Hello to my fellow quarantine-ers! Hope you all are hanging in there. We are most days!
As you may remember, Easter was this past Sunday which meant that for the last few weeks I've gotten to do one of my absolute favorite things: plan and assemble Easter baskets. Seriously, this is one of my most-loved tasks to do as a mom (least loved: going through outgrown clothes and toys) and I always have so much fun thinking about each child and what little treats will make them smile (or in some cases, are things they need!)
I definitely lean more classic in my style in general and Easter baskets are no exception. I purchased some timeless looking woven baskets that are pretty large at Michaels (they still have them in the normal basket section) a few years ago. I bought four when I only had three kids with the hope that one day I would get to assemble all four and here we are!
Y'all. It is past bedtime and I can hear my boys fighting in their bedroom. So fun. Just thought you should know.
------
A few "rules" I follow each year for our baskets:
1. I always tie the basket handles with pretty silk ribbon. Each child has their own color so it's easy to tell whose is whose (did I type that correctly? probably not...) on Easter morning. I also really like the way the ribbon tails flutter in the wind when they are hunting eggs. Is that weird? It makes me happy.
2. "Pinterest-worthy" Easter baskets alway look so pretty with their wooden toys and handmade stuffed animals and all, but I really tend to only focus on what my kids really want and not so much on how cool or pretty the items are. (Although that's a definite plus and I'll happily get the cool/pretty things if we need them!)
3. I'm all about stuffing and layering the baskets to make them look as full as possible. My mom (I mean the Easter Bunny) was always really good at this when I was growing up and it made me SO excited to run into the living room every year and just take in the visual goodness.
4. I generally try to include items that can be consumed or used up in some way along with one or two small toys. It's nice because this time of year we always need fresh sets of chalk and bubbles so I always included some of those as well as new play doh or markers or paints or whatever we are running low on in the art drawer. I also love to use Easter to give the kids books that I want them to read. Sometimes I'll include clothes or swimsuits that they need but this year I focused more on fun trinkets and crafts since we are ALWAYS home and are running into a lot of "Mom, I BOOOORED" comments.
Alright now for the actual baskets. I'm included links to some of the items if you are in the throes of surviving your children's boredom like I am and need Amazon to help rescue you.
For Parker's basket I included:
-"The Action Bible" (Parker is so into the Dogman comic and I thought this would be a great step up from his preschool Bible!
-A new Dogman book
-Two small LEGO sets (I got these are Target when LEGO was 20% off--I love when they do that!)
-A Hot Wheels car
-Markers
-Play Doh
-Bubbles
-Chalk (I found the egg-shaped chalk at Target in the dollar spot section.)
-Candy (I always get Peeps, cotton candy, and egg gum. )
Hayes's basket:
-"Paint by Sticker" book (I am so excited about this! Hayes is our puzzle boy and this has the same kind of concept but with stickers. It's also one of a whole series and they all are super cute! I also loved the artwork on the front.)
-"How To Catch A Dinosaur" book
-Glo Pals (These are super fun bath toys that glow in the bath and turn off when they come out of the water. We've already used them and were very impressed! Plus, the company is based where I was born--Starkville, MS.)
-Two small LEGO sets
-Hot Wheels car
-Play Doh
-Chalk
-Bubbles
-Candy
Lily's basket:
-"How to Catch a Mermaid" book
-Melissa and Doug beading/jewelry kit (She has been begging to do this! We need to open it.)
-Melissa and Doug stamp set (Girlfriend loves her stamps and lost her mind when she saw this.)
-Washable paint (Another "running low" addition to the art drawer)
-Sunglasses (She kept stealing her brothers sunglasses. These were only $1 in the Target dollar spot!)
-Bubbles
-Play Doh
-Chalk
-Candy
Graham's basket:
Baby baskets are so hard when you already have every baby toy and board book imaginable. I pretty much filled Graham's baskets with things I wanted the older kids to share because, hey, he's a baby so he doesn't know and doesn't care. ;)
-"After The Fall" book
-Musical instrument set (Our old set was falling apart so this was a strategic buy for the older kids. Plus it's SUPER cute! They've already been driving me crazy with it! Ha.)
-Play Doh
-Bubbles
-Chalk
-Candy (You know, for us tired Easter Bunnies.)
So there's that! What are key ingredients for your Easter baskets? Do you enjoy putting them together as much as I do?
Here is a link to all of my Amazon sources in case you want to see everything at once. (Also, this is not an ad and I am not an affiliate blogger for Amazon.)
Talk soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment