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Tired of those
pre-made Easter baskets filled with cheap toys that quickly break? Perhaps you
would like to give an Easter basket that's filled with useful items that
your child (or grandchild) can use throughout the year?
We suggest that
you develop a theme each year for the Easter baskets, and then fill them
with related items. To help you, we've developed a few themes
below. We have also included a list of items that could be
included in each basket.
Fairy
Basket
Fairies incite the
imagination of old and young alike! If you know a little girl w ho
would love to explore Fairyland, why not develop an Easter basket around
that theme? You could use a pastel basket embellished with chiffon
(or tulle) bows, and then fill it with:
-Fairy Magic Dust
(available from Chinaberry
)
-Flowerina's Make Your Own Fairy Kit
(available from Chinaberry
)
-
Fairy Fun
Book
(click here
for a review on this book)
-
Finding Fairies
Book (click here
for a review on this book)
Note:
Chinaberry
has a nice selection of fairy-themed items, including costumes, books
and more
Gardening
Basket
My
three-year-old son is dying to plant his own garden this year, so I will
be putting together a basket like this for him. I found a
kid-sized
Red Wheelbarrow
which I will use as the 'basket.' In it, I plan to
include:
-kid sized
gloves
-watering
can,
-small
garden hand tools
- seeds
- kids
book on gardening:
How a Seed Grows,
Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots:...
If
you don't want to run around town looking for kid-sized garden tools,
Amazon.com sells two pre-packaged sets:
Green Garden Wagon with Tools
(watering
can, wagon and garden tools) is only $9.98. Their
Tote Along Garden
is
a sturdy canvas bag filled with filled with children's gardening tools and
a watering can.
Baby
animals
This
will be a delightful gift for any child or toddler who loves
babies! Just remember, no real chicks or bunnies, please!
You could include:
- an
animal coloring book or paint book (include new crayons or paints)
-
stuffed animals
-
Wild Animal Baby
nature magazine
- Books
like
Animal Kisses,
Babies on the Go,
or
Time for Bed
- a
video like BabySongs Animals
(click here
for a review on this video)
- a
Jumbo Knob Animal Puzzle
Butterflies
 Great
for the young child who is loves exploring nature's most beautiful
creatures! You could include:
-
butterfly net
-
Butterfly Garden
or
Animal Planet Butterfly Jungle
- book
on butterflies like
From Caterpillar to Butterfly,
or
Where Butterflies Grow
-
subscription to a children's nature magazine like
Your Big Backyard
- Butterfly Cookie Pops
(available from Figi's
)
Outdoor games
They
will be spending a lot of time outside during the summer, and this Easter
basket will give them something to do! You might include:
-bubbles
-hula hoop
- small
balls
- unassembled
kite
- sidewalk chalk and
stencils
- jump
rope
-punching
balloon
- pinwheel.
- Kids Croquet Set
(available from Chiasso
)
You can
get Easter themed balls, bubbles, kites, punching balloons and pinwheels
from Oriental Trading Company.
Alphabet
basket
Great
for the child who is learning his alphabet! Fill the basket up
with 26 small things representing different letters of the alphabet
(i.e., an apple for A, a ball for B, a piece of candy for C, etc.)
Puppet
basket
Supplies
for making puppets packed in a large cardboard box, which could be
decorated like a puppet stage. Oriental Trading Company
sells craft kits for making puppets. Or purchase the puppets and have
the child make his own stage. Our favorite resources for puppets include
Sensational Beginnings
and Childcraft
. Let the kids use their imagination and put on a puppet show after
Easter dinner!
Baking
-Child's
cookbook like
Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes
or The Kid's Cookbook,
(available
from Chinaberry
)
-
child-size apron and chef's hat
-
child sized cooking or baking set (available from Sensational Beginnings
, item #G 1 1355 or the cookie baking set is item # G 2 1222 )
-
cookie or cake mix, or ingredients for one of the recipes in the
cookbook
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