Simple Easter Baskets for Babies and Toddlers

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I heard this rhyme about keeping Christmas simple for kids a while back and it stuck with me:

Something They Want

Something They Need

Something to Wear

Something to Read

We recently moved from a 3,000 square foot home to one nearly half that size. When you do this, or anytime you move, you realize just how much stuff has unnecessarily accumulated over the years. And you wonder:

How the heck did I let this happen?!

This past Christmas we were still settling into our new house and working on letting go of the excess stuff that we simply didn’t want, need, or have room for. But I still somehow got sucked into the idea that we had to over-deliver on Christmas gifts. For our 18-month and 3-month old girls.

You quickly realize how ridiculous this process is when you are the one who wrapped the baby’s gifts, and then you end up being the one unwrapping them on Christmas morning! After the holidays, I vowed to make it my mission to stick to the four gift rhyme for all future holidays and birthdays: Want, Need, Wear, Read. Done.

It’s a relief to have this simple guideline to help me remember that four things per immediate family member are more than enough. I talked to my husband about it and he’s onboard. We aren’t going to go completely crazy trying to follow this rule and decided that it’s okay to do something else special in addition to this list, or get things outside of these categories.

It gives us a great place to start and that is what I based my Easter basket ideas on for our toddler and baby this year. I didn’t even hit all four categories, but this mental guide helped me to feel content that the few items I bought were more than enough to celebrate the occasion.

Toddler Easter Basket

I have been wanting to get a popsicle mold and this one is so cute and colorful. It fits perfectly in the Easter basket and she will think it’s a toy anyway!

Any Color Wonder coloring book is an easy way to introduce coloring to a toddler without worrying about them writing all over the house, or eating the crayons.

It sounds so simple, but we have been meaning to get her one of those small balls at the grocery store, mixed in with the tower of giant bouncy balls. This was the perfect time to get one and that takes up a lot of space in the Easter basket.

We also got her a new stuffed animal from the grocery store Easter section. Not because she needed one, but because my husband likes buying them stuffed animals. It was sweet watching him deliberate over the perfect one. Also a huge filler for the basket!

I also got large plastic Easter eggs and we plan to do a very basic Easter egg hunt for her and put her favorite treats in them. She is going to love it!

Baby Easter Basket

I love these pacifier feeders for teething and have been meaning to get more. Perfect for the baby Easter basket.

A small board or cloth baby book is also a nice addition to a baby Easter basket. We went with a Dr. Seuss classic.

Our baby girl also got a new stuffed animal, and I added a few plastic eggs to her basket. That was it for the baby! She 100% does not care about the Easter basket. It’s for us to give to her, and our toddler to inevitably play with when she sees it. So this very simple list of things is absolutely more than enough.

I decided to keep both Easter baskets toddler-friendly. I’m using these craft pom poms as filler instead of the usual Easter grass. A friend recommended them to me for endless activity ideas, and our toddler already loves handling them!

I didn’t even hit all four categories in my gift-giving rhyme, and we might have gone a bit overboard in the “want” category. But it was such a relief the other day to look at the Easter baskets and say to myself:

That’s more than enough.

I don’t need to be buying a bunch of things just for the sake of having more stuff. We don’t need more stuff! We need less stuff.

At times I have failed in my mission to have less stuff by going too extreme and not considering the fact that I still want to do something to celebrate special occasions. By keeping these Easter baskets somewhat minimalistic, I was able to accomplish both my desire to not over-accumulate unnecessarily while doing enough to celebrate a special occasion.

What ideas do you have for toddler and baby Easter baskets? I would love to hear them!