Baby's First Easter Basket

I had been toying with the idea of not getting Isla an Easter basket at all. She is, after all, nearly only 7 months so anything chocolatey is completely out of the question. However, I had a bit of a rethink and came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea after all. I thought it was only fair that if I bought Tommy something for Easter, Isla would have to have something too. Also, it wouldn't seem right if the Easter bunny visited and only left something for Tommy. Tommy would be wondering why his sister had been left out! In addition to this, we needed to buy Isla some new books and a few bits and pieces anyway, so I bought we might as well put them together and present them in an Easter basket.

It can be tricky to come up with some ideas as to what to give a young baby for Easter (particularly as most Easter-related gifts tend to revolve around chocolates or sweets) but hopefully this might give you some ideas as to what you might include in an Easter basket. Most of the items I bought were inexpensive, none costing more than a couple of pounds and I bought them all from supermarkets, Amazon and cheap shops like Wilkinsons and Home Bargains. 

Here is how the whole basket looks:

The basket is a peg basket I bought for a pound from the Yorkshire Trading Company and I filled it with two bags of tissue paper straw from the Card Factory. I'm hoping I can reuse the baskets I bought year after year, as I don't like the idea of buying a new one every Easter. However, I did find these baskets a little on the small side for fitting everything I bought to go in them, but this might be due to the fact I went a little overboard on the buying front! 

Isla needed some new books so I thought I'd include several in her Easter basket. I have NO IDEA where Tommy's baby books have gone but we don't seem to have very many at all, despite keeping everything. I decided to buy books that were Easter-themed, as I like building up collections of books for different seasons and occasions.

 

1. 'I love you Bunny' - Home bargains

2. 'Easter Surprise' - Amazon

3. 'That's not my bunny' - Amazon

4. 'That's not my lamb' - Amazon

5. 'Hey diddle diddle' hand puppet book - Home Bargains

ALL gift baskets need to include a cuddly toy of some description in my opinion and this one was no different. I bought this super cute duck rattle from Home Bargains and a cheeping chick from Tesco.

I included some new bath ducks from Tesco and a new Tommee Tippee cup, as we've just recently started weaning and Isla needed a first cup.

The last items I included in Isla's Easter basket were a spinning light-up toy from Home Bargains and some sensory textured eggs I made with Tommy. You can find details on how to make these here. http://mummycollingwood.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/sensory-eggs-for-baby.html

I also purchased Isla a few clothes for her Spring/Summer wardrobe. And that was it! If you've made an Easter basket for a baby/young child, I'd love to hear your ideas as to what gifts you've included in it. I'll be sharing the details of Tommy's Easter basket on the blog in the next few days, so do look out for that! 

Toddler/preschooler Easter basket

I recently shared Isla's Easter basket with you and now here's Tommy's. This is the first time I've made a basket of gifts for Tommy. We don't usually make a big thing of Easter and I don't think we've actually even bought him an Easter egg before. We're not killjoys or anything like that - it's just he usually ends up with loads of them so we haven't ever needed to buy him one. Instead we've bought Tommy a toy or special treat of some kind. This year we thought we'd start a new tradition of making up Easter baskets for our children. I've been searching for suitable items to go in them for a while now.

Although I LOVE chocolate and Tommy does too, I didn't want to just buy him a truckload of sugary, sweet treats. We try to encourage him to eat healthily and don't allow him too much in the way of sweets, biscuits and chocolate and I don't see why this should change just because it's Easter. With this in mind, I decided to try and find lots of items that would encourage us to spend quality time together instead by crafting, baking and getting creative. 

First of all, I bought lots of Easter-themed books. Books can be expensive but these were far from it. I bought these from The Works' which is fab for cheap books and craft activities and supplies, and these were on offer at 4 for £5. BARGAIN! I also purchased 'Peppa's Easter Egg Hunt' from Amazon.

Tommy loves getting crafty and baking, so when I saw these i couldn't resist. I bought a Pom pom crafts activity pack, Easter-themed colouring book and cookie-making set from Tesco. If you haven't done so already, check out Tesco's extensive Easter range - they had sooooooo many great things in there, it was a struggle to decide what to buy!

I also included a Happy Easter stake from Home Bargains, as this could be used for an Easter Egg hunt or as a signpost for the Easter bunny. I bought this super cute clockwork rabbit from Wilkinsons, a cheeping chick from a Tesco and a super cute Easter decorations craft pack from the Card Factory, which also had a great selection of cheap Easter gifts.

I picked up this rabbit bubble wand from Tesco, a chick biscuit and Easter egg moulds from Home Bargains and two Malteaser rabbits.

There are so many possibilities for what you might include in a young child's Easter basket and I hope this post has given you some ideas. I'd love to hear any ideas you have for Easter basket gifts. 

Happy Easter to you all!