I never noticed until we made our switch to real food that every single holiday seems to revolve around food! And not just any kind of food…“junk food” of course. I think building family traditions around certain meals is priceless, but I often wish holidays weren’t so focused on foods that include white flour, sugar, and worst of all – store-bought candy. Halloween and Christmas certainly “take the cake” when it comes to our consumption of junk food, but in my opinion Easter isn’t that far behind. If our family managed to have a candy-less (and still fun!) Halloween this past year then we can certainly do the same for Easter. And by the way, its not that my kids don’t get any candy for these holidays…its just that they get so much of it from school/friends/parties that I don’t need to also supply it at home!
I’ve compiled a fabulous list of candy alternatives (thanks to my wonderful faceboo
k community – I love chatting with you guys!) for your child’s Easter basket this year. But before we dive right in I must share a super cute alternative to those big chocolate bunnies. Last year we got our daughters big honey whole-wheat bread bunnies (pictured) from Great Harvest, and they absolutely loved them! Right when I thought I couldn’t like Great Harvest any more they come up with this idea. And I know not everyone lives near one of their stores, but if you like to bake use this as inspiration to make something similar.
Without further ado, here’s the list of ideas. The items that are starred will most likely fit inside a plastic egg!
Arts and Crafts
- Coloring books, notebooks
- Crayons, markers, colored pencils
- Ceramic eggs to paint together
- Craft kits found at Michaels and Target (near the marker/crayon aisle)
- Stamps
Supplies for Summer
- Bubbles
- Sidewalk chalk
- Bug catcher
- Sunglasses
- Flip flops
- Crocs
- Bathing suit
- Beach towel
- Goggles
- Snorkel
- Beach ball
- Fish net
Gardening (it’s the perfect time of year to plant some seeds!)
- Shovel and other gardening tools
- Gloves
- Seed packets*
- Pots for planting
- Watering can
- Rain boots
Educational
- Puzzle pieces* (send them on a scavenger hunt to find all the pieces of a puzzle hidden inside plastic eggs…I absolutely LOVE this idea from a reader!!)
- Books
- Card or board games
- Flash cards
- Activity books
Toys/Other
- Stuffed animals, pillow pets
- Stickers*
- New fun cups, plates, silverware for kids
- Thomas the train, matchbox cars, other little toys
- DVDs
- Coins*, piggy bank
- Glow in the dark bugs*
- Dresses for dolls
- Tag reader
- Legos*
- Silly bands*
- Zoobles
- Small ipod shuffle*
- Event tickets*
- Play doh
- Gift cards for music or other stores
- Rocket balloons (available at Target)
Real Food
- Exotic and unusual fruits like star fruit
- Bread bunny (pictured above)
- Mini Lara Bars* (sold in a box at Target near the pharmacy)
- Popcorn*
Homemade Gifts
- “Coupons” for special time with mom/dad*
- Sock bunnies
- Photo albums/books
Clothing/Accessories
- Socks with a fun pattern
- Special piece of jewelry*
- Hair bows, clips*, hair rubber bands*
Another suggestion is to scope out the dollar bins at Target, Michaels, and the Dollar store. Also, consider creating a theme for the basket to make purchases easier and budget-friendly. If you have any additional ideas that didn’t make the list please feel free to leave them in a comment below!
*items that will most likely fit inside a plastic egg
[Added to Food Renegade Fight Back Friday]
FREE “Real Food” Meal Plans
Just had a candy free egg hunt w friends! Eggs were filled with:
Homemade easter shaped rainbow crayons, stickers, raisins, egg shaped sidewalk chalk, fun shaped erasers, mini play doh, coins, homemade marshmallows, mini finger nail polish, tiny cars, and little necklaces stung with cheerios and dried fruit the kids loved it.
Cook books for kids on Real Foods to make themselves. Make one or two and wrap them up too!
This is a bit of a side note, but as the parent of a child with food allergies, I love this article and the list of ideas for non-food gifts/treats.
My 5-year-old son has multiple food allergies, so I have become very aware of how often food is used at parties, in class projects and for every holiday. I am so thankful for other parents who give non-food treats like bubbles, stickers, etc. instead of candy that is unsafe for him to eat or that is full of food dyes. I hate having to tell him that the candy that he is so excited about receiving at school isn’t safe for him to eat.
I told him tonight that for Easter I will buy the candy that he can’t eat or that he doesn’t want. At least this way, I can keep him safe and let him experience some of the joy of receiving a new toy or something else with the money.
Pretty sure I’m the puzzle piece reader. We buy dollar store puzzles and put them into eggs, my son finds the eggs with a few pieces each in them and has to try to put the puzzle together. Some eggs have change or trinkets along with the puzzle pieces. This year we are going to do a small Lego set instead, since he’s always bugging me to buy him Lego sets anyway, good way to get more mileage from the purchase.
I love this idea ! Thanks for sharing !
With Easter coming up, I am shopping for our kids baskets tonight. I found this when looking for ideas. Thanks for the suggestions! Have you written any post on what to do about junk food your kids are given when away, such as while at church or grandparents. Our church hands out a ton of candy every time the doors open and my husband and I have talked to our parents repeatedly about the junk food issue very poor results.
Give to an adoption center.
Bonbon’s nail polish will fit in eggs, as will lip gloss decorated band-aids (Hello Kitty, Lisa Frank, Angry Birds, ect…)stickers, super balls, ‘Slime’ (great recipe for homemade using glitter glue and borax at scatteredthoughtsofacraftymom.com, homemade crayons using silicon ice trays.
Great idea Rachel!! My daughters LOVE nail polish!! Thanks for sharing :)
Used bunny cookie cutter and made open faced sandwiches with cream cheese and peanut butter. Arranged them on a tray in between stuffed celery and carrot sticks. The trays looked great and my daughter’s kindergarten class ate every bit! The teachers were so glad they weren’t all sugared up with cakes and candies!
I always used Easter and Christmas as time to buy a funky fun new toothbrush and fancy toothpaste. Afteralllll the sweet stuff a new toothbrush was in order! We also did ‘themes; one year everything had some purple, another year yellow, an as the kid got older movies – Gilbert Grape for the purple year. Egg shaped things – grapes, avocado, baby bell cheese, but kept the food items to a minimum. JO
I love all your non-candy ideas. When I do feel the need to have sweets for Easter, it makes me feel better to know that I can have fun with homemade baked goods like those found in your index (muffins, whole wheat cookies etc.). Thanks for being such a great resource!
Growing up our the eggs in our Easter egg hunt always contained my parents’ loose change (and if you were lucky you’d find the few with $1 or $5 bills). Of course with inflation, I’m not sure if kids would be as thrilled with quarters as we used to be. :)
I dread holidays for this reason! My children get absurd amounts of candy from friends and family and it drives me crazy! How do you keep people from doing this without hurting their feelings?
Hi Kristin. I know it can be tough, especially in the beginning. This post will help you navigate those bumpy waters: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/. Best of luck. ~Amy
I’m bewildered at this need to give the kids a bunch of candy and toys for Easter. When I was a kid we decorated eggs, had a pretty basket with fake grass in it and on Easter we hunted for EAster eggs, that we then were allowed to Eat. It was awesome. My husband’s favorite additional tradition was to have a chocolate easter bunny, so for our children we have my Easter, plus each person gets a size appropriate dark chocolate bunny. I personally used to like buying peeps as soon as they showed up in stores, slit their packages and stuck them in a drawer until they hardened. But that was just ‘my’ treat, not an Easter thing, per se.
My father was a militant atheist and our ‘Easter’ was probably pretty token, by popular standards, but I loved the egg hunt and the decorating, I really did. No candy or junk food needed.
Things for the great ideas! We do a (mostly) candy free Easter as well. We do pre-Easter egg hunts: (1) “alphabet” hunts with stuff from our Montessori alphabet box, and (2) “glow in the dark” hunts with LED lights in the eggs. Easter day we do a hunt with toys in the eggs. One of my favorite egg fillers is the little play figurines from a Safari LTD toob package. Perfect fit, generally, and we use them for imaginative play. Also love doing puzzle pieces. This year our eggs are stuffed with: play doh (larger egg), bath fizz egg, encased insects for light table, matchbox cars, bubbles, whistle. For the Easter Baskets, I try to do something with a Christian theme (as my parents did) plus other, nicer toys.
My 4 year old has to bring a dozen plastic eggs filled with something for an egg hunt at preschool next week. He has a peanut allergy and I hate the idea of giving him and all his classmates junk. Instead of candy, I filled the eggs with foam stickers I got at Dollar Tree shaped like bunnies, chicks, eggs, and carrots. They were $1 for about 200 stickers. My son used some to make cards for his best friends and loved them, so I think the kids in his class will enjoy them too. And NO junk food that I’ll end up throwing away!
Great ideas!!! Thanks for sharing! I’m doing candy free baskets this year too! My boys needed new rubber boots so I put those ok with bubbles, garden shovels and some outdoor stuff…pretty sure they won’t know they are missing anything!
Whoa! I so appreciate this list. Back in the day–my day that is–there were some jelly beans, a little chocolate and a sugar egg that was too pretty to eat. And lots of hand colored REAL hard boiled eggs. It all seems so moderate in comparison with the Easter gluttony of today. Great lists of alternatives.