Easter is right around the corner. If you celebrated Easter when you were a kid, what do you remember most about it? Maybe dressing up in cute Easter dresses? Maybe going to church? Maybe Easter Egg hunts? I would bet that almost all of you couldn’t name the items you got in your Easter basket. I couldn’t tell you one thing I got. I know I got candy but that’s about the extent of my Easter basket memories.
Fast forward to life as a parent. We get bombarded by all the pinterest boards, store aisles, instagram pictures from all the perfect parents with their perfect Easter baskets filled with everything from concert tickets to video games and we start to feel like maybe our modest Easter celebration isn’t enough. Like somehow Jesus is eye rolling over dollar store finds.
But what is the holiday really about?
As a parent you get to set the tone when it comes to what you give your kids. If you set up the expectation that Easter baskets are like a second Christmas, then they will begin to expect that. Now I understand it might bring you joy, and if you have the means to do it, then you totally should! But be prepared that you’re setting the standard.
Just to prove my point, when my daughter was about 3, she would visit my parents and my mom would give her a present everytime she came over. Then one day we were dropping off my daughter at my mom’s house and my daughter said “where’s my present Grandma?” My mom shot me a look and I said “don’t look at me! This is all you! You set the expectation!”
So with Easter upon us and being on a budget I decided to start shopping early so I could pick things that were in our budget but also find things that were more along the lines of experiences rather than things. There are lots of cheap things at the dollar store, but I also don’t want more junk in my house that my kids will play with for 2 seconds and promplty pile up in their room until I can’t stand the sight of it anymore.
So here’s what I found for this year.I was able to stay under $15 a kid and I think they’re going to have fun with all of it!