60 Easter Basket Ideas - That Aren't Candy!

With Easter right around the corner I thought I'd compile a list of 60 items that are perfect for an Easter basket - besides candy!  I've attempted to organize them by age, but keep in mind that a "Little Kid" might like something from the "Babies" list.  It's just a suggested minimum age range.

To see what Hannah and William are getting this year, Click Here!

Babies - 0-12m+

1. Little socks fit perfectly in an Easter egg
2. Bibs
3. New shoes
4. Hat
5. Cloth Diaper
6. Bottle
7. Pacifier
8. Sophia the Giraffe
9. Freezer teethers
10. Puffs
11. Baby spoons
12. Hand puppet
13. Stuffed Animal
14. Books
15. Bath toys

Toddlers - 1 year+




Character bandaids - they're gonna need them once they start walking!
Stacking Cups
Weeble Wobble toys from Playskool
Little People toys
Sunglasses
Swimsuit
Swim goggles
Beach towel
Sand bucket and shovel
Flip Flops
Water bottle
Flashlight
Stickers
Sippy cup
Clothing


Little Kids - 3 years+



Gardening Supplies - trowel, hand rake, garden gloves
Seeds to grow plants
Melissa and Doug Lacing Cards
Doll house furniture
New outfit for baby doll
Purse
Play doh
Silly Putty
Hair brush
Hair accessories - rubber bands, clips, bows, headbands
Chapstick
Bouncy balls
Sports balls
Trading cards
Board Game
Card Game - Go fish, Uno, Old Maid, Memory
Puzzle
Bag of balloon - regular or water balloons
Bubble bath
Drawing Paper
Crayons
Stamps
Fancy edged scissors  - zig zag or deckle
Paint brushes
Watercolors
Paint Smock
Coloring book
Sidewalk chalk
Bubbles
Legos or Duplos


Happy Easter!

5 Tips for Keeping Kids Engaged While Grocery Shopping

We've gotten into the routine of going grocery shopping each Monday morning (Tuesday if life gets hectic, Wednesday if things reach 'epic meltdown' proportions).
So when I say that we went shopping on a Wednesday this week, you'll understand the crazy that I've been dealing with lately.

oh sure, they look cute now...

Shortly after my son (baby #2) was born, I realized that running errands could either be cause to turn into 'frazzled mom' (which can still happen even with careful planning) or a fun learning experience, depending on what we made it out to be.  So today I'm going to share my FIVE tips for keeping Littles engaged while grocery shopping.

1) Create a Plan of Attack

Now, I'll admit that I'm spoiled in this area because my husband manages the grocery store, so he knows exactly where everything is and can help me organize my shopping list.  Backtracking all the way back to the bakery to get bread when you're in the frozen aisle is a way of easting precious moments of Little's good mood.

I make a meal plan and grocery list, but then I take it a step further and organize the list by aisle and section.  That way I can get in and out of the store quickly if their moods take a nose dive.  This also helps save money and reduce impulse purchases.

In order to engage the kids using this tip I make it a point to tell Hannah what I'm looking for next, and explain what aisle we're in.  I explain that everything in this aisle is *frozen*, or that everything in this aisle is bread baked in an *oven*.  Her mind loves putting things in categories, and even when she was younger it was still a good excuse to talk to her and work on vocabulary.

2) Count With Me!

The grocery store is a great place to work on counting and math.
With babies you can simply count items out loud so they start to learn the sequence of 1-10.
Nowadays I ask Hannah to count how many bananas are in the bunch I handed her, and then ask 'how many more should we pick up so that we have ten bananas total?"  The same thing with canned foods or bags of apples.

As Littles get older you can start doing math with the price tags - either adding the price of 2 items together, multiplying the price by the number of items purchased, or calculating the price per ounce.