Creative Easter Basket ideas that don’t include candy can be hard to come by. This collection of Easter gift ideas are sure to be a hit!
I don’t know about you but by the time Easter rolls around it feels like the caboose of the Hardcore Sugar Express.
Starting at Halloween, winding through Christmas and Valentine’s Day to land at one last sugar load before relaxing into spring.
A number of years ago I found myself seeking creative Easter basket ideas that were fun and exciting without the gallon plastic zipper bag full of leftover candy to eat over the following month.
By the way I have a great Easter Candy Bark recipe to deal with that!
Don’t get me wrong, I love some springy jelly beans, a chocolate rabbit and some foil wrapped eggs, just not so many that it feels I should have gifted a treadmill to go with them.
Creative Easter Basket Ideas
Over the years I’ve begun to swap out the candy as the sole Easter basket inhabitant and added in fun little gifts that celebrate the holiday with some candy sprinkled in.
There is plenty of candy involved with plastic eggs in the egg hunt, no one misses out!
Easter Gift Ideas Goals
Another goal of mine is to include better quality items with some staying power rather than to buy cheap things that are fun to discover but either break quickly or become part of the pile of closet clutter in mere days.
I love Easter gift ideas that are original, stimulate thinking and artistic expression, time together with family and friends and of course the mark the spirit of spring.
The most difficult part is finding good creative Easter Basket ideas so I’m hoping in sharing some of mine you might get a leg up on Easter preparation this year.
This Creative Easter Basket Ideas list spans options for:
- DIY projects
- Cottage-crafted Easter-themed gifts
- Things you can buy with online links to save time (some can be found in stores as well)
With Easter a month away, it’s never too early to hop to it!
Artisan made Easter Bunny Charm Mini Surprise Balls (sold in sets of 4) include four prizes per ball to be unwound from these colorful crepe paper balls.
Prizes may include: Keepsakes, vintage-inspired toy, charm, gem, sweets, confetti popper, fortune, tattoo, quote, & more. Part of Martha Stewart’s American Made artisan program.
They also make carrot surprises, Easter Egg Deluxe Surprise Balls (set of 2, made with 100 feet of hand layered crepe paper) and Deluxe Easter Surprise Balls.
I think the mini balls would be really fun to include in an Easter meal place setting too.
These fun DIY Easter Egg Bath Bombs from Miss Information blog are perfect for any basket. A collection of different colors will fizz up bathtime for loads of fun.
You could even make the play dough yourself with regular flour or gluten-free!
I personally love vintage Easter books and a few of my favorites are The Country Bunny with the Golden Shoes and The Egg Book.
Stuffed bunnies are a great Easter basket idea as every tot loves a new stuffed animal.
If you are feeling crafty perhaps a Menswear Bunny or a Revoluzzionary Easter Bunny.
Do you crochet? I’m tempted to learn to make this Amigurumi Sweet Bunny.
I’m personally over the moon about this Etsy artisan, Kellie who owns Fuzziggles, and creates the cutest animals I’ve seen in a long time (photo above shows just a few examples).
She has a boatload of darling bunnies in every color imaginable (as well as other animals too).
There is a shipping deadline for Easter and does ship internationally, as well as has an early Easter purchase discount running this week.
Flying Wish Paper is fun for any occasion. Write a wish down on special paper, light it on fire to send the wish into the sky.
Available in many different patterns. This will need parent participation for smaller children.
Sun Art Paper is special photo sensitive paper that allows your inner artist to shine by adding special objects or treasures from nature to be placed on the paper in the sun.
After a bit of time the objects are removed and their impression is left on the paper.
A springy bath product I love is DIY Lime Swirl Bath Salts. Great for kids and adults alike and it also comes with free printable gift tags.
Who can resist Pastel Glittery Sharpie Paint Markers?
Not ready for a pet? How about a Magic Hatching Easter Chick?
I loved this kind of thing as a child. Place the Easter egg in water and over a 12-24 hour period a chick hatches from the egg!
Perhaps my favorite homemade spa-bath product to date, DIY Sparkling Flower-Scented Coconut Oil Sugar Scrubs are right at home in a basket of colorful eggs.
This scrub is moisturizing, smells great and who doesn’t love a little bit of bath bling?!
For some added pizzazz to any coloring project Color Appeel Peel Off Crayons are bright like oil pastels and peel like a Carpenter’s pencil one layer at a time.
Journals are great for budding writers and artists alike. Perfect with some colored pencils or crayons (these egg-shaped crayons are perfect for Easter).
Great for carry along art opportunities or jotting down little thoughts.
Affordable and darling Easter Hair Ties or Bracelets from cool Etsy shop So Splashy Designs. If you love this style hair tie you have to check out this shop.
Sketch books and art supplies in whimsical patterns are always fun and eeBoo makes many designs that are sure to delight anyone.
We love short, fast games for all ages in mini size for toting around or keeping in the car (and perfectly sized for creative Easter basket ideas too).
Gamewright makes a number of these that will never get old for all ages. One of our favorites is There’s a Moose in the House!
If you’ve never done Madlibs you are in for a laugh. The booklets are full of narratives with blank spaces marked for certain types of words (adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc).
The person filling in the worksheet prompts words to fill in the blanks without sharing the narrative. The end result is a madcap story that will have everyone howling with laughter!
I find young and old alike love Madlibs and they are fun to do around the Easter dinner or brunch table.
Easter-themed Madlibs are available for Toddlers (Have a Silly Easter) and older kids (Easter Eggstravaganza)
Perhaps on the bigger side of what would go into a basket but I love this DIY Bunny Bowling set tutorial from the Etsy blog.
We purchased a bunny bowling set years ago and it always graces our Easter festivities annually.
Other Easter gift ideas include:
- DVDs
- CD’s
- gift cards
- a little jewelry item
- Easter-themed socks
- flower seeds and a mini pot for a windowsill garden.
Do you have personal favorites to share from your creative Easter basket ideas? Please share in a comment below!
Angela | Mind Over Batter says
I love, love, love every single one of these!! Those flower scented bath salts are just too cute for words. And the MadLibs would be perfect for my Moonbug!!
Toni Dash says
I’m so glad Angela! MadLibs are great and even adults love them.
Stephanie says
I love this! So many great ideas – my girl would love the notebooks and pens!
Toni Dash says
I love them too!
Sharon (Nut Free Wok) says
Your ideas are gorgeous and fun. I love that non-candy, non-food ideas can be so inclusive for many children with dietary restrictions due to food allergies, diabetes, celiacs, such a wonderful way to show love in a healthy and creative way. Thanks!!
Toni Dash says
I love your thinking Sharon. My kids have been gluten free almost 10 years now and though we’ve been fortunate we have experienced mixed gathering with friends where they brought desserts our children could not eat because their children would want them. It’s a heartbreaking situation. I love making the day special and inclusive and certainly going this Easter basket route does that.
heather @french press says
SO many wonderful non-candy ideas! I enjoying adding a few sweets, you have got o many ideas, I may not have to add any candy this year at all
Toni Dash says
I too add sweets to the baskets but I felt like it was loads of sweets after awhile! I think the kids enjoy getting little things in their baskets along with their favorite seasonal candy too!
Sue Hill says
I have already started collecting my Easter bunny gifts. On my very first stay with. a German family as a 16 year old I was introduced to egg hunts. So at the age of 3 my children were introduced to the Easter hunt – for edible and non edible gifts , which the bunny has left. Now the grandchildren get to do it first and then they pretend to be bunnies and hide gifts for adults in the garden. Trouble is, I am not as good at climbing trees now, to find the the things the rascals have hidden. You have provided lots of ideas here, Toni. In France I have watched our French relatives hunt for chocolate cockerels – but not before the church bells ring which announces to everyone that chocolate is around!
Toni Dash says
Do they not naturally do egg hunts in England Sue? That is a big part of Easter here. Usually it’s springy and warm and they can be done outdoors. More often than not, ours are indoors due to late snows. We also have enough predators in our area that leaving eggs outside over night (which I’m sure is when the Easter Bunny delivers them) would yield sad hunting conditions in the morning!
Sue Hill says
Yep, outside if the weather is good and as squirrels will steal everything, someone has to get up early in the morning! Of corse, it can be wet and miserable, requiring lateral thinking indoors, but mostly we are lucky and can brave inclement weather for a while.
Kristen @ A Mind Full Mom says
LOVE this! I hate seeing nothing but candy in baskets. This year we are visiting my parents, so I have a feeling Nana and Papa may veto my other suggestions 🙂
Toni Dash says
There should be enough for everything Kristen! I think sometimes Grandparents forget what happens to kids when they binge on processed sugar! Having said that my overall goal is to make it fun and my kids get a mix of both candy and other fun things….some of which may or may not have been ordered from this list (you never know who is reading comments *wink*).
Joanie @ ZagLeft says
Such great ideas. I always try to put items into baskets that my kids need like school supplies and hair barrettes, although I always have to add a few Cadbury eggs. I do love the bath salts recipe you mentioned, that would be a fun one to make.