Clutter-Free Easter Baskets
If you have recently embraced a more minimalist lifestyle, the old traditions, like giving Easter baskets, tend to cause doubt and anxiety: the kids are expecting this, this is what we’ve always done, I don’t want to ignore all those traditions we’ve had, etc.
You don’t have to give them up completely, there are ways around traditions where you can still celebrate and still give gifts without bringing more clutter into the house.
The basket:
There is no need to purchase a new basket each year and then drop it off at the donation center again. Other options:
- Ziplock bag – that’s right, a bag of candy, coupons or tickets is simple and the kids love it.
- Mason jar – keep it small and easy to fill with minimal treats.
- Garden Pot – if your family enjoys gardening, this is a perfect time to give them their own special pot to grow something.
- Homemade paper basket (do a quick Google search, there are a bunch of ideas!)
- Purchase a nice basket that you want to use in organizing the kid’s room and then reuse it every year after.
- Make your own “basket” out of candy boxes
- Fill their favorite baseball cap
- Tackle box, toolbox, craft box, etc. If your child needs their own supplies or a way to organize what they have, this is a great time to give them something to organize it.
- Rubber boots or new shoes. By spring my kids are normally needing a new pair of shoes, so this is a perfect time to give something that is needed and make it special at the same time.
What to fill it with:
If you’re not one to mind candy, then feel free to fill it with candy! My kids don’t do well with candy, so I will always pick the alternative, even if it means I have to deal with some type of clutter.
- Craft supplies
- Crayons
- Gel pens
- Stickers
- Playdoh
- Coloring book
- Seeds
- Garden tools
- Lego Sets
- Socks
- Underwear
- Collection Cards (Pokemon, etc.)
- Sidewalk chalk
- Bandaids
- Stickers
- Coins (Real money- this is what we do each year!)
- Coupons (Play a game with mom, get ice cream with dad, etc.)
- Food items:
- grapes
- granola
- jerky
- trail mix
- dried fruit
- goldfish crackers
- Legos (One year we got a Lego set and divided all the pieces up between the eggs, the kids had to share to create the set.)
- Jokes (Print them on a paper and fold it up to fit in an egg.)
- Balloons
Related articles:
- Non-Toy Gifts for Children
- Non-Toy Gifts for Toddlers
- Clutter-Free Gifts for Teens
- Clutter-Free Easter Celebration
My kids are getting a little older now (almost all are teens) but we want to carry on the traditional egg hunt. I decided this year that since we have a busy schedule and out of town up until Easter…I am getting quarters and $1 bills to put in the eggs. And I’ll get them one good chocolate bar. It satisfies the sweet element to Easter and who doesn’t like some cash! Easiest Easter I’ve planned without having to spend time shopping for candy I really don’t want them to have and something they will appreciate.
Last year I took a family photo that I loved and had it made into a puzzle. Then I divided the puzzle pieces among the plastic eggs and hid them about.
I did not give my son the box, so he had no idea what the picture was until he put enough of it together to recognize our faces.
Hi Rachel,
Growing up Easter was all about going to church, Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday, we would get our winter pyjamas and one candy egg as our Easter gifts on Easter Sunday. I used to love Easter even more than Christmas as it just felt more special. I remember doing the stations of the cross, with Mum, Nan and my Sister, all dressed in our best, walking around the roads that encoumpassed the Gympie Catholic Church.
How times have changed, I am no longer a practicing catholic, I still believe in a higher power, I just don’t need to go to a church to prove it.
I do disagree with making Easter another occasion of giving toys though, kids get so much all year long, that receiving a most wished for item, just doesn’t happen anymore. Most kids these days have everything they ever wanted on a weekly basis, which I feel is quite wrong.
Fi
I agree with you Fiona, we don’t do baskets and our focus is on Christ.
https://nourishingminimalism.com/blog/a-clutter-free-easter-celebration/
But many people don’t want to give up on these gift-giving traditions, so they need some options. ❤️
I do agree Fiona. Easter was always a religious celebration for us and I used to get an egg with a tiny fluffy chick on top, which I always preferred to the actual chocolate too. In fact, I hardly ate sweets as a child and my parents and grandfather usually used to eat the ones that relatives gave me. For dinner we had chicken which was a yearly treat then as it was, when I was growing up, a very expensive meat.
I used a bucket and filled it with sponges, clothes, candy and boiled eggs. After Easter. we could have a car wash and a snack.
Thank you for this post, these a great ideas that we will apply this year. Less is more.. My mom once put the same bunny in the basket year after year until i noticed haha!!
When our family got older we had a flip flop hunt for the kids. We collected cool summer flip flops for everyone and hid them. The kids hunted for them but could only collect them when they found both. A family memory we still talk about.