Easter Basket Ideas for Kids

Easter baskets may spring from old European traditions, but they’ve become a central part of celebrating the holiday around the world. Traditional Easter basket fillers like marshmallow candies, chocolate bunnies, jellybeans, and the like are kid pleasers, but are way more sugary than most parents would prefer. Don’t fret! We’ve got plenty of non-candy Easter basket ideas that kids will love just as much.

Plushies

Not all Easter bunnies need to be made of chocolate. Instead of loading your baskets with candy, you can give your child a plushie instead. Rabbits make a great choice, but so do other cute critters associated with spring, like chicks, deer fawns, lambs, and piglets! And unlike their candy counterparts, a plushie will remain part of your kid’s creative play long after the holiday is over.

Eggs

Hard plastic Easter eggs are colorful, perfect for enclosing trinkets and treasures, and sturdy to boot! Use them to hold stickers, erasers, small toy vehicles, animal figurines, or whatever will make your child exclaim with delight when they peek inside. Place the eggs in a basket or hide them around the house or yard for some scavenger hunt fun!

Books

There’s usually room in an Easter basket for at least one book. You can even wrap a plushie’s arms around it to save some space and make the presentation extra cute! Books make great gifts because you can customize them to meet each child’s needs and interests. A springtime board book for a baby, an Easter-themed coloring book for a preschooler, a chapter book for your early reader—the big robin’s egg-blue sky’s the limit!

Activities

Baskets make a great starting place for an Easter Bunny treasure hunt. Pick any other treat or gift you might have put in the basket and hide it somewhere in the house or yard, then leave a trail of notes and riddles around the house directing your kids to it. It’s extra fun if the notes are from “the Easter bunny” and signed with a paw print. If your kids are old enough to read and might recognize your handwriting, you can get help from a friend or neighbor, use your nondominant hand, write in all caps, or otherwise disguise your handwriting.

Crafts

Spring is a wonderful time for doing arts and crafts projects with kids. Including the materials for a craft project in an Easter basket can set the stage for more fun later. Try our dandelion painting craft activity. You can print out the template and tuck it and a couple small containers of nontoxic paint right into the basket!

Plants

Nothing says spring like plants, and many of the best potted plants for kids are small enough to fit in an Easter basket. Tuck a tiny hens and chicks succulent plant next to something else in your basket and you’ll give your child a gift they can enjoy all year long! (Note: Be sure to wrap in cellophane so that the plant does not come into contact with any food items.)

It’s not easy coming up with great Easter basket ideas for kids, especially when there’s a whole aisle full of candy calling out to you. But with a little time and ingenuity, you can put together something truly special for your family—and maybe tuck a bit of chocolate in there too, just for fun.