Creating Fabulous Easter Baskets! 

February is not too early to start thinking about Easter!  This year Easter Sunday is on March 23rd, and it will be here before you know it! 

Easter is the holiest of Christian holidays, and Christians strictly prepare themselves for Easter during the preceding 40 days of Lent.  Lent is a solemn time as we try to pray or reflect, give up a favorite treat or perform extra acts of kindness.  When Easter Sunday finally arrives, we are ready for a festive celebration with colorful and fun baskets, egg hunts and Spring flowers!

Choosing a Fabulous Easter Basket!

Do your children have special Easter baskets? My children have been using the same, handcrafted baskets since their very first Easter, and I am still holding onto my own childhood basket!  These unique baskets are a big part of our Easter traditions.  If you don’t have a basket weaver in the family, or have been using a hodge podge of baskets, consider starting your own tradition with lovely, personalized baskets.

Two great sources for baskets are Pottery Barn Kids and Lillian Vernon. 

• Lillian Vernon - wicker baskets with personalized fabric liners in three color combinations (blue/green; pink/white; lavender/white). 
• Pottery Barn Kids - offers traditional wicker baskets in white and honey with personalized fabric liners as well as personalized fabric buckets and colorful tin pails, pictured above, $24-$34 for the basket and $10 - $12 for the liner.

For a truly heirloom basket, consider investing in Easter baskets made by the Longaberger Company.  The quality and craftmanship, as well as the cuteness factor, are unbeatable.  If you’re interested, take a look at the Easter 2007 basket at Longaberger.  You will not be disappointed, and you can also be sure that your children will still have their basket when they are parents!

Filling a Bunny Worthy Basket!

In the interest of limiting the candy that goes into my children’s baskets, I’ve taken to filling each basket around a specific theme. The themes have varied widely from year to year, depending on the age, sex and interests of my kids!

Once you have chosen a theme for each child, filling a basket with fantastic things will be a breeze!  Also, by choosing a theme in February, you can keep your eyes open for cute additions as you go about your errands.  Some examples for themes are:

For Little Ones

• Elmo, Dora, dinosaurs, Polly Pockets, Hot Wheels, Curious George, Barbie, a favorite Disney princess, PlayDough, Fisher Price “Little People”  (pictured at right from Amazon.com), Rubber Ducky or craft items.

For Bigger Kids

• all kinds of sports, Lego, pirates, music, Harry Potter, Sponge Bob, beach, nature, outdoors, gardening, or for girls, beauty or spa.

Types of Items to Consider Including in Your

• Little stuffed animals, dolls, small toys, CD’s, balls, small versions of a favorite toy, iTunes gift cards, books, craft supplies, DVD’s, Play Station games, sports accessories or puzzles.  
• Some of the major retailers like Target or WalMart carry candy in many of the themes listed above and more. 

If you need a little more help with specific items for a basket, here are two examples that will help guide you:

For a Baseball Theme

• Colors - use a color theme of red, white and blue or if your child has a favorite team, their team colors.  Choose fluff and ribbon to match. 
• Stuffers - consider packages of baseball cards, chocolate balls wrapped in foil made to look like baseballs, an actual baseball, handheld video baseball game, baseball cap, signed memorabilia related to a player or team (try ebay),  Big League chew gum, baseball stats book, really attractive baseball podiums from the Land of Nod, and finally a pen shaped like a baseball bat, see Oriental Trading.

• If your custom is to give a significant gift - Major or Minor League Baseball game tickets or Major League Baseball sheets, comforters, pillows and more from Pottery Barn Teen.

For a Disney Princess Theme

• Colors - use a color theme that matches the color of your chosen princess!  Green for Ariel, yellow for Belle, blue for Cinderella or pink for Sleeping Beauty.  Choose basket trim and filler to match.

• Stuffers - Barbie Disney princess dolls are available for each princess as well as Polly Pocket sized dolls,  DVDs and CDs of movie music, princess fruit snacks, princess themed candy (available at large retailers), Disney Store candy in cute containers plus a wide range of toys and games specific for each princess available on the Disney Store website, dress-up accessories, little books, tiaras, coloring books, puzzles, card games, stickers, games for a PC or gameboy.  The sky is really the limit with this one!
• If your custom is to give a significant gift - tickets to Disney on Ice or Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, a Disney MixStick (which is an iPod for the younger set!) or a princess scooter (try Target for this one!)

If you don’t want to pick a specific theme, consider a “color” theme.  Pick a color for each child and fill their baskets with little gifts all in that one color.  Match the basket grass and ribbon trim to your chosen color!

For Adults

Don’t forget the grown ups in your life!  Possible adult themes include:

• gardening, barbequing or grilling, wine tasting, spa, books and movies, gourmet cooking, Italian or other specialty cooking, or coffee and tea  

A Few Tips for Attractive Assembly!

• Most baskets are deep, so using tissue paper, densely stuff the basket almost to the top.
• Top the tissue with Easter grass or crinkled paper, commonly known as fluff!  Coordinate the color of the grass to what’s in the basket. 
• Arrange the items in an interesting way, taller items in the back and smaller items in front.
• Sprinkle chocolate eggs and jelly beans between the toys.
• Trim with a really pretty ribbon and if possible, tie a little something into the bow!

Don’t worry, if you’re interested in creating one of these baskets and you start in February, you’ve got plenty of time to do it right!  Happy hunting!!

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