Easter is in less than a week, which means a couple things for the Wagamon Household, 1. Oliver's Birthday is right around the corner and I should probably send out invites, and 2. the easter bunny is coming! Growing up my mom always had easter baskets for us to find and I knew I wanted to carry that tradition on with my littles, but Easter Baskets can get spendy if you fill them with over priced junk that your kid doesn't need. I've gathered a few tips and tricks to help you SAVE on your easter basket budget! 

1. REUSE:

• Buy your kid a basket and keep it for the rest of their life. So I choose to go with something simple that they could also grow into (AKA not the paw patrol bucket or PJ mask basket). So, yes immediately you will have to spend $10-20 bucks but then you don't ever have to buy another basket again! OR if you are a basket hoarder, you can always just use one you already have, your kid isn't going to care what the basket looks like when they have a bunch of candy and goodies in it! 
• SAVE your crinkle paper. Put it in a plastic bag and take it out each year to add to their easter basket! It works great as a filler and just overall makes it look cuter in my opinion. 
• Got any old toys or books laying around?! Chances are if you have small children, you most likely do which is awesome because then you can take a toy or a couple books out that your child doesn't play with or hasn't asked to read in a while and put that in their easter basket! It will be like brand new to them, and you won because you saved on buying another toy! 
• Also, Attikus is only 9 months, so I didn't buy him anything because I didn't feel he needed anything at this time! He will never remember!

2. Get Functional

• Obviously new toys and goodies are fun to get as a child, but it's equally as fun to buy them for your little one in my opinion! Why not fill your child's easter basket with things that are functional and they can reuse for the upcoming years! I like to add coloring books, matching games, flashcards, or learning activity books/games that they can grow from. One of my favorite places to get things like this are off amazon. They've got everything, and if you have amazon prime you can get it FREE shipping! 
• Other ways to be functional is getting them clothing items they may need such as underwear, or new jammies, or swimsuit, or socks! This year I got Oliver a couple new baseball caps since he's outgrown them. TJ Maxx always has super cute NIKE ones that I love putting him in the summer months!
• Water bottles or other items they need but are also fun to get new are great options as well!

3. Cheap Fillers

• My favorite places to get filler/junk items would be Target dollar section, Walmart, and the dollar store! You can find some pretty inexpensive items at any of these places and an easter basket is always fun with some of these! My favorite items to add to Oliver's basket are: 
  • Bubbles
  • Dollar match car
  • Color Crayons 
  • Bouncy Ball
  • Glow Stick
  • Toy soldiers 
  • Animal figurines 
  • Small Lego set
  • Stickers 

4. CANDY

• If you didn't already know, I've got quite the sweet tooth and it happens that Oliver does too.. go figure! So yes, I do fill his easter basket with candy because hey, I get to eat it too! It often is cheaper to buy the bags of candy and then just dump half in their basket and put the rest in a cute jar to sit on your counter for guest to enjoy! You also don't need to get every flavor of candy ever invented, get a couple options to put in their basket and call it a day, they will be happy with whatever they get! 
• If you're not into giving your child candy, than get them cute snack sizes of their favorite snacks just to switch it up a little bit! Just giving them something they're not use to having will be fun and different for them! 

Lastly, If you're into making easter crafts than you probably already know that PINTEREST is the place to go when looking for cute ideas! I linked a cute pinterest page you might be interested in! This year we dyed eggs, something I don't usually do and actually never did as a child either! Oliver had a great time and I bought this super easy dying tray that came with 6 different colors, if you are looking for an easy easter dying experience, click on this LINK! 

I hope you enjoyed today's post and found it helpful in your Easter Basket gathering! As always leave me a comment, like this page or come and comment on my most recent instagram post @mariwags! I love to know that you enjoyed reading and that what I write may actually be helpful to you! 

XOXO Mari

Oliver's Easter Basket I Easter Liner I Khaki Pants I Coloring Cups

When you Spend $25 on Easter baskets, eggs, and decor you get a $5 dollar gift card to target right now!