Didn't we just have Christmas?!? How is it already time to be thinking about Easter baskets?!?
I tend to be more of a larger intentional gift-giver when it comes to Easter and try to stock it full of summer items and items we have been wanting but don't usually just buy randomly. This year, now that our daughters are getting older and two of them stay during the entire church service always, I wanted to be more intentional about their time listening so you will see that reflected in the gifts we chose!
Just as a reference, our kids are three girls ages 10, 7, and 4 and one son who is a brand new baby!
I also created a video if you want to see everything in video format!
CLOTHING
We almost always include some kind of clothing in their Easter baskets. I usually thrift most of our kids' clothing, but it's always fun to get something new and special, especially for my younger girls who receive so many hand-me-downs. Most years I include a swimsuit, but this year if we need any, I'll let the girls pick them out since they are getting older and like to have more of a say than they used to. This year, we went with a few dresses/outfits for each of them!
- Our 7 year old is getting this cute three-dress set with two colorful dresses and one tie-dye print. She will LOVE these!
- Our oldest daughter loves tie-dye, so we picked this tie-dye print dress for her.
- We also picked this abstract, tie-dye-esque print dress for our oldest daughter as well.
- We picked this cute animal-themed tank top onesie set for our baby boy to wear this summer.
- Our youngest daughter who is 4 loves all things hearts, pink, and girly, so she will get a lot of wear out of this sweet three-dress set!
BOOKS
I don't think we've ever given a gift for a birthday or a holiday without at least one book, and this year's Easter baskets are no exception! We decided to give each child either a treasury of stories for our little ones or a chapter book series for our older ones. Plus, our two little ones are each getting a "busy book" for their church bags (more on that next) and our 7 year old is receiving her first full-text Bible!
- Our little guy is brand new, but we cannot wait to read this Richard Scarry story book treasury with him as he gets older!
- Our 4 year old daughter still loves picture books (actually, all our kids do), so we added this classic picture book treasury for her to enjoy.
- Our 10 year old daughter loves stories about families and just real-life girl stories, so we think she will devour this set of the original Babysitter's Club series.
- Our 7 year old has been interested in the Unicorn Academy series, so she will be thrilled to receive these!
- Our 4 year old already has two of these Seek and Find Bible-themed books and loves them so we are adding this one to her collection that she will keep in her church bag.
- Our baby is obviously very little, so we found this sweet "God made the world" interactive cloth book for his church bag.
- After much deliberation, we went with this Children's Bible for our 7 year old's first full-text Bible, which I decided on after reading my friend Korrie's recommendations on her Good Book Mom website.
CHURCH BAGS
As I mentioned earlier, we decided to be more intentional about what our daughters an do during the church service since they stay the whole time. We also will have one for our youngest daughter who stays part of the time and sometimes decides to stay the whole time and our son since he will eventually need some items to keep him quiet during the service as he gets older. These are the main things they will keep inside.
- I customized and printed a tote bag myself with each child's name on them. You can find similar ones on Etsy or Amazon.
- Our 4 year old is receiving a Bible Stories coloring book so she can color during the service but still be thinking about stories she's learned in the Bible.
- Along with her first full-text Bible, we are giving our 7 year old this beautiful Bible case (our 10 year old already has one) she can put her Bible in and keep in her church bag.
- My oldest daughter is at an age she can start really listening and comprehending the church services, so we are giving her this Sermon Notes notebook for her to stay focused (but also keep her hands busy).
- Our 7 and 10 year olds will also receive this Bible verse coloring book.
- We also are giving our oldest a set of Bible highlighters since she is at the age she may want to start taking notes and highlighting verses in her own Bible.
FUN ITEMS
And lastly, of course we add some fun items in there as well! This always varies from year to year, but this year I really wanted to add something to help my girls learn to sew and a couple fun items for outside once the weather gets nice. I will probably add some bubbles and candy as well of course!
- My 4 year old is definitely not ready for a needle and thread yet, but she really enjoys the lacing cards she's used at preschool and other places, so we got her her own set of lacing cards so she can gain the fine motor and coordination skills she needs for sewing one day.
- Our 7 year old is still very new to sewing, so we got her this My First Sewing Kit and think she will really love making the different projects as she is a super creative crafty kid!
- I don't think we can have Easter without giving our kids chalk, so we are giving them this giant 64 pack that will last them a while this spring and summer.
- Our little guy isn't old enough for any crafts, so we are giving him this cute little frog toy.
- Our girls love to kick and throw balls outside but we usually just buy the cheap ones that end up deflating all the time and getting wrecked. So, we got them a slightly nicer soccer ball this year.
- Our oldest daughter has a little more experience sewing, so we got her this adorable Sew Many Treats set that's a little more advanced than the one we are giving our 7 year old.
- And we also go our baby boy this fun toy where he can take shapes in and out of this cube.
That's what our kids are getting in their Easter baskets this year. I'm most excited about the church bags and am looking forward to them being excited to bring them into church each Sunday! I hope this list inspired you with some intentional Easter basket ideas for your own kids this year! Obviously the true focus of Easter is Christ's death, so no extra gifts are needed, but we like to include some items we wanted to buy anyway this time of year to make it more intentional than buying them random stuff out of the blue.