Easter Fun Without The Candy

Easter is a wonderful holiday to spend with family and friends. From Easter egg hunts, to visits to the Easter bunny, to big family dinners, it can be easy for your little ones to get overloaded with sugary treats! Jelly beans, chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies, and marshmallows dominate this holiday season - but there are plenty of other great ways to celebrate without candy! 

A fun way to celebrate with your little ones is to host an Easter egg hunt - but you can choose to stuff the eggs with other trinkets and skip the candy this year! Babies, toddlers, and young children can have an exciting time hunting for eggs hidden all over your yard or at a local park, and you can fill the eggs with whatever you want!

Here are our favorite Easter egg fillers that don’t involve sugar:

1. Small containers of bubbles
2. Stickers
3. Cheddar crackers
4. Bouncy balls 
5. Playdough 
6. Slime 
7. Necklaces or bracelets
8. Hair clips
9. Crayons
10. Cars
11. Small figurines
12. Sticky hands
13. Baby bows and headbands
14. Pretend coins
15. Plastic dinosaurs
16. Marbles
17. Glow-in-the-dark stars
18. Slap bracelets
19. Pencil toppers or erasers
20. Earbuds 
21. Charms for a charm bracelet
22. Stamps
23. Mini yo-yo 
24. Lip gloss
25. Whistles

Some parents opt to put together special Easter baskets for each child. This can be a wonderful way to personalize surprises for each child depending on their age and interests! Stumped for ideas? Try some of these cute Easter basket themes! 

1. Easter baskets for babies

Even though babies can’t fully understand special holidays just yet, that doesn’t mean they need to miss out on the fun! You can create a special gift basket for your little one filled with surprises that are sure to please! Fill your baby’s Easter basket with pacifiers, rattles, teething toys, socks or hats, baby food pouches, puffs or cereal, bath toys, onesies, cups or bottles, stuffed animals, small blankets, utensils, or books.

2. Easter baskets for toddlers

Toddlers enjoy surprises and treats, so be sure to put together a basket full of their favorite goodies! Fill a toddler’s Easter basket with board books, bath toys, snacks, bibs, feeding accessories, sippy cups, crayons and coloring books, stuffed animals, bubbles, playdough or play sand, a toothbrush, a doll, a pinwheel, sunscreen, balls, or wooden puzzles. 

3. Easter baskets for children

If you have children ages 3-12, there are a ton of great ideas for Easter basket fillers! You can include building blocks, play sand, swim accessories, stuffed animals, snacks, t-shirts, art supplies, books, silly putty, silly string, chalk, coloring books, bracelet making kits, travel games, video games, jump ropes, jigsaw puzzles, hair accessories, a purse or wallet, pretend coins, bouncy balls, slime, or a flashlight.

4. Easter baskets for teens

Teens can still enjoy the Easter holiday even if they’re too old to want to participate in egg hunts. You can create a nice basket filled with movies, video games, makeup, hair accessories, books, protein bars, chips, headphones, stainless steel water bottles, swimsuits, t-shirts, journals, bath bombs, keychains, and more! 

You might also consider creating a gift basket with a theme. For example, you can fill a large bucket with swim accessories, like a swimsuit, towel, sunscreen, sand toys, water toys, hats, sunglasses, and cameras. You can also create a backyard fun gift basket for your toddler using a baby/toddler swing as the “basket,” and filling it with bubbles, balls, bug catchers, magnifying glasses, binoculars, and sidewalk chalk. You can make a self-care basket for your teenager by filling a makeup case with face masks, bath bombs, moisturizer, lotion, under-eye patches, and a pack of washcloths. For a baby, you can fill a diaper caddy with pacifiers, muslin blankets, teething toys, pacifier clips, baby soap and lotion, and small rattles. The possibilities are endless! 

You can also think of creative ways to decorate hard-boiled eggs without doing the traditional egg dyeing! Young kids can use washable markers or stickers to decorate the eggs. You can also make a spray by adding a little food coloring to some water in a spray bottle and letting your children spray the eggs. You can also add some food coloring to a bag of uncooked rice, and let your child shake the egg around in the sealed bag to create a cool effect! Older children can use painter’s tape to paint more intricate, detailed designs on their eggs.

Easter is such a fun holiday to spend with family and friends! However you choose to celebrate this year, we hope that you have a wonderful time creating happy memories with your little ones!

If you’re trying to steer clear of sugar this holiday weekend, there are plenty of ideas for egg hunts and Easter baskets to try for your kids! Children can still have lots of fun celebrating Easter without consuming too much candy and sugary treats. 

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Parenting is awesome. Sleep is overrated. Every day is an adventure.