Easter is April 17, 2022

 This year Easter is April 12. As always,  I am trying to come up with some new non-candy ideas for the boys' baskets. It's a little harder to find cool non-food items right now with our Shelter-In-Place order from the Governor. We have several people in our family with health conditions that place them at higher risk for Corona/Covid-19. I have been trying to do mostly online shopping and avoiding the stores to limit exposure in our family. (If you are going to order online, I would suggest that you place your order early as there have been a lot of delays with supplies/shipping!)

There are a few things that they always get: a small pack of jelly beans, a couple of Reese's eggs, and a book or two. Luckily, I have been able to buy most of these online. In the past, they have received soccer gear (although not this year as the season has been postponed indefinitely), books, art supplies, etc., which can all be found online! I have some of the food/craft/Easter basket and egg hunt ideas from the past couple of years below.

I wish you and your families a safe, healthy, and enjoyable Easter (and Spring!) season. Hopefully some of these ideas will help you celebrate your Easter! 

 FOOD:

•  Bunnies, Chicks, and Sprinkles...Oh My! Easter themed cake pops.
• Last Minute Easter Ideas: cheese puff filled carrot shaped bags, jelly bean bracelets, lollipop Egg Basket.
• Veggie Trays. I have an example of an Easter veggie tray towards the bottom of the linked post.
• Rice Cereal Easter Treats: Egg and flower shaped rice cereal treats make the perfect snack or dessert for Easter!
• Bunny Bread/Veggie Tray
• Rice Cereal Treat Eggs
• Peeps S'mores
• Hidden Surprise Pound Cake: The link is for St. Patrick's Day, but if you change the shamrock to an egg or flower, it's perfect for Easter!
• BREAKFAST IDEAS:
• Egg Casserole 
• Coffee Cakes
• Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
• Muffins:
• Apple Cinnamon
• Banana Chocolate Chip

 EGGS, EGG HUNTS, AND EASTER BASKETS:

• Egg dying and decorating: There are a lot of ways to decorate eggs, however we love to eat our eggs! So, I am only going to be doing ideas that leave the eggs edible.
• Eggstravaganza (dying with food coloring, natural dyes, impression eggs, tissue paper, crayons, rubber bands, stickers, Diva Eggs, and Lady Bug Eggs)
• Painted Eggs (fingerprint animals, bubble wrap, painted designs):
• Crackle Eggs 
• Space Invaders, Glitter, and Snorkle Eggs
• Drip Art Eggs: These look fun, but we haven't tried them yet. Stand a hard-boiled egg upright over something that will not get ruined (like a plastic plate or bowl). Place a drop of food coloring on the top of the egg. Mist egg using a spray bottle. Add a drop of another color, mist again. Gently blow on the egg to make the colors move around.
• Monster Eggs (using glue dots, pipe cleaners, and stickers)
• Tattoo Eggs: Use temporary tattoos. Make sure egg is completely dry before following tattoo directions. 
• Ombre Eggs: Place a bottle cap (flat side down) on the bottom of a wide glass (8-10 oz.). Set egg on bottle cap. Mix the dye (1 teaspoon vinegar, 40 drops food coloring, 1/2 cup boiling water). Pour dye into glass until 1/4 of the egg is covered. Let sit 5 minutes. Add plain warm water to the cup until 1/2 the egg is covered. Let set 3 minutes. Add more water to the desired level. Wait 2 minutes. Repeat if want additional stripes. Carefully remove with tongs and let dry.

• Egg Hunts:
• Hunting for Easter Baskets. We do a scavenger hunt to find their baskets.
• Glow In The Dark Egg Hunt. 

• Basket Filler Ideas:
• Fun bookmarks. I just discovered these fun 3D bookmarks on Amazon. There is a crocodile, shark, Nessie, astronaut, dinosaur, gecko, etc.
• New gear: soccer ball/cleats/shin guards/practice net, baseball cleats/balls/bats/bag/helmet/throw back, shoes: track/running, mouth guards, golf bag/balls/gloves/clubs, etc.
• Vouchers: Vouchers can be for anything! Examples: extra hour of TV/Game time, stay up late, get out of 1 chore, money to spend at a store/amusement park/zoo/aquarium, etc. 
• Star Wars Light Saber Popsicle Mold
• Slinky's
• Chocolate Maze
• Reese's Giant Peanut Butter Egg. Amazon sells these sometimes, but I have found them cheaper at the grocery store and Target. It was $5.49 at my local store.
• Large sized gummy treats. I found several at Target (gummy bunny 1.75 oz/$1.99), and Party City (Pizza, burger, sushi...$3.99). 

• Lego's: Any fun looking set, mystery minifigure packs, Mixel's (Amazon, Lego). Lego usually has holiday-themed sets as well. (2020 has an Easter Sheep.)
• New weapons/Lego figures/crates. We found BrickArms a couple of years ago and the boys love discovering new weapons and figures for their Lego collection. This year, we bought a few different packs and are mixing up the contents and putting them in several Easter Eggs.
• Jelly Beans
• Play-Doh Eggs (Amazon, grocery store)
• Art/Office Supplies: pencils, pencil sharpeners, markers, tape, etc.
• Fill eggs with coins.
• Movie tickets.
• DVDs. Half Price Books, Michael's Crafts, and Target often have cheaper movies.
• Book store gift cards.
• Hot Wheels. There are even some Hot Wheels that fit Lego figures!
• Mad Libs
• Mini nail polish, nail files, etc. 
• Books. Sometimes I use Easter-themed books, sometimes just books in a series they love. My oldest is really into Uncle John's Bathroom Readers For Kids. It always surprises me when he says "Oh, I know this!", adds to our conversation, and says he learned it from his Bathroom Reader. They even have sets of paper placemats, if you are having an Easter party and need to keep the kids busy!
• Craft kits: build a robot (Higgins got the crab robot for Christmas and loved it), origami, jewelry (necklace/bracelet, grown own crystals and make jewelry...)
• Amazon gift cards. 
• Art supplies (pencils/markers/crayons, how-to books [there are a lot of instruction/how-to books for kids and adults from easier instruction books to how-to books for older kids]). 

CRAFTS: 

• Clay Pot Baskets. Super easy, cute, and works great as centerpieces.
• String Craft Easter Eggs  
• Snowflake Style Eggs
• Stained Glass Egg (directions are for a pumpkin shape, just change to an egg shape)
• Marble Egg. Lots of fun and looks neat when it's done. After the paint dries, cut out an egg shape to have a cool Easter egg! You could even cut out multiple smaller eggs to form garlands, napkin rings, place settings, etc.
• Bunny basket. Easy to make bunny basket out of a paper bag.
• Egg Carton Flowers. Use the leftover egg cartons and make some pretty decorations for Easter! 
• An Easter gingerbread house

ACTIVITIES:

• Word Find  
• Scavenger Hunt
• Coloring Page
• As I am writing this, many states are under a shelter in place/social distancing/physical distancing order. I do not know if communities will change how they do Easter egg hunts/events or if they will simply be canceled. Please check with your local communities! In the past, Ikea has had a free Easter Egg hunt. Many local parks and libraries had free Easter Egg Hunts and events as well last year. (Some were even for adult egg hunts!)