Saving Money on Easter Baskets

By

mrsdawn

We recently bought easter baskets for next easter. They were nice fabric ones from cost plus that would have cost us a bunch if they were not 75% off. We got them for like 59c each.

Buy for next yr after easter and put it away in the closet

By Sandee (Guest Post)

I didn't want to give them too much candy so I filled their basket/bags(sm. tote) or buckets. I try to use things that can be used for storage to put their goodies in. I fill them with books, puzzles, stickers, arts-n-crafts items, fun pencils/pens, sidewalk chalk...things they can be creative with.

I put a little twist on the easter egg hunt. Instead of hunting just for the eggs and a basket. I would create several clues for each of my daughters and hid them in large plastic eggs with a coin/fun eraser/stickers etc. On Easter day afternoon, I would gather my girls and give each one the first clue to get them started on their search for their hidden stuffed bunnies (other animals) and other goodies. Each clue would lead them to the next and so on until they found their basket. The fun part was to make the search fun and exciting....for example the first clue would go something like this:
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Your Easter Bunny (Bear..what ever stuffed animal is waiting for them) is hiding with a basket full of fun.

You must find all of the clues that will lead you to your bunny before the search is done.

When you find your last clue; it will tell you where your bunny is hiding; waiting for you to come play.

It is now time to find your bunny so lets get you on your way.

Your first clue: You must go to the room where your parents sleep. Turn around 3 times, now hop up and down on one foot and say hippity, bippity bop, now go to Janie's room and look under where she sleeps. There you will find your next clue.

They must follow all of the instructions/directions for each clue (no short cuts allowed). The second to last clue will lead them back to me or their dad. where they will have to preform a task (sing I'm a little Tea Pot etc...) before we will give them their last clue.

The ease or difficulty of the clues you create will depend on the age and ability of the child(ren) to read and understand them.

When they were too little to read their dad and I would help them read their clues.
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All of my girls are older now but even when they were in their late teens the still wanted to do the clue hunt for a chocolate bunny. I had fun with them by having each clue end up sending them back to me, to get the next clue and having them do things like; rub their bellies and pat their heads while reciting their abc's before I would give them the next clue. It was silly and we had so much fun and a barrel of laughs. All of my girls say that they want to carry on this tradition when they have their own children.

By bambi2003 (Guest Post)

We have 5 kids which gets pretty expensive at any holiday, so what we do is shop after the holiday when everything is on sale. My kids know that they will get more if they wait a day or two after the holiday, so because they get more they don't mind the wait. We even do this at Christmas. The kids get things from different relatives on the holidays themselves, so it's almost like having two separate holidays, and it saves us a ton of money.

By

susanmajp

We always kept the basket, grass, plastic eggs, etc, to use in future seasons. Everyone had their own special basket, looked forward to seeing it next year, and always knew whose was whose. A lot of candy was never given. Usually we gave a gift that was wanted/needed and some treats were added. One year we gave a baseball glove (placed some grass and candy in it ), another a sturdy dumptruck filled with some grass and candy. Other years there were books in the baskets along with baseball cards, and one year just some candy with a note for a treasure hunt. Another one had beach buckets filled with swimsuits and towels. Always had so much fun, the kids never noticed that the gifts were usually things we were going to buy anyway.