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Every time you turn around there’s another holiday that seems to prioritize candy, cookies, or treats of some variety. As a dietitian and mom of two young kids, I absolutely let my kids eat these delicious treats, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much.
We try to include sweets and treats like candy casually throughout snacks and meals, special occasions, and sometimes to help celebrate a big accomplishment. So I tend to go light on the candy, and heavy on the essentials when planning out holiday gifts, such as Easter baskets.
Plus, even if you don’t fill their Easter basket, stocking, or Valentine’s boxes with boatloads of candy, you know they’ll get plenty from school, their friends, and the little bit we share at home.
I’m sharing my favorite non candy ideas for easter baskets to help give you inspiration that’s not just a bunch of junk either.
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Rainboots
Kids grow out of shoes, boots, and sandals so darn quickly. I like to use Easter as an opportunity to size up their rainboots for the spring.
Crocs
My kids live in their crocs in the summer time. That’s why we use Easter as an opportunity to update their crocs and get them bigger sizes that fit.
Fidget Toys
Having fidget toys on hand, especially when you have a child with ADHD, is essential. They’re easy to keep in the car, your purse, or their backpack.
Here are a few of our favorite fidget toys:
- Crazy Aarons Thinking Putty
- Popits
- Mesh and Marble fidget toy
- Sensory Rainbow Ball
- Fast Push Bubble Game
- Needoh Stress Squeeze Balls
- Wacky Tracks fidget toys
- Transformable Fidget toy
Puzzles
Puzzles are a great Easter basket filler because they’re great for your child’s brain and helps keep down screen time.
We always have a puzzle laid out on our dinning room table and work on it causally as a family. It’s a fun tradition I hope we continue for many years!
You can even use puzzle pieces as egg fillers too! I recommend finding a puzzle with sixty pieces or less and hide 1-3 pieces in each egg. This way they don’t end up with a bunch of candy, and it leads to a fun activity to do after. Just make sure to double check the size of the puzzles pieces so they fit in your plastic eggs.
Games
Another tradition we’ve started is family game night. We don’t have it every week, but we try to play games together as a family a few times a month.
Easter is a great opportunity to add more games to your family game night library.
Here are some of our favorite family games:
- Bananagrams
- Throw Throw Burrito
- Throw Throw Avocado
- Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza – they even have an Easter version!
- Charades for Kids
- Egg Toss
- Happy Salmon
- Guess in 10
- Talking Point for Kids
Bubbles
Easter screams spring and nothing goes better with spring like bubbles. Even as my kids grow older, they still love bubbles. Bubbles bring so much joy to kids of all ages, including adults!
Bubbles make for great easter basket fillers from bubble wands to bubble machines!
Bubble Easter Basket Fillers
Yoto Mini
We already have the Yoto Player and my kids (and I) love it. It’s an audio player that allows your kids to be in control (unlike the TV that has so much they probably shouldn’t be watching). We love it for everyday routines (toothbrush, tidy up, and homework timer). Plus it’s great for bedtime too!
Included in our Easter basket fillers this year will be the Yoto Mini – just in time for all the summer traveling. The Yoto Mini will be easier to take with us on long car rides to the lake. I also added the mini travel case, mini adventure jacket, headphones, and a few new Yoto Cards too.
You can join their Yoto Club for $99 (if you pay annually) and get two cards each month (24 cards per year – roughly $4 a card, 10% off purchases, and free shipping.
Bath Bombs
Oh, bath time… It seems like it’s either a fight to get in or a fight to get out. Lose-lose if you ask me, but something that helps make bath time easier are bath bombs.
I can always convince my kids to get into the bath with a bath bomb, especially one that has a little surprise inside. Now getting them out of the tub, I’d like to know that secret if you have it.
As another Easter basket filler for my kids, I (I mean the Easter Bunny) am adding these Easter-themed Da Bomb bath Fizzers. The company was actually started by two girls from Minnesota (where I live).
Face Masks
One Saturday night, my daughter and I decided to have a mommy-and-daughter sleepover. So we headed to Target to pick up a few essentials, one of which was a few Masque BAR Pretty Animalz Facial Sheets. My daughter chose the toucan one and thought it was the best thing ever!
Seed Ball Kits
In the spirit of spring, garden-themed items always make for excellent Easter basket fillers.
I found these Modern Sprout DIY Garden Seedball Kits and thought they’d be the perfect addition to the rest of our Easter basket fillers.
Gardening Tools
Another great Easter basket filler that just makes sense are gardening tools for kids. These tools can help kids get excited about gardening and down the road, maybe even try some vegetables they grow themself!
Kid Safe Knives
Kid safe knives are probably one of my number one recommended items to gift, or simply just give to kids.
I know they sound unsafe, but trust me, they’re not. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t supervise your kids while they use them. They’re made of nylon and while they cut through softer fruits and veggies, they don’t cut through the skin.
Kid safe knives are the perfect Easter basket fillers for toddlers to help them gain confidence in the kitchen early on, plus engage with and try new foods, especially vegetables.
Chopsticks
I’m a sucker for novelty, and so are kids. Give your kids a fun new utensil (chopsticks) with a dinosaur head on it, and suddenly they’re eating foods you could never have imagined in one hundred years.
There are lots of different training chopsticks you can use as Easter basket fillers. This year I got my kids the Genuine Fred Shark and Dinosaur chopsticks.
Mini Cookie Cutters
If you’re looking for non candy Easter egg fillers, mini cookie cutters are perfect!
These are also another must-have for kids. You can use them with playdough or to help your child get in the kitchen and try new foods by creating cute little shapes of foods they’re still learning to like.
Water Bottle
I love using holiday gifts to stock my kids up on practical things like water bottles. Although, our water bottle collection is currently bursting at the seams, and so are my kid’s Easter baskets, we’re passing this year, I highly recommend them if you’re in need.
My favorite water bottles are Simple Modern, Thermos, Yeti, and Thermoflask – I even have the 24 oz and 40 oz for myself.
Dino Bars
If you’d like some Easter basket fillers that your kids can eat, I recommend Dino Bars (use familynutritionist10 for 10% off). Their fun packaging will fit in perfectly with any Easter basket.
Dino Bars are organic fruit bars that are wrapped in edible paper – no sticky hands!
As a dietitian, an expert in feeding kids, and a mom myself, I know there are a million snack bars on the market and Dino Bars are one of my absolute favorites to recommend because they help keep your kiddo fuller longer with a balance of fat, fiber, and protein – three things, not all bars have.
You can use my code familynutritionist10 for 10% off your first order.
More Easter Basket Filler Ideas
- Chalk
- Books
- Fruit & veggie pouches
- Wikki Sticks
- Paint markers
- Crayons
- Coloring books
- Swimsuits
- Bath toys
- Sunglasses
- Playdough
- Goggles
- Hair accessories
- Outside toys
- Bandaids
- Chapstick
- Socks
- Underwear
Infant Easter Basket Ideas
If you’re looking for infant Easter basket ideas, take the same concept I follow with the suggested items above and find lots of great Easter basket fillers: heavy on the essentials.
Plus, they’re so little, they won’t be disappointed if there isn’t candy anyways.
A few infant Easter basket ideas:
- Utensils
- Cups
- Puffs
- Pajamas
- Swimsuits
- Teethers
- Books
- Tylenol
- Bibs
- Baby food pouches
- Bath toys
- Socks
- Wipes
Easter Basket Considerations
While I don’t care if you put candy in your child’s Easter basket or not, I do want you to keep in mind that some Easter candy may be considered a choking hazard for kids four and under.
Easter candy to avoid: jelly beans, chocolate eggs, peeps, or any hard, round candy four kids under four.
Since we’re on the topic of candy, it’s important to consider the zero-added sugar under two recommendations. So, if you have a child that’s under two, you may want to consider opting out of candy altogether to avoid added sugar.
However, I’m a firm believer that that may not work for all families, nor do all parents want to take that approach. I think avoiding added sugar until two years of age is a bit unrealistic. Can it be done, of course, but it’s difficult to avoid entirely.
Avoiding Easter candy for infants and toddlers is an easy way to avoid choking hazards and any added sugar, but don’t worry too much if they do get some added sugar. I’m more worried about the choking hazards than the added sugar.
Other non candy ideas for Easter baskets:
- Fruit and veggie pouches
- Baby food pouches
- Puffs
- Teething biscuits
- Yogurt melts
- Dino Bars
Don’t Forget
It can be really fun to plan out all the Easter basket fillers for your kids, but you can also easily get carried away and end up with a bunch of junk and a ton of candy – which you totally should give them some – as long as they’re not a choking hazard!
I highly encourage you to go into planning your child’s Easter basket fillers with a “less junk, more essentials” mindset. Choose items that need to be replaced or upgraded like water bottles and rain boots. Or things that will help you build fun memories to last a lifetime such as face masks for a girl’s night, or seed ball kits to grow a garden with.
And as a picky eater expert, of course, I’m going to highly recommend tools that will help your child learn to try new foods like kid safe knives, chopsticks, and mini cookie cutters.
And then there are the items that will help make transitions easier like bath bombs and the Yoto Mini.
The thing I recommend that you try hard to avoid when it comes to Easter basket fillers for kids four and under are choking hazards such as jelly beans, chocolate eggs, peeps, or any round, hard candies.
Instead, you can find safer alternatives, like thinner pieces of chocolate bunnies, fruit and veggie pouches, puffs, Dino Bars, etc.
Infants, toddlers, and children can choke on any food, not just the common choking hazards. Therefore, your safest bet is to take a CPR course so you know what to do just in case.
Try not to get too stressed out with doing all the things and making Easter perfect for your kids. Enjoy the time together.
