Easter Basket – More Than Just Chocolate

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor

I like to have creative alternatives to chocolate & candy for my kids’ Easter baskets. I have discovered a few different and fun things for this year’s baskets:

What child does not like to see something thrown on the ground and go splat? Splat Back! “the toy that goes splat but always comes back” has brought it to a whole new level with a variety of Splat toys to choose from. My favorites are the tomato and egg because who does not want to see a tomato or egg (fitting for the Easter theme) go splat and not have to clean it up. (I didn’t go for the poop Splat, but you can imagine that a 5 year old boy would find that hilarious). You can order them right on line at splatback.com for $3.00 each.

Shrinky Dinks have been around forever. More precisely since 1973! With two young girls to entertain, I am so glad to see they have survived through the years with such staying power! That would be because Shrinky Dinks are classic, so simple yet so fun. Even I get excited watching them shrink in the oven. With smaller kits starting at $5.10 and up to $8.50 these are perfect for the Easter Basket. They have the whole product line on their website.  There are lots of kits that will please both boys and girls (cars, fairies, robots, jewelry, etc…). They even have funky and cool Shrinky Dinks bracelets for your teenager.

At my daughter’s birthday a few weeks ago, one of her friends included an Enchanted Fairies Kit with her present, made by a company called Peaceable Kingdom Press. She absolutely loved it! And so did I, plus I love the name of the company so I had to look them up. What I found was that one of the founders is the son of the Illustrator of Goodnight Moon and Runaway Rabbit. Thacher Hurd along with his wife Olivia started the company in 1983 using Illustrators from renowned children’s books, such as, The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Eric Carle. Their motto is “make good, do good, be good”. This is why they use recycled and FSC certified paper. They also support several charitable causes with both their time and finances. The company also encourages their employees to be actively involved in “giving back”. They are literally working towards a peaceable kingdom. How can I not support them? Check out all the kits and other paper products (they have several for boys also) at peaceablekingdompress.com. The Quick Sticker Kits retail for $5.00

So, how ‘bout them sugar-free Easter basket goodie ideas, huh?