What I'm Putting In My Kids' Easter Baskets
Just For Fun
Despite the snow outside my window right now, my favorite day of spring, Resurrection Day, is right around the corner! I am planning a few crafts this week to point my kids' back to Jesus's death and resurrection, and I have a whole Easter study planned for morning time. I'm also going to finish getting my kids’ Easter baskets ready - we don't usually give our kids alot on Resurrection, because we want the day to be about celebrating Jesus’s resurrection first and foremost. But we always do some type of Easter basket, and I thought I'd share what I got with you this year (just for fun).
First I should say, the bedrock of our Easter baskets every year is a new Adventures In Odyssey volume for each of our five kids. I save up our credit card points every year to pay for Easter baskets, and so we've been able to collect quite a few of the old Adventures In Odyssey CDs for no extra cost to us. We will probably stop collecting after the James Dobson Odyssey era, so we only have a couple more years of doing this, which will be just about right for our kids' ages. We really enjoy listening to the stories in the car, and they also provide good opportunities to discuss biblical or character topics.
Another thing that has been practically free for the girls' baskets this year has been earring sets from Claire's. My youngest got her ears pierced last fall, and Claire’s had a deal that you can get a “year of free earrings” with an ear piercing, so each month we receive an email coupon for any earring set under $17. Since my older girls didn't get this deal when they got their ears pierced, I decided to split the free earrings for all three of them, so I've been collecting the earrings with the coupons, and I'm adding them to the girl's baskets!
So in their individual Easter baskets we'll have:
-An Adventures In Odyssey volume
-One of these devotional books by Joel Beeke
-Earrings for the girls
-Sunglasses for the boys
-Playdough eggs
-Candy
-Peeps
I decided to do an extra all-kids basket this year as something a little different (for us). Even though actual spring doesn't come to our mountains for another month or two, I wanted to give them some things to enjoy on warmer days, so the communal Easter basket is my chance to do it! I also collected a few Christ-focused books for them over the last couple months, and I'll sneak them into the basket too.
For the group Easter basket I got:
-A very large bouncy ball
-A colorful volleyball
-A colorful football
-A kite
-Bubbles
-A light-up bouncy ball
-Sidewalk chalk
-Socker Boppers
-Splat balls
Books:
-The Knight's Map by R. C. Sproul
-The Poison Cup by R. C. Sproul
-Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen L. Taylor
-Big Truths For Young Hearts by Bruce Ware
It's nothing too special, but with five kids there are always those little items that they point out in the grocery store that we have to pass by. They are such good kids and never give me a hard time when I say "no" to something. I'm using this Easter basket as my chance to give them all those fun odds and ends!
The group basket is also a good excuse to collect some beautiful picture books that I've been eyeing for a while and add them to our family collection. What I love about R. C. Sproul's books is how he communicates such poignant biblical truths in story form. I've also heard good things about the other books on my list - we've read Pilgrim's Progress with our kids already, but I think having read it they will enjoy this illustrated version even more. Big Truths For Young Hearts is supposed to be almost a systematic theology for kids, which we'll go through as a family. The “Building On The Rock” devotionals for their individual baskets are something we will end up reading all together as well!
Do you have any items that you put in your kids' baskets every year? Are you adding anything new to the mix this year?
Send me a message or leave me a comment and let me know!