Healthy Replacements for Easter Candy

Easter Baskets = Instant Cavities (But You Can Change It!)

Kids love to taste of candy and all its sugars. The taste is enticing. The bitter sweets and sours discolor their mouths and stain a ring of color as they consume. These are all part of being kid, but let's assume you want your kid(s) to only visit the dentist for cleaning every six months. This would be a good time to switch out the sweets!

Easter instantly denotes the image of big chocolate eggs and bunny's. This can change to a healthier view if you change a few things around, and keep the basic parts of Easter the same. The basic pictures that associate itself with Easter are: Bunny's, colorful eggs, eggs with surprises in the inside, decorating and hiding. I've put together some healthy ways your child(ren) can enjoy Easter without activating toothaches, stomach aches and acid indigestion like the boy in "The Little Giants."

First off think of things that you child needs for school, a fun new pen or pencil that does something neat. For instance, a pen that has five different colors in one - or you could go with a space pen that writes upside down.

The second to do is stay with the traditional conceptions of Easter Day and color eggs with your kid(s) the night before without introducing, and you can stay away from the chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies. If you don't have time to color eggs or your kid(s) are too young buy the colored plastic eggs from the dollar store. Depending on your child(s) age you can put a variety of things inside of the eggs. For instance, you can buy the little box cereals from your local grocery store that come in a pack of six or eight and fill the plastic eggs with different types of cereal if you have a smaller kid. Pacifiers, crayons, dollars, quarters and little toys are all great ideas.

Because you are not using the cooked eggs you can wait until after the holiday has passed and buy the items that are marked down for Easter and use them the next year. This is great shopping for all you bargain coupon hunters (this keeps your wallet fat).

While your kids are searching for eggs the other parent can set up carrots and dip. When the kids come back you can explain to them that bunny rabbits love carrots, and then they will start to associate Easter with bunnies, carrots and eggs instead of candy.

I hope these ideas will help you keep your kids active and healthy! Happy Easter!