How to Create a Personalized Easter Basket

It's that time of year again. The air is warming, the bees are swarming, and the Easter Beagle...err...the Easter Bunny is coming! The children are less interested in dressing up in their fancy duds and more interested in running downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny has left for them. How do you make their Easter basket more than just a plastic woven bucket full of things someone else has already picked out? How do you make it more special and more personal? Make one yourself! It doesn't take much time and it's much more fun than picking out a pre-filled basket.

Use the same basket year after year:

Each child, on their first Easter, got their very own Easter Basket. Of course, it had all the goodies in it, but I mean their own basket. My oldest son got one that was a real woven wooden rectangular basket with little white bunnies and carrots stenciled around the outside. It's his basket. He uses it every year. He always knows which basket is his on Easter morning.

Easter Grass and Cellophane:

If you have to have Easter grass in your basket, go for it. However, try using tissue shreds instead of that cheap looking, thin, shimmering plastic stuff that attaches itself to everything and is more annoying that saran wrap. Tissue shreds will still look nice and cushion all those Easter eggs.

Cellophane is that clear outer wrap on pre-made Easter baskets. It is something your Easter baskets can do without. Cellophane is sometimes difficult for small children to get through when trying to reach the goodies inside, and Easter morning is not the time to cause frustration.

Make your basket like a Springtime Christmas stocking:

The Easter Bunny is just as knowledgeable about your child as Santa is. Only, kids don't usually write letters to the Easter Bunny (maybe they should start). Wouldn't the Easter Bunny bring small gifts and candy your children want and enjoy? Mr. Easter Bunny knows my 3-year old can't eat hard candy, my 7-year old dislikes caramel, and my teenager likes Juicy Fruit above any egg-shaped gumball. He also knows all the children in this house love Reese's Pieces and peanut butter cups. I, personally, really appreciate him knowing the kids don't need much candy in their baskets because they are going to Grandma's house later in the day for an Easter Egg Hunt (i.e. Candy Heaven).

Small toys and gifts you know your kids will enjoy are perfect basket fillers. The Easter Bunny knows my daughter needs more crayons and would love a Disney Princess bracelet. He knows my teenaged son will still believe the Easter Bunny exists if he gets a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards. After all, if you believe, he will come. The "toys" don't have to be elaborate, but you can certainly splurge once in a while. Last Easter, my oldest son received the new Kingdom Hearts II game in his basket. Not a usual Easter basket filler, to be sure, but one that moved the Easter Bunny up several notches on the "cool" scale.

Classic Easter movies on DVD are also good choices as Easter basket fillers. Shows like "It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" and "The Easter Bunny is Coming To Town" are great for smaller children.

Fill plastic eggs with chocolate eggs, jellybeans, or small toys. They will be like little presents the kids can open. You can even wrap the toys that go into the basket. Although wrapping Easter basket fillers is not very traditional and is unnecessary, it adds some excitement and mystery to the holiday.

A fun and exciting Easter basket can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be. That's the great thing. You decide, or rather, the Easter Bunny decides what goes into it. I can usually fill a personalized Easter basket for around $15. That's in line with the baskets you can buy at the store. Keeping the candy to a minimum allows more money in the budget for things the kids would really want.

So hop to it! Go out and find the things your kids want and love and create a basket just for them. Pop a big bow on top and watch their eyes light up on Easter morning. They'll probably be so wrapped up in their special Easter baskets that they won't mind dressing up later in their Easter finest.