Around the House,  Childhood,  Family,  Fun Things,  Holidays,  Just for Fun,  Marriage Confessions

Hooray for Easter!

April 13, 2011 /


Easter is my favorite holiday. I love it because of what it celebrates – the resurrection of Christ. And I love it for what it symbolizes – new beginnings. I love this time of year. I love spring colors and clothes and flowers. I love bunnies and chicks and Cadbury eggs. And I love Easter baskets.

When I was growing up, my Mom’s favorite holiday ritual would have to be Christmas stockings. She’d spend months collecting the perfect little trinkets and odds and ends for our stockings. And because it was her favorite part of Christmas, it became one of my favorite parts, too. When I caught myself picking up a little something to stick in Bean’s Easter basket in February this year, I smiled to myself and thought, “Easter baskets are going to be my thing.”

I’ve been collecting little things for Bean’s Easter basket for the past couple weeks. Nothing big or important or expensive, but little things I know he’ll love. And last night I put it all together.

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I had been meaning to buy these beautiful Easter basket liners from Pottery Barn that are embroidered with the kids names.  I want them to have permanent Easter baskets instead of disposable ones.  But with Gracie’s arrival, I just didn’t get around to it in time. Maybe next year.  This year, I settled for $2 and $3 wicker baskets from Target.  They are pretty flimsy, but they get the job done.

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Gracie’s basket this year is filled with functional things that we actually need for her. I felt bad about that, but then again, what would she do with toys?

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She’s getting a pack of 4oz bottles because we need just a few more around here these days. And even though she has a ton of hand toys already, I couldn’t resist putting at least ONE fun thing in her basket.

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She’s also getting a much needed pack of girly bibs. Girlfriend must have a leak in her chin somewhere because when she eats, milk goes everywhere! And her little rolls in her chin make it hard to clean her up!

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I put the essentials in her basket, too. She gets a little chocolate bunny, an egg of M&M’s, and a Pez dispenser. All of which are necessities in any Easter basket. (And all of which will be appreciated by her daddy…)

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Bean’s basket is full of more fun stuff, like games and toys and things to do. I thought about doing a themed basket for him. I started with an educational theme and I planned to fill the basket with educational games and toys we could use to learn with this summer. Then I thought about an outdoor theme and I planned to fill the basket with outdoor activities like sprinkler attachments and sidewalk chalk. Then I thought about a Sesame Street theme since Bean is on an Elmo and Cookie Monster kick right now. But in the end, I found a little of this and a little of that and so I’m calling this theme, “Things Bean Likes.” Clever, right?

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His two big things (if you can call them big – they were $3 each at Toys R Us!) are a bowling pin set that we can play with outside and a magnetic fishing game that we can use in the bathtub or outside in the water table.

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I picked up these two random things at Ikea last weekend. One is a pack of big boy cups. He was learning to use these at daycare and he drinks out of ours occasionally. I thought he might like some cups of his own. They are smaller sized, plastic, and brightly colored, so I think they’ll be a big hit. I also found bendy straws, which are one of Bean’s favorite things in the whole world. Both of these were 99 cents each – what a steal!

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Also from a 99 cent bin was this set of Go Fish cards. Bean won’t be able to actually play the Go Fish game, but I got these to practice matching with this summer. I thought I could set up a few cards on the floor and we could work on finding the matching items.

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I am almost ashamed to tell you that I paid $2.50 for two sheets of stickers, but I did. I can’t stand stickers with Bean because they end up all over our hardwood floors and stuck to all our furniture, but he loves them so much and he is obsessed with Toy Story so I thought these would be a fun splurge. Easter bunnies can’t always be economical!

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I think these next few things are going to be a big hit. I found them all in the 99 cent bin at Target last night. There is an Elmo book and a Cookie Monster book and then little Elmo and Cookie Monster figurines. Bean is all about Elmo and Cookie Monster right now, so these are going to be awesome for him. And 99 cents each more than makes up for my sticker splurge!

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Bean also got some candy for his basket, even though I debated about giving him any at all. But, it’s Easter. It won’t kill him. Plus, I seem to remember that parents get 80% of the candy in your Easter basket anyways. Sort of like a candy tax.

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And, of course, he got a Pez. When I was growing up, we ALWAYS had an Easter Pez in our baskets. It was the law.

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With all my basket goodies ready to go, I spent last night putting the baskets together. I love that part. I start by filling the baskets with plastic grass and fluffing that up really good. Then I build the basket by going from the biggest items in the back to the smallest items in the front.

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In Bean’s basket, he got three special plastic eggs with jellybeans in them. Aren’t they cute? He’s going to love these! They were $2.25 at Target and while I winced at spending that on three plastic eggs, I reasoned that they would actually end up being little toys for Bean after Easter and $2.25 isn’t horrible for a little toy.

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They look cute in his little basket, too!

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To wrap my baskets, I used Easter basket bags from Target. My Target had these in their seasonal aisle in the gift wrap area, near where the Easter baking accessories were. These are so easy to use. You just open the cute cellophane bag and sit your basket down inside it. Then pull the bag up over your basket and tie with ribbon.

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Voila! Easter in a basket!

*****

Today I am grateful for my Grandma who is coming to visit today!

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30 Comments

  • Sarah

    April 13, 2011 at 8:34 am Reply

    What great baskets! I am going to steal some of your ideas when my daughter will appreciate her basket instead of eat the plastic grass 😉 My mom used to put together similar baskets for my sister and me. One time she puffy painted a pair of Keds for us – they were so cute and fun.

  • Deepa

    April 13, 2011 at 8:37 am Reply

    “Candy tax” – love it! While we don’t celebrate Easter with the gusto that you do, I am definitely looking forward to the October 31st tax day.

  • Amy

    April 13, 2011 at 8:44 am Reply

    The baskets are beautiful, Katie –I love the way you wrapped them up! Bean is going to love all the thoughtful & fun toys that the Easter Bunny got him 🙂

  • Mary@My Life in Scotland

    April 13, 2011 at 8:56 am Reply

    We ALWAYS got Pez dispensers in our Easter Baskets growing up! It is essential. Love the baskets. My parents would hide our baskets and we had to look all over the house to find them Easter morning. FUN!

    In Scotland they don’t do Easter baskets. They give a chocolate egg. Much like a chocolate bunny, but an egg. That’s it. Just a boxed egg. We will be making an Easter basket for our little guy. He will be 3 months at Easter!

  • Kristin

    April 13, 2011 at 9:36 am Reply

    LOVE the baskets — my daughter is totally into Elmo right now too — I will be heading to Target today and hope to find the Elmo goodies!

  • Nate's Mom @ nateisgreat

    April 13, 2011 at 9:41 am Reply

    I cringe to tell you how overboard I’ve gone on Nate’s Easter baskets. I think he’ll wind up getting two or three of them. But I love love love Easter baskets! And he’s an only child! We went ahead and got Nate his first candy, too. He got a “carrot” of jelly beans. I can’t wait for his little eyes to light up when he first bites into one! 🙂

  • Lindsay (Young Married Mom)

    April 13, 2011 at 10:34 am Reply

    I definitely had magnetic fish like that when I was little and LOVED them. Lucky Bean Man! Ahh! I’m so excited for Easter. My splurge this year was getting Jacob a new button down shirt and a clip-on tie for Mass (more for me than him, maybe). I also may have purchased baby sunglasses, which may also end up being part of the ensemble . . . after church, of course.

  • Julie

    April 13, 2011 at 11:08 am Reply

    These are so cute! My parents never wrapped them, so I never thought of doing that. It is my first year being the Easter bunny. My husband isn’t really into that because his family never did them, but Christmas and Easter are huge celebrations of Christ in my family and stockings and baskets are a way of celebrating. My mom has been good at it for years! She finds the best things to put in your basket…yes even when you are 32! I call it the cuteness! Katie, you definitely have the cuteness! Thanks for the great ideas.

  • Jennifer

    April 13, 2011 at 11:45 am Reply

    My husband and I do little easter baskets for each other most of the time (i think we skiped last year) and we usually put a little Easter toy in them. We’ve also done Easter Egg hunts in our apartments. This year we have a whole house to use though.

  • Beth @ Persnickety Hall

    April 13, 2011 at 11:52 am Reply

    Great job on the baskets!

    Also, those ikea straws will last you forever! I bought a pack 2 years ago and we just used the last few of them this week. Which is nifty because i have a new excuse to go buy some more…and other things. 🙂

  • momiss

    April 13, 2011 at 2:18 pm Reply

    Don’t feel bad about Gracie’s being practical. Some day she will need prom dresses and BELIEVE YOU ME, honey, she will come out ahead in the end. 🙂 Happy Easter.

  • Ann G-B

    April 13, 2011 at 4:30 pm Reply

    I have been picking up stuff the last few weeks as well – including tat Elmo book! I bought fruit snacks and the bright colored goldfish for his eggs. I bought sports themed ones last year. We hide the eggs, but I haven’t quite figured out what to do with the rest of the basket. Love the cellophane bags! Looks like another trip to Target for me!

  • Rebecca

    April 13, 2011 at 9:38 pm Reply

    As I read this post I thought, “we definitely shop on the same aisle in Target!” I looked at that bib just this morning =) Have you picked up the “Star of Mommy’s blog” bib yet? Because that one’s awesome. Their Easter baskets looks awesome! And props for being WAY early with them =)

  • Barbara Manatee

    April 13, 2011 at 9:43 pm Reply

    I love Easter baskets and Christmas stockings. I think I have more fun figuring out what to put in them and getting it all together than the rest of the holiday shopping. I think its the challenge of finding something small, yet fun and meaningful for the person! I ALWAYS think that the basket/stocking is bigger than it is…but that’s th fun of it!!

    ~*~*~*~*~
    April is Autism Awareness Month. I’m dedicating my blog all month long to Autism.

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