Frugal Easter Basket Ideasby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 17 Mar 2008 05:33 PM Have you shopped the Easter goodies aisles at your local mart store, yet? It is amazing. There are all sort of things for Easter, from gourmet chocolates to gourmet easter grass made of of real wood shavings or handmade patterned paper! A single basket with goodies could easily run $70 or more. Pre-made baskets are less, but underneath the cellophane, cardboard and shredded paper, you'll find just a couple of cheap toys and a handful of cheap candy, if you are lucky. You can still have a nice Easter basket though, and be frugal at the same time. Let's take a look at the basket itself. Here are some ideas that you can use that are far less expensive (and nicer in many cases) than buying traditional baskets to fill. When I brought down the Easter stuff from the attic, I discovered that we were one Easter basket short. Since we were on our way to the Easter Egg Hunt I briefly (very briefly) contemplated stopping at a store for a basket. Instead, I grabbed a pretty wicker basket from our home, dumping out the loose change, keys and receipts that it held. At the hunt, I bumped into a friend who outfitted her boys with plastic bags. The reason, she said, is that the eggs don't fall out out the bag and get snatched up by other kids. Why not take that one step further and make home made fabric bags to hold the Easter Bunny's goodies on Easter morning? A large flower pot represents spring and would make a nice basket that could also be reused for its original purpose. If you are going to buy an Easter bonnet for your daughter, you can turn that into a basket. Just flip it over and fill it. A plastic sand pail would make a nice basket, especially if you fill t with a shovel and sand mold. What are your favorite frugal Easter ideas? Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Make Your Own Sidewalk Chalk Eggs Ideas for Using Leftover Easter Eggs Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments mrmnmom82 (3365) 17 Mar 2008 08:25 PMWe use the same baskets every year, the family does tend to get a new basket every from one of the grandmas. We try to stay away from chinsy toys, they'll just be in the garbage by the end of the week anyway. I've just been paying attention to craft items they seem to need. finger paints, dry erase markers, sidewalk chalk, crayons and construction paper. Sprinkle in a few pieces of chocolate. they won't care that they didn't get tons of candy, they'll be to busy playing with their new crafts! ( I wouldn't put ALL of these things in, that would get pricy, just a few to fill out an average sized basket.)  Mary Ann Romans |
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