Do you need good but inexpensive Easter gift ideas for the kids? Here are 27 cheap but cute Easter basket ideas to save you money this Easter. These Easter basket ideas are cute, fun and easily customizable for each recipient!
27 Cheap But Cute Homemade Easter Basket Ideas
A reader asks:
Got any inexpensive ideas for Easter gifts for the kids? Also, do you have any ideas that would focus on the real meaning of Easter and not just bunnies and eggs?
Easter is a great time of the year to celebrate, especially if you have the hope that comes from Jesus Christ and His resurrection. Here are some ideas for Easter gifts. Try some of them and if the creative juices start flowing, make up some of your own! You might also try our Resurrection Eggs, which are a great idea to help your family remember why we celebrate Easter.
Easter Baskets:
You can find inexpensive Easter baskets at garage sales and thrift stores. I never spend more than .25 for one.
If you don’t have Easter baskets, you can also use:
- Plain wicker baskets
- Baskets spray painted an Easter color
- A cute straw hat
- A pail for the sandbox
- A bowl wrapped in tissue paper
- Paper sacks that the kids decorate. Cut out pictures from magazines or use stickers. Glue or stick them on and then paint or color around them.
- Any sort of plastic storage container. These often can be used later for storage.
- For a “family” Easter basket, set a nice plate on the table with Easter grass and goodies arranged on the plate or platter. This is great when you have older kids.
Fillers for Easter Baskets:
- Buy candy after Christmas or Valentine’s Day at half price and keep to fill Easter baskets.
- Make Easter cookies in the shapes of bunnies, eggs, crosses or any other Easter shape that comes to mind and decorate.
- Popcorn Balls or Rice Krispie Treats colored in pastel colors.
- String Froot Loops onto yarn and tie to make a necklace.
- Don’t fill baskets. Instead put jelly beans and candy in plastic eggs so the kids can fill their own baskets. You can also put nickels, dimes, toy soldiers, bugs, stickers, barrettes or hair ribbons in the eggs. Hide them outside or in the house if you live in a climate where it’s usually cold on Easter.
- Make coupons for getting out of chores, staying up late one night, having a friend over for a sleep over or a special dinner that they like.
- Include like new books purchased at garage sales or thrift stores.
- Homemade slime, play dough, sidewalk chalk, bubbles or the ingredients for crystal gardens.
- Wacky crayons‑ Crayon pieces melted together in a muffin tin to make a “big” crayon.
- Flower seeds that the kids can grow
- Mini-stuffed animals purchased at garage sales or on clearance the year before.
- Paper dolls or coloring books. There are many available on the Internet that you can print yourself.
- For teenagers, put these items in baskets: lotions, soaps, suntan lotions, fingernail polish, movie tickets, tickets for getting out of a chore, ticket for $5 worth of car gas, clothes purchased on clearance and of course lots of candy!
- Leave a trail of jelly beans or candy kisses from their rooms to their Easter baskets.
- Easter KissesPut some Hershey Kisses or chocolate chips in a plastic bag and attach the following poem:This cute little bunny has hopped all day
Been delivering baskets for the holiday.
His paws are so tired and his little nose itches.
He left you something special – something to fill all your wishes.
These cute little hugs and Easter kisses. - Put 1 Pound Jelly Beans into a bag and attach this poem:
RED is for the blood He gave.
GREEN is for the grass He made.
YELLOW is for the sun so bright.
ORANGE is for the edge of night.
BLACK is for the sins we made.
WHITE is for the grace he gave.
PURPLE is for His hour of sorrow.
PINK is for our new tomorrow.
A bag full of jelly beans colorful and sweet,
Is a prayer, is a promise, is a special treat. - Easter Carrot TreatsBuy disposable plastic decorating bags and fill them with orange jelly beans or cheese balls. Then stick some green Easter grass in the top of the bag (leave some hanging out) and secure the bag with a rubber band and then ribbon so that it resembles a carrot.
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Our family of 6 happen to be out of town one Easter Holiday and it had not occured to me before we left that the holiday was approaching. So I found a store nearby and purchaed caps for my sons and cute inexpensive summer purses for my daughters and filled it with things like chap stick, CD’s body wash, things young preteens/teenagers might like and of course some candy.Turned the caps over and filled with the boy’s goodies, opened the purses and filled it with the girls goodies, and we had Easter suprises even though we were not home and they were able to use their baskets after the holiday. The kids enjoyed it and their baskets were useful afterwards.
That is a neat idea Gina even if you aren’t out of town. It would be especially good for preteens and teenagers like you said. They are too old for the “cute” baskets but at the same time are still kids at heart and shouldn’t be left out.
I have taken empty ice cream buckets and decorated them with construction paper and stickers to use for baskets.
LOVE this!!!! Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome Korie
I just love the jelly bean Easter poem! We have never done Easter baskets for our kids, although each year they would get a chocolate bunny and some marshmallow peeps to nibble on. I think I’ll do jellybeans this year with the poem. Also it will be nice to have around extras as my 17 year old son brings home several friends on a regular basis–like 4 or 5 times a week! I can hand them out to his friends, too.
I should add that the reason we don’t do the Easter baskets is to focus on Christ’s crucifixion and ressurection. Our teenagers just don’t get the whole Easter bunny thing and I am thankful for that.
Bev, we actually choose to focus on Jesus gift of salvation, blessings, crucifixion and ressurection every day of the year. Innocent fun like the Easter bunny and baskets doesn’t lessen the power of the resurrection in any way shape or form. Fun is relevant and makes this holiday more about Jesus, not less.
I hate using the grass you buy for Easter because it seems to cling to everything and later gets wound up in the vacuum. I use my paper shredder and any colorful paper that comes my way such as the funny papers, magazines, colored junk mail, etc. Great way to recycle. After Easter, I further recycle the paper as flower pot mulch for my patio pots to help conserve water.
You can easily make your own candies. I purchased a plastic mold that had lots of little shapes like eggs, bunnies and crosses. I then use my Michaels or JoAnns coupons to get chocolate 40% off. I like to buy a multi color pack so I can paint little features in the mold before filling with chocolate.
I also saved the plastic image from a purchased bunny years ago. Now I can make my own chocolate bunnies. Since chocolate is the most expensive part of making the bunnies, I mix things we like into the chocolate to make it stretch further like rice crispies, coconut, nuts, raisins, trail mix…whatever I have on hand or found at a great sale. If it seems lumpy, pour a little chocolate into the mold and tilt around until it is covered, let harden a few minutes in the refrigerator and then fill.
Birds nests are super easy to make and very pretty. Mix coconut into melted chocolate and using a tablespoon make blobs on some wax paper. Make a little indent and put in 3 jelly beans. Tasty and very cute!
Melted chocolate can be piped into any size and shape on wax paper. Put a nice picture underneath and trace the image. Use the same or different color of chocolate to fill in the image. I often do this to make “fuzzy bunnies”. I pipe out some white chocolate (only kind my daughter eats) into a basic shape of a bunny and while still wet sprinkle with finely shredded coconut. I have also used colored sugar (couple drops food color into regular sugar and shaken well in a baggie) or sprinkles and used an M&M as the eye and a mini marshmallow as the tail.
Put a marshmallow on a popsicle stick and dip in melted chocolate and then roll in sprinkles, colored sugar, finely chopped nuts, coconut etc.
Other edible basket fillers, fruit, roll ups, granola bars, cut out cookies, craft paper, scissors and glue.
Re. Easter basket ideas for teens: FYI, $5 will only get you about a gallon of gas in the Chicagoland area. :)
Hello all,
I live in Brazil, and here Easter is very different than what it’s like in the US. Here we give people huge easter chocolate eggs, and the whole Easter hunt isn’t explored. What I always do with my kids and nephews is I leave different clues throughout the house and garden for them. If they don’t know how to read yet, I draw. With each clue I leave little gifts that are healthier and cheap, like a carved candied apple filled with grapes, or decorated carrots. I also leave a little treasure box filled with coins and colored rocks. If I find coins from different countries even better. Their final prize is the big chocolate egg.
Naiana, what neat ideas. It is always so much fun to hear not only how people do things differently here but especially from other countries. Love hearing your ideas.
one thing about the easter season i like is that the eggs are really cheap ..we eat alot of eggs .. (or so it seems we do) .. and the savings is great ..
also, i like the holiday bc of the resurrection aspects of it .. (not sure if i can talk religion bc some sites u cant) ..
but it makes me dwell on the good things of my life and how thankful i am .. (i think of these things often but more so bc of the meaning of what the holiday is) (well to me it is) ..
thanks for posting this ..
:D
I love these ideas. I am going to use the jelly bean idea for our youth group. Thanks so much.
We always use the same Easter basket year after year. It means buying a better one the first year, but not having to buy another one, ever. Yes, you have to store them, but many of us also store a few Easter decorations. The baskets can hold the decorations in the box. It’s a fun tradition. As the kids get older and get out of bed before we do, they don’t have to guess which basket is theirs. They see a familiar one sitting on the table waiting for them.
Glenna we use the same ones over and over too. It is kind of funny because the kids got attached to them kinda like their favorite blanky and didn’t really want a new one each year which is nice.
Back when I was a child and went to church we always got a new easter hat and that was filled with the goodies.
We needed the hats for church so they had to be bought anyway so it did double duty.
Last easter I had the grandchildren here so I bought hats for the 3 and filled them with candy and toys.
A pink baseball cap that said fisher girl and a camouflage cap for the oldest and a Tigger cap for the youngest. They loved them better than the candy.
If you buy new shoes for easter use those as baskets.
thats a good idea grandma ..
and we also used to save and re-use the easter baskets every year ..
one lady i met at the laundromat said every year she was able to get free shoe boxes (not the lids just the box) and she used to cover them in a spring/easter wrapping paper .. and then fill the box up with all sorts of candies and toys .. one box for all but the toys she used to label for each child ..
i thought that was a cute idea too ..
I take square 1/2 gallon milk containers. cut in half…use the upper half to make a handle..attach the handle to the bottom base of the milk container. cover with construction paper. Decorate with stickers or have the kids color the baskets..fill with green Easter grass,and have a Easter egg hunt to fill with the goodies..
Just for laughs, even though my children always find all the Easter eggs at the hunt we have ar our house, we refill several eggs and put them around the house for the days following Easter. Last year, my son was looking for these, and instead found a very small wild rabbit, in which they, my daughter included, kept for a day (but wanted to keep as a pet). Then they wanted a domestic rabbit for a pet, and my husband and I agrred to get them one if they researched everything that they would need. They did! They read about every “rabbit” book at the library, and took notes! It bonded them together, in an answer to my prayers! God is so creative inn how He answers prayers! Now, we have two rabbits, one for each child, and they still have a common bond through these rabbits, and through caring for these creature’s daily and weekly needs! Though the dailiness of life, God is answering prayers!
Because my two children that are still at home are alittle too old (19 & 14) for a easter egg hunt, we decided this year, instead of dying eggs, we are going to make Easter cupcakes and share some with our neighbors.
Also wanted to share that a co-worker of mine that is very short on funds and can’t afford large Easter Baskets and all the trimmings is planning to take her kids to church on Sunday and after church they are heading to the park for a picnic and a easter egg hunt. She will take lots of pictures of the kids and then they will scrapbook the pictures together as a family.
My daughter (3 years) decided last Easter (on her own!) to share her Easter basket with the less fortunate. She got an Easter basket with all the trimmings and such and we went to donate some of her gently used clothes and she asked the lady if she wanted some candy. Well, one thing led to another and next thing I knew she had given all of her candy to the little kids at the shelter. I asked her if she wanted more candy and she said “No mommy, dey’re happy.” She has a 6 month old little sister and I think we’re going to continue this tradition each year. Instead of receiving Easter baskets, I’ll have the girls fill several smaller baskets and we’ll donate them. :)
For Easter dessert me and my three boys (7,5,2) always make my special buttercream bunny cake!! I make two round cakes, using one for the head, then cutting the other into three pieces making 1/2 moon shapes for the ears and the center part fo his bow-tie. Then we ice it with the cream-cheese icing, and decorate with the easter colored m&ms. It’s really cute and gets the kids into helping in the kitchen and everyone at Easter dinner seems to enjoy seeing how they’ve decorated it each year!!!! God Bless
Hi. I have listened to Dr. Laura many times and now look on her website. It’s grand-parenting time in our lives and I’d like to share your poem about jellybeans on facebook. Would that be OK? Please answer soon, because I’d like to do it by Holy Saturday at the latest.
Yes you may. It helps us too if you don’t mind mentioning our web site at the end.
I really like the suggestion that came in my Living on Dime email today.
You said “Buy candy after Christmas or Valentine’s Day at half price and keep to fill Easter baskets”
That is so practical – just be sure to check that the wrap on your treats is intact.
Hi Jill
Hope you and your family has a very blesses Easter.One thing we have done over the past years for Easter is to take plastic Easter eggs and write bible verses along with a small piece of candy and fill the eggs and take them to the nursing home.you would be surprised at how much joy it gives the elderly and it makes their day.
This is a great idea Susan. I live across from the juvenile detention center here and something like that would be great for those kids too. They are often over looked at times and some of the kids there have just been taken out their homes through no fault of theirs but their parents sometimes.
“ROLLING THE STONE AWAY” <(HARD BOILED EGG'S
Supplies needed:
pot
water
marks
dozen egg's
sticker's
First boil egg's ,
Allow to cool
Then let the children color and decorate the egg's.
When complelted take out "Scripture /Bible" read passage,of when the Angel came and ROLLED the STONE away.
Showing Christ had Risen.
Then let the fun begin with rolling the decorated egg's down a hill OR driveway (paterental supervised)to see who's crack's the first .Then eat and enjoy :)
t
One of my most treasured Easter memories is the year my mom didn’t have the money for “real” Easter baskets so my mom being the creative and frugal lady she was made “Baskets” out of green construction paper taped together into a basket. She made grass from lighter colored paper and made cookies and put a little candy in them but my brother and I thought they were wonderful. I also liked the idea of using the same basket over and over, we do the same with Christmas stockings so why not baskets? Plus I don’t know many households around here that don’t have a few baskets around somewhere. If you have to, dump the contents temporarily into a shoebox or something and you can use them. We never really believed in the Easter bunny like we did Santa Claus anyway as I recall. Somehow the idea of a bunny rabbit delivering eggs and baskets was less believable to us than a fat jolly man in a red suit in a sleigh delivering toys. Go figure.
I have adult kids so I started filling the eggs And fill them with unusual money like dollar coins , 50 cents or $2 . I can add them to other peoples baskets. I am a senior living with my daughter so I just add my eggs to there baskets and the cleaning lady to add to her baskets.
I am so low on money this month…but, I have an idea for an Easter basket for my mother. (I live at home, even though I am 26.)
I have a small, cardboard box and I am pretty good at crafting. I will decorate this box and make a handle with more cardboard. I will take some paper from the paper shredder for Easter grass and since we have egg dye, (It’s old, but it still may work.) I am going to hard boil up some eggs and dye them. None of those candy eggs for us. Besides, we like to eat hard boiled eggs and make hard boiled egg sandwiches. (I can give you all the recipe, if you want to try the sandwiches.)
I am going to give her some peppermints that I have stored away, along with some granola bars.
I will also make her an Easter card, because I love making greeting cards.
~Heather
I just want everyone to know that my mother and I are not impoverished, in other words, we do own our own house and such and have money to cover our needs, and we make it every month. But, this month, like many other months, we don’t have much money left after paying bills and buying food.
I just wanted to clarify this, because I don’t think that I was too clear and it may have sounded like we had absolutely nothing. I hope no one minds the clarification. I just didn’t want anyone to worry.
No we know what you meant. We are the same way. I manage the basics and sometimes some treats but just have to be very careful sometimes. I love it that your first reaction wasn’t to go charge something or whine about your miserable lot in life. :) You sound like you are managing things and looking at money the way people really should. Some months we do better then others and if this month is not so great – well we make do with what we have. To me that is normal to the rest of the world I’m not sure but trust me their way is getting them in a big mess and they have a lot of stress to cope with.
Cute idea Heather. I bet your mom will love it and appreciate it even more because of all the work and effort you went into to make it. We would love your egg sandwich recipe. I love them too so am always looking for a new recipe for them. Thanks.
Heather,
Being home with Mom at 26 is OK! I come from a generation where both my great grandparents and my grandparents lived together. My mom was raised with both sets of grandparents! This whole idea of having to be out on your own by a certain age is nonsense especially in the economy we live in! Why it just makes good darn sense to help each other out! Both my set of grandparents lived together and helped each other financially and in every other way! They grew gardens, canned, helped clean the house together etc. Enjoy the time you and your Mom have together and I wish for both of you the best day ever with your great idea for your basket!!!
I’ll take that recipe if You don’t mind!
Have been working a lot lately so haven’t even had time to catch up on your blog. I have added a new boss to my work life and he is not only new to our company but is heading up a brand new division. Lots to do to bring him up to speed and since he is traveling a lot setting up this new org, there is a lot of work for me. But I took a little time today because I was interested in the Easter baskets and wanted to share our story. We use the same baskets we bought when our kids were little. Even though my daughter is no longer at home, we make a basket for her with a minimum of goodies which by husband and son split. I purchase chocolate bunnies from a fellow who has a chocolate stand at our faremers’ market and send one each to the grands, one for the daughter and husband and one each for my son and husband (the home baskets). Someone made my kids little tiny crocheted baskets (about 1 1/2″ in diameter) when they were born and I fill them with mini-M & M’s. Also, put several Cadbury creme eggs in each basket and then the Girl Scout cookies that I purchased the previous month. My son takes a lunch each day and likes his sweet so the cookies are a good choice. My husband (a thin mint afficianado) puts his cookies in the freezer and eats 2 a day until they are gone. Since I put the same things in the basket each year, they look forward to getting their springtime sweets. My husband and I share a basket but I don’t eat chocolate so I get myself a caramel nut egg and that is all. My son joins us for Easter dinner and then we go to a neighbor’s house for dessert. A way to enjoy our family and share the joy of the season with friends.
Happy Easter to one and all.
Good to hear from you Maggie. I wonder what had happened to you. Have a Happy Easter with your son and friends.
You are very kind to consider nursing homes and juvenile and other delinquints at eastertime. But call first to ensure that your contributions can be accepted. In prison for example, I was only allowed to bring in my keys, 4 quarters and not even the clicker to unlock my car door.
My son’s favorite Easter egg hunt was the one where I put clues in little plastic eggs, leading him to the next little Easter gift – the clues were like this “rubba dub dub go look in the tub.” In the tub was a little rubber ducky and another egg with a clue. He had such fun reading the clues and finding the next treasure!
I was looking for some good Easter basket ideas and my search has been ended here.Thanks to you and yes I am also looking for some party ideas.Are you having some of them also ?
I take gallon milk jugs and in the center cut a circle. You can jagger the bottom half of the circle to give it a more “Easter” feel. I then take tissue paper and cut it into small square shapes and twist them and glue them all around the milk jug leaving the hole in the center. I then take glue and lightly glue around the tissue paper and add glitter to the glue. I let dry for a couple of days. I add a bow around the neck of the milk jug and a sticker to the milk cap. I then fill the jug up with paper grass made from construction paper. I just cut long pieces and then cut the long pieces in half and curl one end of it with scissors. I fill the jug and then fill the whole jug with home made treats. This year I will be making chocolate peanut butter eggs, home made rock candy (starting a week ahead) and rice Krispie egg treats along with chocolate dipped pretzel rods and Koolaid flavored home made popcorn. I also add free printable color sheets for spring and a box of crayons, $ store egg shaped chalk along with a bottle of bubbles. My grand kids enjoy this as much as their parents did when they were growing up. We also make a big dinner with ham and all the fixings and special pies and cookies for dessert! No one goes hungry and we all have a wonderful but simple day!
When my first grandson was about 19 months old, I painted hard boiled eggs with him. I decided that I wanted to keep an egg to remember our time together. This year he is 13 and even though he decided that he was too old last year, he still painted one egg. I now have 5 grandchildren and have painted eggs every year with them. I have an egg carton for each of them and let them pick which egg (or 2) that they painted to save. My youngest granddaughter was not quite one when we painted this year and she didn’t understand how to paint an egg. But she did enjoy rolling an egg around in the shaving cream & food dye. So I even have an egg that she “colored” this year.
Each year, the kids enjoy looking at the eggs from previous years. The eggs have dried out nicely from year to year; you just need to store them someplace that isn’t too humid.
After the arrival of my first grandchild, I started a little tradition that I didn’t think too much of, but for which I have had the approval of many other people, so here it is. When I make up an Easter basket for one of my grandkids, I always include a new toothbrush and their own tube of toothpaste. Even baby toothbrushes and paste can be bought at a drug store. Small travel size tubes of paste and character toothbrushes can be bought for older children. I just figured they would get more than enough candy (even if I contributed a bit myself), so this seemed like a responsible idea.
This is my first time on this site. I’ve only read this post and replies and I already know I’ll be back. What a lot of great ideas. My little nephew is only 2 months old, but I’m sure I’ll use some of these ideas next year. For this year I bought a little Easter basket for a quarter at an estate sale and I have some like new cardboard books that I bought at sales last year to put in the basket for him. You’re never too young for books!
One year I found colorful plastic flower pots. I put a little Styrofoam in the bottom, then sat a small plush bunny on top, I then stuck a variety of lollipops all around. I added a packet of flower seeds, then wrapped it all in cellophane. They turned out really cute, perfect for boys or girls. Add a toy car, or other type of toy instead of a plush bunny.
Such a cute idea. Thanks Diane.
Love all the ideas! Just wanted to add that years ago, I happened to find several packages of very nice green paper napkins for a nickel a piece after Christmas. Instead of using the annoying plastic Easter grass, I use the napkins to line the baskets. They look a little like large cabbage leaves which I thought was a cute touch! It also dresses up the baskets and sometimes makes a few goodies look like a lot. (My original inspiration for making the substitution was our cat who had an obsession for eating Easter grass. She had a gift for locating long-lost pieces of it throughout the year and promptly making a mess on the floor.)
I am a couponer so I made all the Easter baskets for my 6 grandchildren very inexpensively. All the candy was free or close to free. All have a tooth brush (free) and toothpaste (free). I got kites from dollar tree ($6). I got 2 3-packs of bubbles ($2). I did buy 6 buckets (89¢ each)but I designed a cover for them with each child’s name on their buckets with modge-podge. They are adorable. I wish I could post a picture.
I have teenagers so I buy the $1 movie size boxes, you need 6 to make the basket (2 for bottom & 4 for sides) I use scotch tape to hold the boxes together & use a beef jerky stick for the handle, then fill the inside with the mark down chocolate I got after Valentines day, there really cute & no waste on the basket & the teenagers really enjoy them
We’ve always loved the idea of easter eggs and this is such a great idea. Thanks for sharing this article with us! :)
This year we were out of town for Easter. I bought baskets and toys and candy at the Dollar Tree for the grandkids. I fill the baskets with sidewalk chalk, bubbles, crayons, paint kits, Army figures, matchbox cars, hair bows, etc. I usually buy a card for each grandchild and include some cash also.
Dealing with the corona virus I decided I did not want to leave the house to shop. I have 2 grand babies both under a year old.
I didn’t want Easter to go by without a little something from Grandma. I am making 2 fabric baskets out of stuff I have here at the house. Also going to make sock bunnies and stuffed toys out of fuzzy socks I have and never wore. This will cost me nothing but my time.
Thank you for all your videos. They keep me frugal minded. They also give me peace of mind.
My mother did Easter plates for us until we moved stateside. She had pretty plates and put Easter grass on them and we got a Stuttgarter Bunny (brown sugar) and an American chocolate bunny and a bunch of other German candies on our plate every year.
I do baskets for my grand kids every year. Will probably do it every year until they tell me to stop.