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With Spring time officially here and Easter in a week, I decided to put together an Easter basket for Syfy that would help to also build up our Waldorf style homeschool classroom. I have NEVER been the kind of girl to put candy in Easter baskets or Christmas stalkings. When I was little, the memories that I have are the ones that my own Mother gave me by putting cute accessories, jewelry, gift cards, pencils, pencil tops/erasers, and other crafty little doowahickeys in our Easter baskets and stalkings. My sister and I always got really excited by this too! We didn't care that our friends were getting baskets full of candy because when their candy ran out, we knew that our sweet gifts would still be in use.
My mother is definitely the inspiration behind me leaving out the candy during the holidays. This year, instead of opting for the usual stuffed bunny rabbit, I decided to get Silas his very first Waldorf inspired doll! I had originally picked out a brown haired one, but when I showed him all of the dolls online, he was totally all about the blonde hair dolls, so I bought him Max. (Ok…his name was supposed to be Boris but I kind of think that name is more for Russian spies and evil geniuses…and I don't want either of those influencing my son! lol I liked Max better.)
Everything that I bought, including the basket, came from one of my favorite Waldorf toys store online; Bella Luna Toys. I am in no way affiliated with them, and I definitely paid full price for all of these items. Just so you know, I am totally backing them because of experience as a customer, not from any profits or benefits!
The Bolga basket is a really awesome add-on because not are these babies HAND WOVEN from elephant grass (which is SUPER strong), purchasing them helps out families in Africa through the Blessing Basket. The artisans who create these beauties, get paid at least 2.5x the fair trade price so they are able to build a stable life for their children! Also, besides doing good things around the world, this basket is also perfect for a picnic lunch or putting all of those wonderful treasures that we find on our nature walks, daily. I just love a product that is super sturdy, worth it's price, and makes me feel good in the process!
Instead of using that awful plastic grass that gets all over your house, just like tinsel, I decided I am going to line Syfy's Bolga basket and grow some Easter grass! What a great idea, AND it's a much greener way to go about Easter grass in the Easter basket!
According to the instructions, the grass grows at about a rate of one inch a day so by planting it a week before Easter, it'll sprout in two days and be tall enough to fill the basket on Easter morning! Also, if we don't re-plant it into the yard, we can always just throw it in the composter so it still ends up being useful even in its death!
There are so many awesome little things that you can put into an Easter basket instead of candy! After watching a commercial on TV today advertising not to forget the candy for the kid's Easter baskets, I am now convinced that the candy companies have taken over our holidays …and I want them back.
You can add any of the following things (AND MANY OTHER IDEAS….don't limit yourselves to my ideas!) to an Easter basket. Obviously depending on the ages of the children, the presents in the basket may vary, but go with the general theme and scale it up for age!
I am actually going to make a set of my homemade play dough to put into Syfy's Easter basket as well. You can never go wrong with craft and art supplies!!!
EASTER BASKET ALTERNATIVES TO CANDY
- Art Supplies - crayons, colored pencils, markers, scissors, glue sticks, paper, craft paper, paints, water colors, chalk, clay, play dough,
This beautiful toy wooden camera is great for open ended imaginative play! The button on it really presses down and the “focus” turns around where there is a hole that you can actually see out of! eraser's, pencils, pencil cases, pencil sharpeners, etc.
- Stuffed Animals/Dolls - This one is quite self explanatory, but my mother always put a new stuffed animal in our Easter baskets every year. I had not purchased a doll for Silas yet, so I thought that Max would be a great alternative to another stuffed animal, this year.
- Figurines/Barbies/Wooden Figurines - You can put all kinds of little dudes and dudettes into your baskets. Little army men, little sets of jungle/farm/desert animals, Ostheimer figurines, etc.
- Craft Kits - diy friendship bracelets, origami, paper airplanes, etc.
- Outdoor Springtime Fun - bubbles, sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, yo-yo's, matchbox cars, jacks/ball, bouncy balls, ping pong paddles/ball, etc.
- Gardening Fun - gardening hand tools, packets of seeds, knee rest, gardening gloves, cute little plant containers (you could even get plain ones and some paint and decorate them for your child, or with your child!)
- Books!!!!!! I love books so much that they deserve that many exclamations after the word lol.
- Jewelry - Little (and big) girls are likely to love little homemade bracelets and necklaces! There are all kinds of nifty bracelets you can make just by tying knots!
- Gift Cards - not the most creative idea, but hey those older kids can be REALLY picky, and this way they still end up getting what they want and so do you. (as long as you don't give them a gift card to a candy store hahaha.)
- Shoes - There are not many girls out there (young or old) that would be able to resist a cute pair of shoes in their Easter basket! I know that even my son loves getting new shoes as long as they're blue!
- Homemade Bath & Body Gifts - Depending on the age of the child, you can add some homemade bubble bath, bath crayons, bath paints, bath toys, homemade make-up, homemade lip balms (everyone I know loves yummy lip balm!), homemade bath fizzies, etc.
- Baby Stuff - teethers, small toys, just about any baby stuff the mom is in need of goes great in an Easter basket for babies! Spoons, plates, binkies, slings, etc.
- Underwear - Ok…I am a mom, I can't help but think underwear is a handy use of present space!
- SO MUCH MORE TO THINK OF!!!!
What are you putting in your kiddo's Easter Baskets?
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