Welcome! I am a mom to two wonderful kids, a lovely retired greyhound, and a wife to a great husband. Needless to say, there are a lot of daily messes to clean up around our house. Daily Messes is my blog to share ideas on things to do with your kids, snack and meal ideas, crafts, and holiday fun. I hope you find something to enjoy!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Hunting For Easter Baskets

Growing up, my parents hid the both the Easter eggs and our baskets. I now do the same for my boys. This year we have more places to hide the eggs and the baskets, which I am very excited about. I thought I would try something new this year and hide pieces of an Easter themed puzzle. The back of the puzzle pieces have a clue to the next puzzle piece. The last piece of the puzzle will have the clue to where their basket is. I have some eggs that have designs on them that I might hide the puzzle pieces in. I can write their initial or name on the egg and then there won't be any fights over the egg and puzzle piece.

Scavenger Hunt Ideas:
  • Puzzles:
    • One year, I made an Easter themed picture on picmonkey.com (the Higgins card above), but you could also use Adobe or even Word and use clip art to create a picture. Cut the picture into puzzle pieces (DM TIP: I have some stencils below in different sizes and number of pieces that might help) and write your clues on the back and hide them. 
    • For an even easier puzzle, buy an Easter themed puzzle and write your clues on the back. I saw a 25 piece puzzle for $1 in Target's dollar bins the other day.
    • Take a picture of where the basket is hiding, print, and cut into pieces. Once they find all the pieces, they will know where their basket is! This is a great option for kids who might not be able to read the clues yet. (Bottom puzzle piece picture above)
  • Eggs:
    • You could have special shaped eggs (I used jelly bean shaped eggs one year), that have their clues attached. Only those shaped eggs will contain a clue. I had a note explaining the hunt the first time with the egg taped on in their room. Each following egg had a clue inside it to lead them to their baskets!
  • Clues: The clues can be super simple (where you keep your shoes, where the clothes get dried, the dog sleeps here, etc.), harder (I am long/round/square and have 4 legs but cannot walk or run. Table; You were just fed, but where would you get an egg? Refrigerator; Although small but getting bigger, one day your feet will fill these shoes. Hide in Mom/Dad's shoes.), or even in a rhyming pattern (Roses are red, Violets are blue, I would look under the bed, If I were you.; You hung these up and put them away, they hold lunch and a book or two, go there without delay, though the clue may be hidden from view)
FILLERS: We still have a ton of candy left from Halloween, so I wanted to try to do mostly non-candy items for the baskets. Of course, there are a few things that are required for an Easter basket like Reeses's Peanut Butter eggs and Jelly Beans (Target has Jelly Belly packs for $1). I've been on a hunt for basket fillers, and here are a few that I found:

I found some other fun basket filler finds this year: 
  • Star Wars Light Saber Popsicle Molds. I cannot wait to try these...I mean to have the boys try these. Amazon sells them, as well as ThinkGeek.
  • Slinkys (also in Target's Dollar Bins at the front of the store, $1)
  • Chocolate Maze (Target Dollar Bins, $1)
  • Reese's Giant Peanut Butter Egg. I found them at Target for $5.49, but Amazon sells some as well.
  • Lego Mixel's (AmazonLego) or other fun Lego's
  • Jelly Belly's 
  • Play-Doh Eggs (I found a 4 pack at the grocery store for $3.50, although Amazon sells them too.)
  • Pencils and/or pencil sharpeners, markers, stickers, stamps, activity pads, etc. I find a lot of cute (and inexpensive) items for fillers at Party City.
  • Fill eggs with coins.
  • Vouchers. I was trying to come up with some other fillers for the boys baskets. Bernardo wants to start going to garage sales to look for Lego's this spring/summer. One of his eggs is going to have a voucher for garage sale money. (Thanks for the idea Beth!). It could even be for an extra hour of TV, get out of 1 chore, money to spend at a store/amusement park/zoo/aquarium, etc.
  • Movie tickets
  • DVD's (You can often find great deals at Target for under $5, at Half Price Books, and sometimes even at Michael's Crafts!)
  • Hot Wheels
  • Books









What are you favorite Easter Basket fillers? Do you hide the baskets and the eggs?

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