Easter Candy Alternatives: It's Not All About the Sweets

We were stunned to see how much candy ended up in our household when Valentine's Day rolled around this year. There were the gifts from Grandparents, of course, and each of the three children came home with candy that was from their classroom parties. It was either directly from their teacher or enclosed with the Valentine's Day cards they exchanged with their classmates. The majority of this candy is still on the cabinet, nearly a month later.

Why?

Because we're making an effort to practice healthy eating habits year round. Ever since restricting sugary snacks in our children's diet, we've seen a significant change in their behavior, how well they eat at meal time and how well they sleep at night. It wasn't until we watched the critically acclaimed reality TV Show, Honey, We're Killing Our Kids, that we received our frightening wake-up call. Never before did we think we gave them too much sugar or an improper diet . . . wrong!

In keeping with the healthy eating theme throughout the holidays, we've been coming up with alternatives for candy in their Easter baskets:

1: If you don't want to exclude *all* candy from their baskets, consider including only a chocolate bunny. If that still doesn't seem like enough, consider sprinking a package of pastel M&M's throughout the basket once you've added all the other items.

2: If you *do* want to exclude all candy from their baskets, consider the following alternatives: (this list is geared toward those with children ages three to nine - beyond that age, I think a more intricate list will be involved)

(a) stuffed animals
(b) small books
(c) collector's cards
(d) eggs with toys in them
(e) small containers of play dough
(f) travel games
(g) trail mix inside plastic eggs
(h) granola inside plastic eggs
(i) packages of seeds
(j) small gardening tools
(k) bug collecting kits
(l) silly putty
(m) small notebooks
(n) magnets
(o) tiny art sets
(p) small model kits
(q) flash cards
(r) egg shaped chalk
(s) stickers
(t) glue sticks
(u) stationary sets
(v) special cups or dish sets
(w) picture frames
(x) disposable cameras
(y) small photo albums
(z) small gender specific toys and trinkets

These are just suggestions because, as you can see, there's a lot of options available that have nothing to do with candy. That a-z list is posted to illustrate this and I tried my best not to gear my suggestions toward a specific gender.

Side note: I strongly advise against purchasing those pre-filled Easter baskets that are available everywhere you look. Not only are the toys and other items in there of marginal quality, but they're also loaded with candy. Last year, my children received these baskets from someone outside of our home and the candy in them was terrible. You know it's bad when my kids offered to throw it away for me before I even realized it was in there. Many families like to convenience of these baskets, do please don't think I'm putting them down. It's all a matter of choice. I'm merely pointing out my experiences with them and why I think consumers should stay away from them.