Let’s Fill Those Easter Baskets!

It’s that time of year again! Just because the world has gone crazy does not mean we cannot make this time of year just as fun for the family! It might be even more of a reason to make it extra special this year. Waking up on Easter morning to see what basket the Easter Bunny had left me used to be just as exciting as waking up Christmas morning! When I was a kid, Easter baskets were traditional wicker baskets with treats, toys, and candy. Nowadays, Easter baskets can be shoes and umbrellas … literally anything can be a basket!

Let’s put together the perfect Easter basket! Just so you know, you’re child can never be too old for an Easter basket – I have been reminding my mom this every year since I graduated high school. With all that is going on with non-essential businesses closing due to the COVID-19 situation, it would really help your community if you were able to purchase any of your Easter supplies locally to help out your small business owners.

The first step is to find your “basket”. As mentioned earlier, your basket can literally be anything! Here’s a list of ideas for your baskets:

• A normal basket
• A string basket – you can find directions to make these here!
• Rain boots
• Umbrellas – you can find an idea here!
• Camping chairs
• Hats
• Toolbox
• Baking pan/mixing bowl
• Fishing tackle box
• Backpack
• A small kiddie pool
• A beer cooler (for the recipients older than 21 of course)
• A new lunch box

Next, let’s fill those baskets! Who says that Easter baskets need to be filled with candy?! When choosing a basket, you can use the basket as the theme. Let’s take the mixing bowl for example. If i were giving an Easter basket to someone who loved to bake, I would make the mixing bowl the basket and fill it with related baking items: cake mixes, frosting, measuring cups, sprinkles, muffin tins, food coloring, etc. Let’s take our list of baskets and fill in a few ideas for each of them!

• Rain boots – outside games like jump rope, chalk, rain coat
• Umbrellas – rain coat, rain hat, sidewalk chalk
• Camping chairs – items for s’mores, new camping gear
• Hats – some of your child’s favorite snacks and movies
• Toolbox – a couple new tools, candy
• Baking pan/mixing bowl – baking supplies and candy
• Fishing tackle box – fishing line, lures, bobbers, hooks
• Backpack – art supplies, a lunchbox, jacket
• Small kiddie pool – a new swim suit, swim toys, beach ball, towel
• Beer cooler (for the recipients older than 21) – beer, snacks, movies
• New lunch box – snacks and candy, small table games

Of course, if the basket is the main gift, you can always fill it with candy instead of other items that fit the theme. Mom, if you’re reading this, Reese’s Eggs are my favorite – no need for a basket! There are also creative ways to make baskets with candy!

Photo Credit: Jill

If you’re looking for ideas on how to support your community by shopping locally for your Easter basket gifts, you can always purchase gift cards from them and stuff them in your Easter eggs. Here are a few other ways you can support your local businesses during this tough time:

• Eat locally for Easter dinner – most places are doing a curbside or delivery service
• Gift someone flowers on Easter from a local florist
• Buy your groceries for Easter dinner at the local grocery store
• Buy the kids hot chocolate Easter morning from the local coffee shop as a treat
• Purchase a gift card from your hairdresser to use once this storm calms down – your children will love the idea that they are “paying” for something with their gift card
• Buy your chocolate treats for the baskets from a local chocolate shop

If you’re looking for a few creative ways to dye your eggs for Easter, check out this website! Hopefully you are able to make this an Easter your kids will not forget during this crazy time! If you have any other Easter basket ideas, leave a comment below!

Talk to you later!

Samantha

Guide to Gift Baskets

Have you ever wanted/needed to give someone a gift, but you just didn’t know what to get them? Well next time, make them a gift basket! A gift basket is a gift that is personal, but also won’t take a lot of time to put together. The best part about gift baskets is that there does not have to be a specific reason to give them!

Here are some examples of great times to give gift baskets that not a lot of people think about:

• Congratulating someone on a new job
• Get well basket
• Thinking of you basket
• First day of school basket (college kids love these)
• High school graduation
• House warming basket
• Teacher appreciation basket
• Grief basket
• Birthdays

Now you have some ideas of when to give a gift basket, let’s talk about what to put in those gift baskets! I usually do a mix of practical items and fun items – depending on the recipient of the basket. This is the best part about gift baskets – you can completely customize them based on who is receiving the basket.

Let’s look at what a “First Day of School” basket could look like:

• Pens
• Pencils
• Notebooks
• Sticky notes
• Flashcards
• Flashdrive
• Hand Sanitizer
• Travel coffee mug
• Granola bars & snacks
• Chapstick
• Lotion
• Backpack

So for this gift basket, I would make the backpack the “basket”. There is no rule saying you have to use a basket to hold all of the gift basket items! For this example, I used mostly practical items and a couple fun items.

Let’s talk about gift basket themes! If you are giving someone a gift basket on their birthday or doing a “Just Because” basket, you can spice your basket up by giving it a theme! Here are a few theme ideas with some ideas of items to include in the basket:

• Coffee Themed – coffee, coffee mug, cookies that go well with coffee, stir stick or spoon, sugar cubes, creamer, Starbucks gift card
• Baking Theme – cupcake mix, cookie mix, frosting, sprinkles, cupcake tins, cookie cutters, cute oven mitts, a cookbook, decorating tools (for this basket, I would use a mixing bowl as the “basket”)
• Color Theme – (pick the recipient’s favorite color and add items that are mainly that color – let’s use yellow as an example) Peanut M&M’s, Butterfinger, Lemonheads, Juicy Fruit gum, Lay’s Classic, yellow candle, yellow chapstick, yellow water bottle, yellow coffee mug, yellow Gatorade, lemonade, yellow socks, yellow face mask … I think you get the idea!
• Movie Theme – a couple classic movies, blanket, popcorn, popcorn flavoring, candy, sodas (for this basket, I would try to find a popcorn bowl as the “basket”)
• All Things Man Theme – case of beer, a new tape measure, beef jerky, shaving cream, beard oil, new manly slippers, new grill accessories, car accessories, new wallet
• Spa Theme – facemask, foot scrub, body scrub, nail files, nail polish remover, nail polish, hand lotion, bath bombs, soaps, candle, loofah, hand towel, bath salts, relaxing book, herbal tea

Now, let’s put together a gift basket! (I used items I would give a friend for a spa themed basket.)

First, gather all of your items for your gift basket.

Next, I fill the bottom of my “basket” with tissue paper to improve the presentation of the items.

I then add all of the items to the “basket” and rearrange them into the perfect position to be able to see as many items as possible. Notice how the tissue paper made all of the items sit higher and are able to be seen because of it.

I purchase a gift basket supply kit from my local craft supply store or Walmart. I specifically by the brand “Frillz”. In the package comes 2 cello bags (the plastic wrap), 12 glue dots to hold the bags together, 2 ribbons for bows, and 2 gift tags. You can usually find the kit for under $5.

Lastly, I put my basket in the cello bag and tie it with a bow. Here is the final product:

Those are my tips and tricks for giving gift baskets! Just remember, there is never a wrong time to give someone a gift basket!

If you have any questions or would like more ideas for themes I did not cover, please reach out to me! My email is: samanthalynnsamuelson@gmail.com

Talk to you later!

Samantha