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 (Amazon, Lego) 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?