What are Easter Baskets?
Easter Baskets have their origins in the United States among 18th Century German immigrants. They took with them a variety of customs and myths, and in the Pennsylvania Dutch area, these traditions took hold and spread. Back then, children would add straw to any suitable container the night before Easter (usually an upturned hat or bonnet), and if they were good, the Easter Bunny would lay colored eggs in these improvised nests!
In time, these became the Easter Baskets we know today. Children wake up on Easter morning, and find a basket full of Easter goodies: candies, toys, chocolate all sitting on a bed of straw. Like Christmas, traditions change from place to place. For example, many baskets are hidden by the Easter Bunny, and the children have to find them, while others simply put empty baskets in one place, and it is mysteriously filled during the night. Whatever way it’s done, the result is always the same: happy, smiling kids!
Besides the normal stuff (Easter Eggs, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans), there are lots of small gifts that can be added too. If you want to limit the amount of candy your child eats, make up for it with crayons, balloons, bubbles or a soft toy.
One great thing about Easter Baskets is that they can be themed towards a child’s age and interests. So maybe if they’re especially good this year, they might like a coloring book. Many people like to remind their kids about the religious aspects of Easter, and might include a children’s Bible, or a shorter Easter story book. Whatever way you like to celebrate Easter, you can create a basket to suit!
Another great thing is that they can match practically any budget, so if you’re struggling to make ends meet, just go to a dollar store and make improvised baskets… just like in the old days! Flower pots, biscuit tins, hats and boxes all make great baskets. It’s not the money that counts, but the excitement and magic. And if you get your kids involved in making their own baskets, it can only add to the wonder of it all!
Creative and Fun Ideas for Kids Easter Baskets
Just like Christmas, it is the time of the year when children get excited with all the gifts and treats to look forward to, like with kids Easter baskets. So you might be wondering how to go on with this. You can either purchase ready-made ones from your local store or tap your creative side and prepare something yourself for a more personal touch. There are so many ways to prepare Easter baskets for kids.
Most parents simply fill a colorful wicker basket with jelly beans, candies, chocolates and other wonderful sweet treats. However, there are other creative and fun ideas for personalized Easter baskets for kids. If your children enjoy drawing, an interesting theme for kids Easter baskets is something filled with coloring supplies and art-related stuff.
Make sure to get a wide basket to have sufficient space for coloring books, colored pencils, Easter-themed stencils, construction paper, markers and crayons. For painters, add some brushes, small easel and palette of paints. Put a cute Easter bow for the final touch of your personalized Easter baskets. Since spring is fast approaching, why don’t you introduce your kids to a new hobby? One great idea is to fill the kids Easter baskets with gardening supplies. Many kids love to get their hands dirty and there’s no better way to let them do this freely other inspiring their green thumb.
Many children get fascinated with cooking. A cooking theme for kids Easter baskets will surely delight the chef within your kids. Instead of using traditional baskets, use oversized pots instead.
In flower-decorated baskets, fill them with fun and easy to follow gardening guide, a variety of vegetable and flower seeds, child-sized gloves and potting soil. Fill them with easy-to-use kitchen utensils, child-friendly cookbooks and a set of chef’s hat and apron.
Since your children have just experienced a long and cold winter, fill the kids Easter baskets with stuff that celebrates spring. Get sunny-colored baskets then fill them with fun items that they can enjoy during the spring, like jump rope, marble set and Frisbee.
This will give your children something to really look forward to with the arrival of spring. One great way to celebrate Easter is to teach your kids to share to the less-privileged children. This is one of the ways to make them feel how fortunate they are for everything they have and that it is a great habit to share blessings to others. Make special Easter baskets for kids and donate them to less-fortunate children. Fill them with small toys, used clothes, toothpaste and soap, healthy treats and gift cards to your local supermarket.
This Easter, let your children put smiles on the faces of other children and their family. When it comes to children and kids Easter baskets, there are numerous creative and fun themes that you can choose from. For a change, fill them with healthier stuff and something that could last longer. Children are very easy to please. Give them something to look forward to each year and make them as fun as you possibly can.
Baby’s First Easter Basket
During your baby’s first year, every event is special. Their first smile, their first words, the first time they sit up, their first Christmas, and of course, their first Easter.
People often wonder if there’s any point in getting an Easter basket for a young baby. True, they won’t remember it, and neither are they likely to care. But be honest: if you’ve got a new baby, grandchild, niece, nephew, or even if a good friend has one, you’ll probably want to spoil them!
There are other reasons why you should consider an Easter basket for baby too. If you’ve got older children, they may be upset if the Easter Bunny forgets about their baby brother or sister. Also, if there are colorful delights around the house that day, you mightn’t want them to feel left out. Finally, you’ll probably want a few photos of their first Easter, and it would be nice if they had some Easter themed gifts surrounding them!
What should you include?
What you include in baby’s Easter basket can vary from the fun to the practical. If it’s not for your child, you might also include something something for mommy and daddy. For example, and Easter egg with baby’s name on it looks great for photos, and is perfectly acceptable. Of course, you probably won’t expect the child to eat chocolate, but there’ll be plenty of people to help out with that!
However, you should always make sure baby has something too. Practical items could include:
- Teething toys
- Clothes
- Baby food
- Bibs
- Soft blanket
Fun items can include:
- Rattles (even homemade ones: fill a plastic egg with rice and seal it up!)
- Soft toys, especially bunnies and chicks (they don’t get much better than Gund My First Easter Bunny)
- Board books with an Easter theme (for example, My Easter Basket and the True Story of Easter)
- Bath toys
And if you’re still stuck for ideas, just get a ready-made My First Easter Basket, which includes some lovely Easter themed toys!
History of the Easter Basket
It can be difficult to see where some Easter traditions come from. Like with many Christian feasts, old folk customs celebrated at similar times of the year have survived and evolved throughout the centuries. Although the date of Easter changes each year, it is celebrated in Spring, a time of year with great importance to all ancient cultures. No wonder some of their traditions are still with us today!
Kids’ Easter Baskets are a combination of a few customs, and we need to go back a long way to find their origin. It is said that the old German fertility goddess, Eostre, was surrounded by light that was carried by hares. Eostre, is seems, became the origin of the word ‘Easter’, while the hares took several centuries to become the Easter Bunny! The details have been lost in the mists of time, but by the early 17th Century, some Germans had certainly begun to use the Easter Bunny as a symbol representing Easter.
It’s easy to see why Eostre, a fertility goddess, may have been associated with Spring, a time of new life throughout all of nature. Another sign of Spring is when the birds start to lay their eggs. In fact, other legends tell of hares that lay eggs too, so you can see how these traditions may have bonded to give us the Easter Egg. Furthermore, Catholics were traditionally not allowed to eat eggs during Lent, so by the time Easter came around, there were usually lots of eggs to go around!
All these customs came together when German immigrants came to America in the 1700’s. A tradition took hold that if children were good, the Easter Bunny (or, more correctly, the Easter Hare) would lay some colored eggs for them during the night before Easter. Children would add straw to hats and boxes to make little nests, and put them in hidden areas of their house. The next morning, they would look for their nests, and hopefully find a nice surprise waiting for them!
Over the years, the nests became Easter Baskets, and the colored eggs often sit side by side with their chocolate cousins. In fact, it’s common nowadays to add all sorts of treats to them, from candy to toys, and of course, chocolate bunnies. Many families continue the tradition of hiding the baskets, and children often discover little colored eggs hidden all over the house – so let the Easter Egg hunt begin!
Create Your Easter Egg Basket
What you will need: a small bucket or other empty container, cotton balls, glue, a plastic egg, 2 wiggly eyes, some color paper, craft foam and scissors.
These are the steps:
- To imitate lamb’s body, start gluing the cotton balls all around the container to make a first row, then glue more cotton balls in between each the ball until you reach the top of the container, just leave a bit of space for the head to be attached.
- Stick the wiggly eyes on the plastic egg.
- Cut two long triangles from the color paper and stick them to the topside of the egg to make them look like lamb ears.
- Cut a small triangle and glue it to the lower part of the egg to make it look like a lamb nose,
- Glue the egg to the top of the container. It will be a lamb’s head. Add more cotton balls around the head.
- If the container doesn’t have the handle cut a stripe from a craft foam sheet and glue the ends to the container. The only thing that it might not be strong enough to carry around.
Once we finished creating the basket we filled it up with decorated Easter Eggs. But you can be more creative, add chocolate Easter eggs to it and other treats for youngsters. Your kids will just love it!
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