Easter Basket Advice

Easter seems to be getting pretty big in terms of the gifting for the kids. As many parents, I opt for

getting them toys rather than candy. My kids don't eat a lot of candy, so what I buy ends up getting eaten by me. I am the sweet tooth in the house and the one that has no will power so I eat all the candy. What are my options?

This year, the candy only appears in the eggs we will hide for them. There is no candy in their baskets accept gummies in the shape of letters. Both girls are obsessed with letters. I chose some small Pringle cans, and little cookies. So what's in the basket?  I have 3 pieces of Easter basket filling advice. 

#1 Just the Basket

As I am also obsessed with our plenitude of stuff, I made a rule that all items must fit in the basket. No scooters. No giant dolls. No separately wrapped items. It makes it in the basket or it gets saved for another occasion. 

Following this advice will make you happy. It will remind you of your childhood before the 4 aisles of Easter junk at the store existed. It will also make the hiding of the basket easier if you are into that tradition. It will also keep things into perspective a bit, Easter isn't really about the bunny and the basket. Just saying. 

#2 Make, Take and Release

The girls enjoy doing hands on activities and lucky for me, the Target $1 or  $3 area has several options. I have been walking through the aisle for weeks picking up a thing here, another item there and that has been the bulk of the basket items. I like the idea that they can receive something, make it,  use it, display it and then recycle it. 

I am not one of those moms that saves every piece of art my children have ever created. I take pictures of it all. The plan is a digital photo book, when the time comes. This idea will provide instant family fun time, especially if your kids are still young. You will have a few silly easy activities to do with them and there won't be more junk in your house to stay forever and ever. 

#3 Select the Worthwhile

It all can't be devoid of candy and filled with disposable junk. I suppose if I had not invested years ago in substantial sized baskets for my girls, this wouldn't be a problem. A good hint may be pick a small basket to start, but I didn't. I have always made a habit if purchasing children's books when they are on sale, toys when they are on sale, art supplies, clothing and I store them in Tupperware containers that slide under our bed. Because of this thoughtful purchasing, I am prepared for birthdays and holidays such as Easter. 

This year the girls will receive pajamas, books and Disney classic dolls in their baskets. They also have umbrellas and galoshes. I bought this stuff over 3 months ago. I stuck it under by bed and before I ran out to fill their giant baskets, I took a look at what I had. Some of these items definitely have utility and they are going to love it. Know your kids. Get a couple of things they will love. Mine love books.

Basket building should be fun, not stressful. It shouldn't be a financial drain. Keep it simple. Make it fun. Celebrate the promise of hope in Christ through time with your families and the silly fun of Spring equinox with a playful basket that will make your child smile. 

Making Bunnies

It has been a bit since I have blogged our happenings and I miss it tremendously. Over the weekend I had the girls make giant bunnies using the giant chart paper made by post-it. Since Lydia is 4 now I wanted her to practice her cutting skills. She did very well. I still made her bunny mouth but otherwise she did well. It was tedious. Vivian being 2 wanted to cut the just like her sister and not as successful. She did cut her papers up but not quite the same level ability but she was happy trying.

I had them on "islands" created by vinyl table cloths and gave them each a paper plate with mod podge and a disposable foam brush. Because I cut the bunny head from the post-it paper it stayed in place.

They both really enjoyed it. Afterwards, they made giant Easter eggs. I drew 3 lines creating 4 sections on the egg. My intention was that each section would have a different shape, circles, squares, stars and triangles. But the girls ended up putting them all over the egg which was okay too.

Each of their masterpieces were placed on the window of our sliders as decorations for the Easter Season.

Egg-Tastic Tree!

I am always on the hunt for another craft to make with Lydia (and eventually Vivian.) The other night I was on etsy and saw wooden eggs. I thought they would be fun to paint and showcase in an easter basket as decoration. Since they were wooden I thought we could take pictures every year and repaint them. Sadly when they arrived they are a little too small. The description does say they are about 2 inches tall but in my head so is a regular egg, turns out not so much.

Instead of going out and widdling the size eggs I had hoped for, I opted for another project instead. Similiar idea but just slightly less expensive. I found the inspiration on pinterest to make an Easter egg tree. I thought it was cute. It was easy to make.

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1/2 water

I mixed it up in an average bowl and rolled it out. I used a circle cookie cutter but bent it a little to make an oval shape. It made an easy dozen eggs. Then, I used one the of the straws from Lydia's sippy cups and made the holes on top. The oven was set at 250 and I put them in the oven for an 1hr and 30 minutes. We have a gas oven so I took them out a little earlier than the instructions stated. They were great. I even forgot to add parchment paper and they didn't stick which I was so thankful for. I let them cool and stored in a baggie until we were ready to paint.

http://www.designmom.com/2013/03/diy-salt-dough-eggs/ This is the Easter Egg Tree link that inspired me.

The one thing to know going into painting with a toddler is that anything can happen. Lydia is pretty good at not getting paint every where but I still add paper underneath and make sure she isn't wearning anything I love. We have a set of smocks that I use too.

I let her paint them, any way she wanted. In my mind I had grand plans of going on a little nature hike at one of the many amazing parks in the area. Instead I walked outside of my house with the vine cutters and jumped up and cut off a branch that I thought would work. It wasn't easy because I am short and I am positive if my neighbors would have seen me they would have laughed at my nuttiness. Turns out that after all my trouble hacking at our tree, we have a giant bucket of twigs on the back yard so I grabbed a couple of those too. I had an empty planter and stuck the twigs into a piece of styrofoam. I tied ribbons through the holes and we hung them.

I think it turned out nicely and is now at the center of our mantel over the fireplace. I put the painted wooden eggs in a basket I had at the house and set it on the table, so not to waste any crafty efforts.

Easter Crafts

One my favorite things to do with Lydia is to make crafts. I think it's great to help her learn how to follow directions and to be patient with herself while making things. Since on both Saturday and Sunday mornings Vivian slept in until 11am, shocking to many I am sure, (she is a little rocker and stayed up until 11pm, so she slept her required 12 hours) Lydia and I took advantage of the time and got our craft on.

To me it's important to have a transition activity, this keeps her attention while I prepare the next thing we are going to do. I usually find these at the dollar store (which if you have a craft kid is THE place to go.) This time, I had her start with play-do. She loves it and it's easy. And the key is that she doesn't get to do it a lot, so when she does she really enjoys it. I have learned a couple of things about play-do the name brand stuff is the best (no dollar store here usually) and if you keep play-do for years (I mean 10-15 years) it grows stuff.

We started the Easter crafts with a window cling. I bought the contact paper last year for another project that we never go to, so I decided it was time. I cut small pieces of colored paper into squares and triangles. Most folks use tissue paper so it functions like a suncatcher, I did not have tissue paper and never seem to have it when I need it for gift bags, so I went with construction paper. I free hand cut two shapes, one of an egg and the other of a bunny.  It was a little tricky to figure out how to keep it down and have her able to see what she was doing so I just taped it, sticky side up. I put white paper under it which helped but was only marginally helpful. At first she liked it but then she got bored and dumped everything on there. Luckily the extras just shake off. I think it will be a better project for Vivi next year. However, we talked about the colors and shapes which at this point she knows well.

For my transition activity, I dug out a $1 to go cup that she colored the insert and decorated. She thought it was fun to use the cup and that her picture was on the inside of it.

While she decorated her new cup, I was getting the foam eggs ready. She decorated these with stickers (these were extras from last year. She made egg cards for family and friends) which takes her a lot of time. She is very specific about where the stickers go, but doesn't really care what stickers I give her. I then glued them onto a paper plate that I cut the center out of to make a door wreath. We are letting it dry completely before we hang it.

Perhaps the simplest, and the one she enjoyed the most was the bunny mask. Once again just a $1 investment, though this was purchased at JoAnns, not the dollar store. She colored it with markers (which she loves to use) and quickly played with it.

 

 

Vivian finally did wake up and she enjoyed playing in her new play space. Saturday morning while she slept, I put together this corral that we borrowed from friends. We bought alphabet mats as the "flooring." Vivian is on the move and we wanted to be sure that she had her safe play space where she could crawl and play with things without being tripped over by a toddler. Lydia, of course, likes it too. We explained that right now this space was specifically for Vivian but she was welcomed to join her too.