Providing your child with a sugar high on Easter morning is probably not your objective, but it often happens. How can you address this issue without ruining the holiday? Though it may seem difficult, parents can provide children with Easter morning fun while limiting candy.
Easter Basket Gift Ideas
Easter baskets are often filled to the brim with jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, and marshmallow treats. There is no problem with a couple of treats, but parents would do their children a favor by limiting them. Purchase a small, dark chocolate bunny and a few jelly beans. Then, think about other fun toys or treats that can fill up the empty space in the basket.
For toddlers, there are endless possibilities. Go to the toy store and search for small inexpensive toys, remembering that you can open the box and separate the pieces to make them fit in the basket if needed. Stickers, crayons, markers, paint, paint brushes, sidewalk chalk, small board books, plush toys, matchbox cars, pieces of train track, accessories for dolls, bath toys, bubble bath, socks, and bathing suits are all good choices.
There are plenty of options for tweens and teens as well. For relevant gifts that won't damage your budget, take a trip to a discount store like Target or Wal-Mart and cruise the aisles. Focus on accessories, beauty items, and electronics. Tweens and teens will be delighted to find Easter baskets packed with iTunes cards, electronic game cartridges, sunglasses, lip balm, nail polish, make-up, belts, wallets, lotion, flip-flops, movie tickets, fashion magazines, earrings, stationery, even a small plant to keep and care for.
Easter Eggs Hunts Without Candy
Filling plastic eggs without candy can be tricky, but it can be done. Young children will love stickers, temporary tattoos, fun erasers, and hair clips. Eggs can also be filled with healthy edible treats. Nuts, cheerios, raisins, and dried fruit are all preferable to jelly beans.
Older children will be excited by an Easter egg hunt turned money hunt. When hiding the eggs, determine the level of difficulty to find them based on how much money is in each egg. Perhaps the most difficult egg to find contains twenty dollars. The next level might be a group of one dollar eggs followed by a bunch of 25 cent eggs. Be sure to explain how you've hidden them so your children can enjoy the hunt and the potential rewards.
Healthy Easter Celebrations
Traditionally, children consume enormous amounts of sugar on Easter morning. This focus on candy is unhealthy. Fortunately, it is easy to alter the focus without losing the fun of the holiday. Fill Easter baskets and plastic eggs with small toys and treats. Your child won't be wondering where that two foot tall chocolate bunny went. She'll be having too much fun.
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Christine Harmon - Christine Harmon is a published author, trainer, and mommy obsessed with health, fitness, and all that makes the body work ...
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