What are your ideas for Easter basket alternatives....?

Love the gardening idea! For the teens in my life I made this Easter Basket out of theater candy boxes. Fill with more candy gift cards and of course money always works for kids. This diy can be found on pinterest.

What great ideas!

Use an umbrella as a basket

These are great ideas. For the past years my husband and I decided to give the grandchildren fruits in their baskets for a healthier treat. We also added things like coloring books, crayons, reading books (to match their school level) and a swim suit or shorts, and one main toy for a boy or girl. This seems to go very well, the kids really got excited lol :-) but of course we did add the little chocolate Easter eggs

When my kids were little I used things that would be of use to them, because I hated to have the Easter baskets afterward just kind of lingering about the house for awhile before they were chucked into the abyss of the garage, waiting for a clean out/purge day. So for my daughter it was a picnic basket with a little picnic set and treats, my son got Tonka trucks we filled the dump bed, or we used little wagons for both or sand pails and add books, sidewalk chalk, bubbles. Today I'd probably do a book bag and add a blanket to snuggle down with a good book and some books to read and a few treats to nosh. You could also buy a kid their own baking kit, oven mitt, apron, spoon, cookie sheet and those layered dried ingredients for cookies or Bunny Bait/Easter Trail mix in the mason jars with instructions and a big bowl to put it all in. A backpack with things for a hike/ day in nature and a water bottle, trail mix, hiking snacks or for an Easter Egg treasure hunt with a map and clues. A table top art easel with a canvas, paints and brushes, and rainbow snacks.

A baseball/softball glove, with cracker jacks, a ball, hat and peanuts, big league gume and maybe a ticket to a game, (professional, AAA, local college) or batting cage certificate.

A mega phone for the cheer kids, filled with pom poms, pendant of some sort, if you are handy a homemade one, candy.

A summer tote with goggles, fins, towel, sun screen and such, it would be a few months off it they don't have spring break but it would be used eventually.

I could go on and get more creative and elaborate on this.

My husband used to think I did too much at Easter and treated it as a second Christmas for the kids and we were never in agreement, but I just really enjoyed putting together their baskets and finding creative ways to do it.

umbrellas upside down work great.

Why didn't I think of that?!! Cute idea!

I personally always hated that plastic grass that seems to hang around for months, a string at a time. I started using a large bucket( that could be used to store small toys, or hair bows etc.) when they were small then put clothing in the bottom. Layered in tulle if I had any, then books, toys, and a small amount of candy. As they got older, it became canvas bags to store stuff in, or the canvas cubes that are 12x12x12 that can go on a shelf or in a closet to hold clutter. My kids were readers, so a gift card or promissory note for a trip to the book store was a happy treat.

I always got my girls books when they were younger with a bit of candy as well, and now that they are older I usually give them a gift card and a small basket with things age-appropriate, they are 22 and 25. Bod wash things of that nature.

When were were little we had a basket that my mom "fluffed up and refreshed" every year. We each had the same baskets throughout our entire childhood. My parents would go out in the wee hours and hide all the secretly colored hard boiled eggs. To help keep them from running in the dewey grass and plants she used foil cupcake liners. They also placed wrapped Easter gifts too. Typically games, matchbox cars (when he was little), craft projects, spring summer related items, sand bucket, shovel, beach ball, deck of cards, pens, pencils, coloring and drawing supplies, etc. The basket was for collecting all the goodies that the Easter Bunny left. Then we had to model our gifts so dad could take m a n y photos so mom could send to her family in Europe. When we were too old for egg hunts, my mom found big plastic eggs. Pink and yellow. She would put little trinkets and useful stuff like travel toiletries, mints, games, (Mad Libs were a favorite), and a little chocolate. My brother and I each have our childhood basket and the plastic egg.

What a cherished memory. Thanks for sharing!