Simple Easter Baskets for Kids

For our family, Easter is one of the most-loved holidays on the calendar each year! We love any opportunity to celebrate, but Easter is especially important to us.

He is risen! There truly is no better news!

However, in our eagerness to celebrate BIG, the whole Easter basket situation had started to get a bit out of hand.

Somehow along the way, as our kids had gotten older, their Easter baskets had gotten bigger!

As the Easter baskets grew in size, so did the number of Easter treats and gift items the kids were receiving.

In some ways, the gifts had also started to become more extravagant.

There were beautiful hand-made items from small shop boutiques.

Now, hear me out, there is nothing in the world wrong with those kinds of gifts, but as I continued each year filling large baskets for multiple children, I started to notice the expense that this was creating!

My realization of this came around the same time that it hit me – we have started putting Lego sets in our boys’ Easter baskets!

Again, there is nothing at all wrong with that if that’s what you want to do…but for us, things had just started to feel a bit out-of-hand.

For the budget we had in mind and the tone we wanted to set for Easter morning, the time had come.

We needed to reign things in a little bit as it pertained to Easter baskets.

So, as we have done in many areas of our life here over the last few years,

We made the decision to scale back on the Easter baskets!

We love this tradition.

For sure we wanted to continue the fun of our kids waking up to a basket of goodies curated just for them.

We simply wanted to adjust the tradition to make it feel a bit less like Christmas morning!

The First Step I Took to Simplify Easter Baskets

After deciding that I wanted to simplify things in this area, the first thing I did was purchase smaller Easter baskets!

We went from a variety of different large (very large) woven baskets I had collected from various yard sales (I mean, just look at the size of these baskets!) –

…to much smaller metal baskets.

I found these baskets at Target. They were part of the Hearth & Hand Magnolia Collection, and they were the perfect size for us.

It was really helpful that now each child had the same size basket.

Building Simple Easter Baskets

I began by dropping paper Easter grass down in each child’s basket. Tissue paper always works great, too. Love all the bright colors of spring!

Then I did what I had done in year’s past.

I filled each basket with items I had chosen specifically with each one of my kids in mind.

That first year definitely felt different!

I had to be very intentional about breaking past habits of gathering too many items, choosing more extravagant items, etc.

But I did it, and I’ve continued to do it this way every year since.

Yes, there’s still candy and treats – just not quite as many.

Sure, there still might be art supplies or a creative toy of some kind. There may just not multiples of these kinds of things.

An interesting book, but not a whole book series.

Maybe a new water bottle (Sometimes we need replacements!), instead of multiple new pool toys for summer.

A set of needed pajamas – but in place of yet another toy.

You get the idea!

At a quick glance, these smaller, more simplified baskets may not look much different to you than the large Easter gift baskets I shared at the top of this post, but I assure you, the difference is great!

The baskets are much smaller – just the right size!

The number of gifts is fewer.

The types of gifts have been adjusted a good bit.

That first year, did my kids notice? They did, and they were just fine!

We actually have had lots of great conversation about ways we’ve been attempting to scale back with gift-giving to allow the time, money, and energy for more family experiences.

I think it’s been really important for us to be able to explain our why – and for them to then SEE us be able to do these other things we’ve talked about together as a family.

Psst…that blue and white basket there is the one I put together for my husband! I love surprising him with his favorite candy, too!

What might this look like for you?

Maybe you feel comfortable with how Easter morning looks for your family! If so, this post was in no way designed to force change on anyone else.

For us, it was something we felt needed adjusted – but maybe this post has inspired you to consider simplifying another area of your life.

No matter your take-away, we hope you leave inspired and encouraged as you continue loving well within the walls of your home.

Keep celebrating in the ways that are meaningful to your family – God has given us so much to celebrate.

Easter Basket Gifts Ideas for Simple Baskets

• Yum Earth Bunny Candy – Does your family love jelly beans most?
• Annie’s Bunny Treats
• Our Favorite Chocolate Eggs – Your family may prefer chocolate bunnies!
• Easter Books/Spring Kids Books
• Summer Toys
• Sensory Activities/Fidget Toys
• Art Supplies – double-sided tape, washi tape, duct tape, paints, pipe cleaners, craft sticks, sidewalk chalk, a sketch pad, small sticker books, construction paper, etc.

Shop By Category

• Your Baby’s Basket
• Toddler Gift Ideas
• Fun for Preschoolers
• Little Girl Favorites
• Ideas for Your Middle School Kiddo
• Games for the Family
• Consumable Gifts for Adults

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A New Twist on Traditional Easter Baskets

Thinking about adjusting this how the Easter basket tradition looks in your home?

You may want to take things even further, and instead of everyone having their own Easter basket, what about a Family Easter Basket?

You could include whole-group DIY projects (Make it somewhat of an easy project the whole family would enjoy.), a new family game, with a few little gifts and favorite Easter basket stuffers, of course!

Honestly, I’m not so sure how this idea would go over in our house. I have a feeling I would have a least a couple of kiddos pretty upset if we moved to a whole-group Easter basket – ha!

Maybe I’ll let you try it first and you can let me know how it goes. It might be super helpful to someone’s journey to more simple living, so I thought I’d share it.

It’s definitely at least something for me to think about…