[Willowlynn]

Do you make your childrens Easter baskets?

Or do you buy a basket that is already made?

What other fun Easter activities do you do with your children?

The Easter bunny is coming early to my house...TOMORROW!

DH works out of town and will be home Tomorrow and I thought we should have it when he is home.

Of course on Sunday I will still take the kids to the community Easter Egg hunt.

[itsbelong]

We let the Easter Bunny know what should go into the basket and he makes one specifically for the kids.

This year is going to be a bit different as Easter falls on my Dad's b'day and this will be the first year in about 15 that my sister and her family will be there. There will definitely be an Easter Egg Hunt.

[jbmama]

I put ours together. I bit the bullet this year and bought the personalized Pottery Barn baskets. It seems like otherwise I was buying a new basket every year and all of a sudden we had tons of Easter baskets.
I got those Vegie Tales movies to put in them - that were on sale. A small toy that they like and of course candy.

[lifeworthliving]

I have and do make my little ones Easter Basket.

What I do is find (thru out the year) nice totes. Like rubbermaid baskets with a solid handle. There are so many to choose from. I put a dap of grass in it, then fill it all kinds of special stuff. Happy meal toys are great to save and put in there as well. Of course candy of all sorts.

Then when easter is over they can use the totes for anything they wish. Hot wheels, polly pocket stuff. Or if your DIL use them for many house hold uses. Cleaning tote. Just large enough to carry severl cleaning items, rag, ect. And with the hard plastic handle no worry of stuff tipping out.

Why waist the money on a cheap basket that will get thrown out when you can spend the same amount on something that will last forever. And be useful.

[jbmama]

Love the tote idea!!!!!

[mjloves2shop]

I have always made my own baskets. Last year DH and I had his yearly convention in the Bahamas and we flew back and left with the kids a few hours later for Jamacia. We got in the night before Easter. So I had MIL and FIL buy pre-made baskets ~ I never heard so many complaints in my life!!!

I bought up Easter clearance items last year and Christmas stocking stuffers that go in the baskets. Gum is an easy freebie and so are mints.

I started making the baskets because I wanted to give more little toys and less candy. It has just become a habit now. My DS was 13 last year and he asked me if I usually make the baskets and is that why they sucked (since I had to get pre-made).

[Kmchamplin]

Premade baskets always suck IMHO. They look like they should have a ton of stuff in them and they don't. I have always made my own and just save the basket from year to year.

[NoahsMomma]

I making 8 for mine.

[couponclipper]

I buy a real good basket that will last for years for Easter. So far the baskets are going on 10 years and still in great shape. I put in assorted different candies and a toy in it. I also melt chocolate wafers and make my own chocolate bunnies for the kids too.

[mama2gavin]

I am waiting until after Easter to buy Gavin's first basket. I am planning on getting a big wicker one.

I would never buy the pre-made baskets. They may look cool to the kids, but all they have in them are cheap toys and cardboard.

[rntg83]

And with all the candy deals at cvs, why waste money on a premade basket? I don't know how old your children are, but school supplies, pencils crayons and such are nice in the basket, small toys, hair things for girls, GUM! My dd is the GUM QUEEN! If I can find it, I will post and activity that I had emailed last year.

[couponclipper]

the premade baskets are not good at all. It looks great but hardly anything worthwhile is in there. It's best to make up your own. I enjoy making my kids baskets up.

[Jamalfi]

I always make my own baskets. I try and put Spring/Summer outdoor stuff in the baskets. Bubbles and chalk. I try not to add lots of candy. I also do an egg hunt for them. And then they get another egg hunt from my parents.

[stinkbag]

I make my own, I use the same baskets each year, since my kids first Easter, kinda like the x-mas stocking, now that they are older 11 & 15, I will be getting itunes gift cards and some others and of course candy!

[just_jenn]

I only buy one basket and save it each year for my kids. We set it out the basket out the night before and the Easter Bunny comes and fills it full of goodies. This way no need to keep collecting unwanted baskets.

[AprilMG]

Since this is DD 2nd Easter, we're using that basket from last year..although it looks pretty durable so we'll just use it as long as it'll last. I've been buying lil toys and things to put in there for a while.
I think the Easter Bunny went a lil crazy this year tho-2 movies, flip-flops-2 outfits-candies-and 3 books.
Is he competing with Santa?? LOL

[lhart24]

I think making your own basket is a good idea that way you can personalize it to your childs age and interests. Those premade ones are hard to fit to ages and interests. They have obvious ones sports and princess but not much else. And very few are age appropriate for lil tykes.

Other activities, definitely an easter egg hunt. My parents also wrote our names on the eggs and we could only get ours. It made it fun and since there is a four year age difference between the oldest and youngest, they could hide the littlest one's eggs in a more obvious spot. The older you got the harder they are to find. We all had an even amount of eggs and all the contents were the same per child (ya it was easy to tell if we cheated and took a siblings egg... haha). I actually believe mom also taped them shut so we couldnt find a sibling egg and open it to steal the goodies (we were a bit competitive).

Another thing, color/dye eggs. Depending on the age, there are some that have markers or stickers. Then there are the older dye kits. Kind of depends on what your kids can do.


Depending on how religious you are, you can do resurrection eggs. This website explains how to do it...
Resurrection Eggs
It is a good way to teach children the meaning behind easter.


A trail of hershey kisses or some candies from the childs bed to their basket is always fun. I think the younger kids get a kick out of this and it allows you to kind of hide the basket. Space the candies out... most of the time 10 or so candies are good enough to mark the path. You could also tie a ribbon to the basket and have it lead to their bedroom door. They wake up and start following the ribbon. Have them go under furniture, over tables, in one room, out the other, etc. Kids will have a blast.

For older kids, you could hide the basket really well. When they wake up start with an plastic egg with a clue inside beside their bed. This clue will lead them to another egg, then another, and so on. Ten or so clues then the last clue leds them to the basket.

Hope you have a wonderful easter!!!

[rntg83]

[/quote]A trail of hershey kisses or some candies from the childs bed to their basket is always fun. I think the younger kids get a kick out of this and it allows you to kind of hide the basket. Space the candies out... most of the time 10 or so candies are good enough to mark the path. You could also tie a ribbon to the basket and have it lead to their bedroom door. They wake up and start following the ribbon. Have them go under furniture, over tables, in one room, out the other, etc. Kids will have a blast.
Becareful if you have pets, chocolate is toxic to them.
I posted on another thread resurrection cookies. http://www.afullcup.com/upload/food-...n-cookies.html

[KellyMarie]

Always made my kids' baskets and now I make my grandkids'

[jbmama]

lhart24 --Love those ideas!!!! I'm gonna start working on things today!!! You rock!!

[cskrizan]

Hi,
My parents have an Easter egg hunt in their house. I think they fill over 75! Half of them contain $$! My kids love it!

We have a scavenger hunt! I give them their 1st clue, and then they need to find the next egg which has the next clue, and so on. We hide about 10 eggs til they get their final clue. We just started this last year, and they received a Webkinz and some candy. They will get the same this year.

The Webkinz codes expire after 1 yr. on the website, so it's an awesome treat for them to get another one!!

We also do the Resurrection eggs, my kids love it!

Steph

[CM_ANGEL]

I make my son's basket. The night before Easter, he puts his basket out and we put the grass in it. Then when he wakes up, it is full of goodies!

[mama2gavin]

You know, I used to make baskets. Actual baskets. I worked at Jasper Basket Works. Pretty cool, and really hard.

Ok back on topic now.

[mysweetiepie]

Originally Posted by Kmchamplin

Premade baskets always suck IMHO. They look like they should have a ton of stuff in them and they don't. I have always made my own and just save the basket from year to year.

I agree and we do the same this past sunday we had a egg hunt at my moms house and this sat out church will have there spring fling with a big easter egg hunt

[bette]

Originally Posted by cskrizan

Hi,


The Webkinz codes expire after 1 yr. on the website, so it's an awesome treat for them to get another one!!


Steph

Don't know if you are aware, but as long as you put in the new code before the old one expires you get to keep the old one too. My son was upset at first because he thought his monkey would disappear, but when we put in hte new codes, the old one stayed too!