Despite being a mom who loves holiday traditions, we have surprisingly few when it comes to Easter baskets, probably because we’ve spent Easter out-of-town for the last six years. Our only two Easter basket “must haves” are a gift and a large chocolate bunny.
When our girls were just babies, I bought personalized buckets from Pottery Barn Kids to use as Easter baskets. We put Easter grass in the buckets and left them by the front door for the Bunny to fill with goodies. After years of use, the buckets are still like new.
When the girls were three, they insisted on leaving a treat for the Easter Bunny like we do for Santa Claus. That year we left the Easter Bunny a snack of baby carrots and carrot juice. More recently, we’ve included lettuce, apple slices, and cookies (surely the Easter Bunny has a sweet tooth).
Once we started flying to visit family over Easter break, we had to leave our personalized Easter buckets home. The girls were understandably nervous that the Easter Bunny wouldn’t find us, so we left a note explaining where we were going to be. We bought inexpensive plastic buckets at CVS the night before Easter, filled them with Easter grass, left them next to the bed, and guess what — the Easter Bunny found us!
My mother always included a gift in my Easter basket, and I’ve carried on that tradition. Over the years, the Easter Bunny’s gifts have gone from Dora the Explorer dolls and Barbies to nail polish and curling irons. And there’s always a new toothbrush.
Every year I make it a point to casually ask the girls, “What do you think the Bunny will bring this year?” This is always a worthwhile fishing expedition because they never fail to name the one candy that will make Easter complete that I (oops, I mean that the Easter Bunny) would never have guessed to include in their baskets. Like the year E said that the only thing she really wanted was a giant Hershey’s kiss that she saw at CVS. Luckily, the Bunny was able to snag the last one on the shelf.
One final recommendation – resealable zipper pouches of candy. These make for less mess, less waste, and most importantly, less noticeable pilfering.
Happy Easter!
