Easter baskets

First off, Happy Easter everyone!! I hope everyone had a good one. We sure did. The kids had a mini egg hunt in the morning and a little hunt for their baskets, Daddy hid them and left clues for them to find the baskets. They loved it.

Their baskets take me a while, because I don't buy the pre-made junk baskets.I did one year, there was way too much candy and the stuff in it was complete junk. Sophie only like 2 things and they broke within the week. I spent way too much money on something that was so not worth it. My first search was for a nice basket for Sophie that wouldn't break the bank. Bret has an awesome hand made one from Germany that was Daddy's basket when he was a boy.

That is Bret's. I couldn't find anything for Sophie that nice that cost less than $30 for the longest time.Finally I found at Joyful Honda! It was almost perfect. About the same size, white wicker. It has a sort of ugly liner, but that is easy to remove. (I didn't remove it yet, but I will for next year.)

The next part is finding the perfect to put in them. This is another reason I like making them myself, I can pick the perfect items instead of having 1 set theme. My kids like a whole range of things, not just 1 set thing.

These are Bret's items. Stuffed Olaf, Olaf tumbler, Optomus Prime toy, Avengers Activity book (these are always on sale for less than $1), a Lego motorcycle and off to the side is a set of 5 Hot Wheels cars. I also added a few eggs with candy in them (I like controlling the amount of candy they get, each egg has a few jelly beans, some gummies, and a few egg m&m's).

Sophie's has a stuffed Lambie (we have a Doc McStuffins obsession in this house), Rarity doll from My Little Pony, Twilight Sparkle nail polish and nail stickers (her favorite pony) and My Little Pony hair chalk, she also got an Elsa tumbler, and Sofia The First activity book. I filled the baskets with Easter grass (blue and yellow for Bret and purple and yellow for Sophie).

Bret was so happy with his basket. Do I know my kids, or do I know my kids? (Yes he is wearing Christmas jammies, they are still his favorite.)

Sophie enjoying some of the items from her basket. She was in LOVE! Then we had a great celebration with awesome food and friends. It was a great time.

Easter crafts

We have been doing a lot of Easter coloring lately. I let the kids color a bunch of pages and then we hung them up on door. My door might not look the prettiest, but it is the most festive on our floor. The kids love when I hang their artwork on the front door for everyone to see (I also did it for Thanksgiving and Christmas). I just Google Easter coloring pages, click on images and print off the ones that they like. Then they are free to color them however they want. It's pretty obvious which ones Sophia colored and which ones Bret colored. Bret still pretty much just randomly scribbles with the crayons, while Sophia tries her hardest to make it look pretty.

Another Easter craft we did today we making Easter egg wreaths. I cut out Easter egg shapes in different colored construction paper (they are folded over so you can open them and write in them, but you don't have to do that). I also cut out a wreath shape on a piece. The kids decorated the fronts of the eggs (I helped a little, when they wanted polka dots or squiggly lines). After they decorated them I asked them what are some nice things they can do for others, and what things they really need to work on (ie, listening, not hitting, and so on). We wrote good things, and things they need to work on inside the eggs, then glued them to the wreath. After we were done we talked about why we celebrate Easter and all about how Jesus died for our sins and on the 3rd day he rose again. (Of course Bret didn't really listen to any of that, he just wanted to keep coloring, but Sophia got something from it.)

We hung their wreaths on their bedroom doors. It was a fun way to make the house festive but also learn something.