Thinking Outside the Basket: Creative Easter Gift Ideas

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Hey, friends! I don’t know about you, but I always enjoy the challenge of coming up with a not-so-normal Easter basket for Little Crafter. Since he’s not a fan of chocolate {I cannot explain this} in the first place, I already need to be a little more creative with what I use as fillers. But I also like giving him the treats in a container he can actually get some use out of…instead of something I have to store for 364 days a year. I also passionately hate Easter grass…so finding a clever alternative to the traditional basket works just fine for me.

Here is a quick and simple idea I came up with this year that I think he’s going to love…and keep reading, because I’ve got a bunch more ideas rounded up for you at the end of the post!

Creative Easter Basket Alternatives: Watering Can

Little Crafter absolutely LOVES to help me in the garden. He enjoys every bit of it; choosing what to plant, digging in the dirt, watering the flowers, and watching them grow. In fact, I credit him with the fact that our plants stay alive because he’s so diligent about remembering to water them, unlike his mama! The new house we’re moving to has a much larger garden than what we’ve always had, so we’ve both been looking forward to making it our own. At the moment, he’s also completely obsessed with the game Plants vs. Zombies on the iPad, so a “plant” themed container and gifts are just perfect for him this year.

THE CONTAINER: I found this cute watering can for $3 in the bargain section at Target. They had a variety of colors, but I thought he’d like blue the best. I also liked that the entire top is open which will make it easier to fill, both with Easter gifts and later with water.

Creative Easter Basket Alternatives: Watering Can

To make it extra special, I wanted to personalize it with his favorite character from Plants vs. Zombies, the Pea Shooter, with a little help from my Silhouette Cameo. Here’s a tip for those of you who may want to do something similar with a character your kiddo loves. Do a Google Image search for coloring pages of the character. Those are much easier for the Silhouette Studio software to trace and you get a nice, simple, clean cut file! I think it’s probably illegal for me to share the cut file I used here, so I’m going to err on the side of not going to copyright jail, but just search for those coloring pages, save a picture, open it in your software, and choose Trace Outside Edge. Then I just created circles for eyes and an oval for the mouth, cut them out and applied them on top of the green shape. I also cut out the words “Team Plants” for the top of the can. I cannot wait to see his face when he sees the Pea Shooter…

THE FILLERS: Most of the things in the can are gardening-related, although not all of them. You can fill it with anything your child loves.

Creative Easter Basket Alternatives: Watering Can

Personally, here’s what I used:
– a colorful pinwheel
– a pair of child size gardening gloves
– seed packets {Basil because he likes it on pizza, Zinnia because they’re colorful and bright, and of course peas!}
– Cilantro seed grow kit {because he loves cilantro on tacos}

Unrelated to gardening, but also in the can:
– “Would You Rather” Card Game
– Minecraft figurine

Creative Easter Basket Alternatives: Watering Can

And, of course, there always has to be a new stuffie. LC doesn’t love anything quite like he loves stuffed animals. He cuddles them, imagines things with them, and loves them more than any child I’ve ever known. So, when I saw this cute little chick in his favorite color {purple for the Ravens!}, I couldn’t resist.

Creative Easter Basket Alternatives: Watering Can

What do you think? Is there a little gardener in your life who would enjoy an Easter Watering Can? Here are some more ideas to get your creativity flowing about different ways to give Easter gifts besides using a traditional basket…

Over at Gluesticks, see how to make a Doc McStuffins basket using a medicine bag to hold the treats!

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Going to the beach this summer? Swap out the traditional basket for a rolled up towel to hold those Easter goodies like Dawn Dennier did!

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Have your basket and eat it too with this Edible Easter Basket idea from One Good Thing.

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Jennifer at Hostess With the Mostess blog came up with the idea of using Terracotta Pots to hold treats…then you can re-use them to plant flowers or herbs when the candy is gone!

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Get ready for warmer weather by filling up a sand bucket they can use all summer long!

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Got toddlers? Try filling up a toy truck, like Jennifer Perkins did!

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Why not put those yummy goodies {or school supplies} in a new lunchbox like Paige’s Party Ideas?

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I’m loving all these fun ideas and I hope you are too! Which is your favorite?

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