Easter Candy {Alternatives}

I use the term alternatives loosely here, folks. If you are like my family, the items I’m about to mention might be better described as additions because, well…we love candy.

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So this year, I’ve pulled together 15 of my favorite non-sugar-high-inducing Easter Basket Alternatives. Though my kids will always get a few sweet treats in their basket every year, I also like to include a few fun, inedible surprises that hint of spring-time play to come. Wether you chose a few or add them all (and skip the candy altogether), I know these are some great ideas your little ones will love. Some are even small enough to fit inside your plastic eggs! Yay!

1.  Little, potted succulents (easy for little hands to water with a medicine dropper)
2. Wildflower seeds!  We scatter these in the backyard every year and it’s fun to see what comes up.
3. Some cute or flowery mini cacti.  I love how these look on a mantle or the top of a dresser and they are easily forgotten without being killed!
4. Kids Nalgene water bottles.  I love the spouts on these and they are fairly durable.  We always need new water bottles around here as they take quite a beating and with warm weather looming- they’ll be totted around on outdoor adventures daily.
5. New toothbrushes (because you know they are looking grimy!)  The electric ones are fun for kids and some have timers, music, lights, etc.  We usually go with simple ones without the bells and whistles but a fancier one may be in order for our Easter Baskets!
6. Read and Build Lego Duplo kits.  These are especially fun for kids. Lilly loves the ones she has but surprisingly the book pictured above is Gracie’s favorite book in the entire world. We read it so much it’s falling apart.
7. Soft stuffed bunnies.  I have a thing for Jellycat so that’s always my go-to.  I know some families are against stuffed animal hoarding but my 3 year old sometimes ONLY plays with her stuffed animals all. day. long. so I have no problem adding a creature to our collection.
8. Spring cookie cutters.  New, colorful, cookie cutters are always fun because they hold the promise of baking cookies with Mommy!
9. Playdough- homemade or storebought.  The dough pictured above comes from the etsy shop Gifts2GoGo love that their dough comes with hidden plastic animals, bugs or other creatures hidden inside. That is SO up Lilly’s alley.
10. A new necklace or cute piece of jewelry.  You could order some amber teething beeds for baby, or dress it up a little and order the older child a totally personalized Origami Owl living locket. Have you seen those yet? So cute.  If your girls already have pandora- you could of course go the charm route.  We love pandora here too!
11. Some new, super cool shades. There are all kinds out there to chose from.  I’m holding out on a pair for Grace until we see if she needs glasses or not. But  I love the ones with straps for babies.
12. EOS lip balm and eco friendly (safe for nail biters) nail polish.  I love that the egg shaped lip balm doesn’t need to be twisted up. Lilly twists every tube of my chapstick up until it breaks which is tre frustrating.
13. A bento cookbook or bento lunch accessories. Lilly just received this book and all sorts of accessories for her birthday and they’ve been so fun to play with at lunch time.
14. And last but not least, always on my list for any holiday- a good book.  There are more children’s books out there than I could ever get my hands on in ten lifetimes, but that doesn’t stop me from trying!  My Dad and Lilly have a special love for peeps so Owen’s Marshmallow Chick will most likely be in her basket this year 😉

In the interest of keeping this post extra short and extra sweet, I am not going to link up or go into details about every item that was mentioned. A quick google search or etsy search will produce everything you see above. 

Be sure to hop on over to my pinterest boards for even more ideas for Easter- I promise they are not all as cheesey as me.  {{ Click Pinterst.com/sweetersidemom }}