Toddler’s First Easter Basket (Candy Free)
I remember the fun of tearing open cellophane wrapped Easter baskets with my younger brother as a kid, and how much we looked forward to that moment of unwrapping them and digging through the decorative Easter grass for all the goodies, so I wanted Brooklyn to have that same joy—minus the accompanying sugar high! Enter the candy free first Easter Basket.
Shop supplies for your toddler Easter basket
Last Easter wasn’t technically Brooklyn’s first, but since she was only a month old for the first Easter that did roll around, it was the first where she could comprehend that something interesting was happening, and understand receiving a gift, so last year was the first where I got to put together her Easter basket. Since she was only a year old we didn’t want to give her a ton of candy and chocolate, so instead I put in non-traditional, but totally cute and toddler appropriate items for her—with one treat as an addition (because we don’t want her to be completely deprived of fun with sweets, just everything in moderation!). And I’ll be doing the same this year as well.
I started with a super cute basket, added colorful non-food items like decorative eggs and little toys, and finished off with some healthy snacks. Then I added the treat, in a separate basket, to her stash. Here are the steps I used:
Toddler’s Candy Free Easter Basket
Steps:
Start with a basket of your choice. I find that Target has super cute non-traditional basket options. Last year, I lined this gold metal basket with tissue paper so things wouldn’t fall between the lines. This year, she actually chose the basket herself, a soft feel basket with a bunny face and ears.
Add crinkle paper or Easter grass, which I also snagged from Target—their bags only cost $1-2 bucks which is super cost effective, AND there are so many fun colors and metallics now! Last year I did a mix of pink and gold tones; this year I’ll be adding in a little pastel Easter green as well.
Add your non-food items. Last year we went with animal bath toys, something that was eye-catching inside the Easter grass, and that she could play with all year long. This year I’ll be including items like sidewalk chalk, bubbles, coloring / activity books and washable crayons.
Toss in a few eggs. Traditionally, dyed hard boiled eggs are ideal, but I didn’t have time last year to die actual eggs, so I used these decorative versions from Target that she could play with rather than eat. I’ll likely be doing the same thing this year.
Insert snacks of your choice in the empty spaces. I went with Plum Organics Mighty Snackbars, which are now one of her most favorite snacks! She could eat one every single day.
Finish off with decorative ribbon and top with Bunny ears that your toddler can wear for the day!
And that’s it! Super simple and still a ton of Easter toddler fun. Brooklyn got to eat one bunny cookie from her peeps themed sugar cookie set from my friend and local Baltimore vendor Robbie’s Happy Place (Daddy and I had no issue helping take care of the rest of the cookies! LOL). And honestly, that one cookie was more than enough for her and she was way more focused on the things she could play with anyway. So ultimately, the candy-free Easter basket was a win / win for both parents and toddler!