Save Money with Homemade Easter Crafts

Easter is a holiday about family. Easter crafts are a great way to talk to your children about the meaning of the holiday and create traditions that will be passed down throughout the generations. Turning these crafts into gifts is a great way to fit Easter gifts into a recession budget. Homemade Easter gifts add a personal touch to the holidays and will help your children feel like a part of the holiday tradition.

Easter Cookies

Easter is a holiday tailor made for sweet and tasty goodies, but those little boxes of candy hearts and chocolate bunnies add up quickly. Especially if you have a lot of people to buy for. For a great Easter gift idea that also makes a fun craft for your family, consider giving sugar cookies decorated with an Easter theme.

You don't have to be a gourmet chef to make them, simply head to your local grocery store and pick up a straight-to-oven roll of sugar cookie dough, Easter shaped cookie-cutters (egg, bunny, cross, etc.), a few different shades of pastel icing in a tube, and a spool of pastel-colored ribbon from the greeting card section.

Then simply roll, punch and bake. Depending on the age of the children, you may want to wait until the cookies have baked and cooled and then let the children have fun decorating them. Finally, wrap the cookies in sandwich bags and tie them with the ribbon.

Easter Cards

Easter doesn't have to be all about sugar sweets. A great craft to involve your children in is homemade Easter Cards. All you need is a pack of multi-color construction paper (pastel shades if they are available), scissors (child friendly), a glue-stick, a pack of markers, and any "flair" that you'd like: glitter, stickers, etc.

The most simple card decoration template works especially well for large numbers of cards for a class or church group. Take a sheet of construction paper, and cut it in half, widthwise. Then fold those two sheets of paper in half to make two cards.

Then head to the internet to find your favorite Easter bunny, Easter egg, or even crucifixion picture. Then cut them out and paste them on the card.

There are several options for the lettering on the outside of the card: Either type up and print out the letters or phrases that you would want to add to your card and paste them, or head to your local craft store and pick up a few packages of adhesive letters (this option is more expensive, but it adds a more polished flair to your Easter cards).

For the inside of the card, print out several copies of your favorite Bible verse, poem, or inspirational quote. Cut them out and back them with a square of construction paper (not the same color as the card). Have each of your family member's sign it, then add stickers, glitter or any other decoration to the inside and outside of the card as you see fit.

Bunny Easter Baskets

Every Easter egg needs a basket, and this craft basket is fun to make and inexpensive. To make it, you'll need scissors, a half-gallon milk or juice carton, stapler, pastel construction paper, glue, a hole punch, pipe cleaners and a package of googly eyes (The pipe-cleaners and googly eyes can be purchased at the craft store. All other items should be available at your local grocery store).

Use the scissors to remove the panel of the carton that has the open spout and put it aside to make the handle. Then staple the open spout closed.

Next, cover the sides of the carton with any color construction paper that you would like. Trim the pieces to fit, and affix with glue.

Next, punch a hole in the center of the spout ridge and thread pipe cleaners through it to make whiskers. Then glue googly eyes to either side of the ridge to make eyes.

To make the ears, cut long oval shapes out of construction paper (the same color you used to cover the carton) and staple them to the top of the carton so that they stand up.

Finally, to make the handle, trim the carton panel that you cut out into a thinner rectangle, cover it with the same color construction paper and staple it to the basket.

Easter Eggs

Most families decorate Easter eggs, but there are many families who don't have the time or the money to take part in this traditional craft. This year, when you're picking up your eggs and dye kits, pick up a few dozen more and give them out to homeless shelters. While making the eggs, talk to your children about the importance of giving and what it means to be a Christian. Place them in your bunny Easter baskets and take them to your local homeless shelter.