or an Easter eggs, especially as my kids get [00:02:00] older.
[00:02:00] And they're more aware of some of the other foods that have. We absolutely include some kind of fun and novel candies and cookies and just, you know, the like-type type things that I know my kids might find joy in. And I think that is a great part of holidays and celebration and food. A huge part of that.
[00:02:18] And so in no way, shape or form, do I want this episode to vilify any of those kinds of traditional foods that are just special to your family or really exciting to your kid? The more that we can see our child's excitement, not as a threat, but rather as an opportunity to equip them in knowing how to self-regulate the things that get them really excited.
[00:02:39] That otherwise a forbid in may feel like something that they're a little bit more obsessive about. We'd really want to neutralize those, those items in their life. And particularly if it's something that they know that other kids may have, that they don't have access to, that can really peak their interest.
[00:02:55] So see opportunities like Easter as a time to expose your kids to the [00:03:00] things that you know that they might enjoy, but it also kind of keeps it consolidated to a certain event. It's not necessarily something that we're going to have. Every day or that we're going to put on our grocery list every week, but it is absolutely okay to incorporate into our lifestyles and to show our kids how we can healthfully do so.
[00:03:18] So I just want to go ahead and put that out there to begin with, because as I talk about first Easter egg fillers, and then we'll jump in Easter basket stuff. I want you to know that when my kids were younger, I did steer clear of candy quite a bit more, especially when they just weren't really aware that that's tough, even existed.
[00:03:36] I tried to hold off as long as possible in terms of making them aware. That said as soon as we went to an Easter egg hunt in the community or at our church, My kids got Easter eggs with candy in it. So it's not that they didn't know it existed. It's just didn't have quite as high of an appeal as say it does now as my kids are, you know, two of the three of them are elementary age and you know, they definitely are more interested in seeing candy in those eggs [00:04:00] now.
[00:04:00] But the other reason that outside of just, you know, limiting sugar intake in younger kids is also for choking hazards on a day like Easter or on a weekend, like Easter week. Where our kids are running around with friends or cousins or neighbors or whoever it may be. You want to really make sure that they're not also, you know, running around with a jelly bean in their mouth or trying to chew on something that is just really not age appropriate for their feeding skills.
[00:04:24] So that would be the other main reason I would steer clear of candy and Easter eggs, or just be really aware of what types of candy so that, you know, it's not a choking hazard based on whatever age your child. It's hard to believe in my house that my youngest is three and a half. And so we're kind of starting to grow out of always having to think about choking hazards.
[00:04:44] Of course, it's still top of mind to me, but in things like Easter egg filling, it's not as much top of mind as say when I had a five-year-old a three-year-old and a newborn at home. So for Easter egg ideas, if you do want to do something, I'm sure you have ideas of what to put in it. If it's candy [00:05:00] or a lot of like the novel pastel options that are available.
[00:05:04] Right now. So I'm not going to share it. Those I'm not going to share those with you today because I assume you can come up with those yourself. Some of the ideas that I did want to give you to just kind of think outside the box or outside the egg, in this case of some things that can be fun or, you know, any sort of.
[00:05:20] A little fun shaped like cookie that may just have less sugar than say a actual piece of candy. So, you know, if you think of like the little bunny crackers they can, some of them are sweet. Some of them are more savory cheese, one, that's a really fun and festive option. Additionally, you may look at some of like the Betsy's brain food or the, my super.
[00:05:41] Like Hiro cookies. Those can be really great ones that you can just open up the packages of disperse throughout, or just like, you know, at trader Joe's, they have like little animal cracker cookies or the letter cookies. Any of those are really fun and all kind of right around. Same size and shape that might fit in an [00:06:00] Easter egg.
[00:06:00] Additionally, you might think of doing things like raisins or dried fruit. You might choose to do like little fruit chews or fruit snacks, depending on the sugar quantity that you want. There are some that are more fruit based like chumps fruit bites are a great option that you can put into a. They would be a little bit more expensive, but if you wanted to do like an Annie's bunnies, fruit snack, you could do something like that.
[00:06:24] Also you could do things like freeze, dried fruit, depending on the size of egg that you have. You might have something like a mini Laura bar, or you can put fresh food options. You know, you could put blueberries in it again, grapes would be a choking hazard depending on the agency of your child, but you could put some fresh fruits.
[00:06:41] So you could, you know, sometimes I'm when we're doing like an Eastern. For lunch, something that can be really funnest to just put a whole bunch of different items in it and kind of expose your kids before Easter to the fact that these eggs can be filled with lots of different things with crackers or Pino, blueberries, or carrot sticks, or a little bits of [00:07:00] cucumber, or, you know, a little bit slice of cheese and just let them go kind of collect their own Easter egg.
[00:07:05] Lunch is a really fun way. Do a twist on, say a muffin tin Monday. If you've seen me share that before, put it in little Easter eggs and help your kids see that these do not have to be just filled with candy for it to be really fun and novel. Now, if you're wanting to steer clear of foods, you might think of things like stickers, temporary tattoos, those teeny little bubble containers that kind of just fit in your purse for some easy entertainment.
[00:07:28] One that my kids have really enjoyed is we do like coupons. So, you know, this might be. A coupon for your choice of movie night or, you know, your choice to pick dinner or, you know, something like that. My, my kids have gotten really into that. They've gotten a little older, but also sometimes we've just written out little jokes or written out Bible verses, or just words of encouragement that we can tell them.
[00:07:50] As to you can also do that. If you want to like limit, if you are doing something like a candy or you kind of want to make something that you're doing go a little bit further, just writing [00:08:00] something like that on a piece of paper and tucking it in with say couple MnMs makes that egg feel a little bit more full and exciting than say an egg that only has a couple of.
[00:08:09] Additionally, we love those little tube figures. My kids have always loved those. If you get the larger size egg that tends to fit little things like that. Also this is often a time I helped my kids restock their hair accessories. You know, if the girls need clips or hair ties or scrunchies, those are really easy to you know, just bunch up into a little egg.
[00:08:29] Additionally the only time I buy band-aid I think are at Christmas and Easter because I put them in stockings and Easter. So you can put little character band-aids in Easter eggs. You also might do those little mini stampers. Those can be really fun if you have little girls like I do, they love those many little nail polishes or like little lip glosses, little things like that.
[00:08:50] Can all be really fun ideas for putting in Easter eggs. As we transition into talking about Easter basket, something I do really like doing is getting the [00:09:00] larger size. He strikes when I can find them because they just fit bigger items. And so I'll share some of the items that I sometimes will tuck in those here.
[00:09:09] But when I was preparing for this episode, I was thinking about how it Christmas, oftentimes, you know, something my family has used. And I know a lot of families use as an approach to Easter is kind of like the three gift rule or some families do like a four gift rules. So I think it goes something along the lines of like something you need something, you could read something.
[00:09:27] Child might want and something that they could wear. So that's obviously for things which gets a little way away from, you know, the three gifts of Christmas, but I know a lot of families kind of use that principle and I think it gives us some good guidance for Easter baskets, as well as we kind of transition seasons.
[00:09:43] And you know, both of my girls have birthdays right after Christmas. So I feel like we get a heavy hit in the winter of things that they might want or wear or need or read. And so Easter is kind of a fun. For us to just replenish some of those things that I know they are going to need or [00:10:00] want to read or.
[00:10:02] And also need to wear, and so wanting to share some of those ideas with you guys today. So starting with things that your child might want to wear again, getting into like the spring season, something that often comes up for us is, you know, transition of shoes. We just put the girl's boots away and, you know, kind of winter shoes away, they start needing the sandals and the jellies and the flip flops and those kinds of things, great things to tuck in an Easter.
[00:10:28] Water shoes. Additionally, this will often be a time that I get them a new fun towel for summer, or like those hoodie swim towels are big hit with my kids, maybe a personalized beach towel. Also I'll sometimes get them new jammies, you know, for kind of the warmer summer months of like the short sets or for the girls, like little.
[00:10:48] Nightgown dresses and stuff like that. Additionally, thinking through things like sunglasses, you know, do they need things like that or new swimsuits? All of those are some of the options that I often [00:11:00] will get my kids. And really a lot of those things can go for any age range. If your kids are younger, you might think, you know, do they need new bids?
[00:11:07] Have they gotten kind of grainy over the past few months and you maybe want to update one of those, those do roll up really fast. Also I've historically got my kids, kids cooking, aprons and Easter baskets. Those can be really fun and cute as well as we move on to kind of thinking through some of the.
[00:11:23] Things that kids may want. I want to think about the toys and the things that they just enjoy playing with. And so one of the biggest ones in our house is smelling markers. My kids are very into smelly markers right now, and we often need new markers, particularly with a three-year-old at home. Sometimes struggles to put the lid back on.
[00:11:41] So I know for my kids this year, restocking markers, for me, that's something that they need because I know I'm going to end up having to buy it at some point anyways. But I know it's also something that they really want and that they enjoy. Bubbles this time of year, always a hit new bath toys, especially if they have gotten kind of grimy or whatnot, pool toys and dive sticks are a really big [00:12:00] hit as well.
[00:12:01] My kids love sticker books, activity, books, coloring books, any of those types of things that you might want to replenish. I'm always sad that Easter happens after our spring break here, because I always want to stock up on all these things before spring break travels. But at least this way we have them, you know, for all of summer and things.
[00:12:17] But additionally, I often will put water balloon packs. This time of year, Costco will often have those like water balloons that you can fill up on the hose that fill up like all 100 of them at once they sell out come summertime. But if you can find them now, There something I always stock up on in the spring time and often we'll tuck in my kid.
[00:12:39] And my kids Easter baskets, additionally you know, there might be fun little puzzles, or you might want to do like a kite for the springtime, for your kids. All of those are really fun things that I know for my kids that they've always enjoyed playing with, or, you know, if they're really into like figurines, like Owens, getting a lot more into Avenger.
[00:12:58] The girls often enjoy like [00:13:00] Barbies or American girl dolls and things like that. So any sort of like little toy that, you know, your kid is into is obviously kind of fun to tuck in there, depending on how elaborate you want your basket or whatever your family's budget might be for such a basket.
[00:13:12] Additionally, as we talk about things that your child may need or read books of course are always a go-to. I think anytime you can incorporate a book either, you know, build up your family. Easter library is a great thing to do, or you know, if you have little ones, those little indestructable books are my absolute favorite for babies.
[00:13:31] But you know, as your kids go through board books, and then my oldest is now into chapter books and things, it's just a good time to kind of help update their library, particularly to help start getting them excited about summertime reading as they're out of school. As we talk about things that they may need.
[00:13:47] I tend to be really practical sometimes to a fault. Like I could be the most boring gift giver because. I just like practical things. And so sometimes with my kids, I just want to give them very practical things. But as soon as you put it in an Easter [00:14:00] basket or tuck it in a little Easter egg, it can make it a lot more novel and fun.
[00:14:03] But I encourage you to think about here, you know, with a few weeks or months left of school, you know, are there any fun snacks that you want? You know, replenish for your kids, or again, maybe these aren't your everyday snacks, but they're the ones that maybe your kids ask for from time to time that are a little bit more novel, maybe a little less nutritious, but you could put some of those in there.
[00:14:22] My kids love those little good to grow apple juices. They are a hundred percent apple juice, but they have those little like character toppers on them and our home. We don't really do juice, but on occasion we will let the kids have those. So those are always kind of a fun, little novelty thing to tuck in.
[00:14:38] Additionally, we may do things that they might need to just kind of update what we have on hand with, you know, their feeding supplies. Of course, this is something that I capitalize on. If I can. You know, giving the kids a new water bottle. I know we buy two at the beginning of the school year. Well come April.
[00:14:56] We are down to one for each of the kids, just because, you know, they [00:15:00] tend to go missing even though we do as our best possible to not lose them, that's just life. And so this is often a time that all get a water bottle. I know for my kids this year with Easter, I bought like a larger size. So instead of like the 14 ounce, I went with an 18 ounce.
[00:15:13] I love the simple, modern ones. They're on my Amazon shop. They are my absolute favorite. And it's. Bringing all my kids to you. So we don't have 14 different types of water bottles and straws combos, and things like that here, but they have an 18 ounce one, which is great. Come summertime. So the kids have just a little bit more water in their water bottle.
[00:15:33] Additionally, we may look for a little novelty food, things that maybe you see myself share. Other people share that looked like fun, little bit. To use with your kids that maybe it's not in the budget or you just haven't remembered to buy it kind of over the course of the year. Now can be a great time to get some of those like food.
[00:15:50] Kids now. So you can start incorporating your kid in the kitchen more, especially as you get into summer things like those Del bug personalized plates can be really [00:16:00] special. Also, if you want to get some of like the Nutro Joshy food pics, she has some darling ones for Easter, but just some versatile ones that you could your use your round or that kind of peak your kids' interests are really fun.
[00:16:13] Or if you've been realizing you would like to, as we gear up towards like earth day and things like that, do you want to start getting. Reusable bags, the bumpkins bags. Our go-to here. I put my kids snacks and almost every day. Those are one of my go tos to tuck inside of Easter eggs. And this kind of gives us a fun time to replenish the.
[00:16:32] If we need new ones or need more of them for summer and things like that. So those are also some of the things that I find that we tend to need by this point in the year that I might kind of feel like I should probably go ahead and buy them anyways. Some other things that are not super exciting, but they're kind of those space fillers.
[00:16:50] I know, you know, we are as any mom can attest to, I don't know where all of our batching socks go, but you know, my girls need like some new. No show [00:17:00] socks. So getting them some new socks or, you know, even finding if they need like new bubble bath or new shampoo a new wash cloth, really any of that stuff that you just kind of have on your list of things your kids might need.
[00:17:12] As soon as you roll it up and kind of tuck it in the Easter basket, it can be really fun and really functional. So I hope that this gives you guys some good ideas to kind of take and go with again, of course you do not. Anywhere near all the number of things that I talked about, but these are just some of the things that have been our go tos over the years, that I was hoping might also be helpful for you and your family as you celebrate Easter.
[00:17:37] As always Easter is not about the basket. It's not about the bunny. We want to be celebrating the sacrifice that Jesus has given for us. And we want to have every aspect of our celebration and the traditions that we create. Be something that point us back to the cross and point us back to the purpose.
[00:17:55] So whatever is special and celebratory for your family in doing so. I [00:18:00] encourage you to do so, but if it feels like it's distracting or a deterrent from the main purpose of Easter, of course, I would encourage you to avoid that and to focus on the meaning of Easter in a way that feels most fitting to your family.
[00:18:13] So as we move into the Easter weekend, I am praying for you and your families. I am praying that this weekend we'll bless you. And that you will grow in your relationships with the Lord and that you will just be so comforted knowing the love and the sacrifice that he has poured out for you and your little ones.
[00:18:34] It has been a joy having you on podcast today. And if you've enjoyed it as well, I have a quick favor to ask. Do you mind hopping over to apple podcast and leaving me a written review? This will only take you a hot second, but it truly blesses me every time I get to read one of you right over there. And it allows me to bless others through this podcast and the episodes to cap.
[00:18:54] The other thing that you can do is to take a screenshot of this episode and tag me over on Instagram at veggies in virtue, [00:19:00] I would love to see what action steps that you're taking from this episode, and also to support your family in the journey. Moving forward. Until next time. Thanks for coming over to chat at my kitchen counter.
[00:19:10] Remember that you will always have a seat and a snack waiting for you here.
