Looking to fill your kids’ Easter Baskets this weekend? Do it simply with these Six Easy Steps!  

1. Purchase the biggest basket you can find.
2. Dump in a good portion of the money you earned this week.
3. Pour in five pounds of sugar.
4. Drizzle on three cups of High Fructose Corn Syrup.
5. Add a wide variety of artificial colors.  (Go ahead, don’t hold back.)

6. Toss in several cheap plastic toys (the kind that like to re-locate themselves under your van seats and couch cushions after one short use).

What?  You don’t like my Six Easy Steps?  Neither do I.

But that’s often what many of us do when we put together Easter baskets for our kids. We spend more money than we mean to. We can’t decide between the jelly beans, the chocolate bunnies or the malted milk balls…so we get all three (plus several of those foil covered cream filled eggs). The little yo-yos with little yellow chicks printed on them are too cute to pass up, so we throw those into the cart too. 

Before we know it, we have completed the Six Easy Steps in twelve expensive minutes.

How about taking a look at some new ideas this year? There are so many fun ways to create gifts for your kids that cost just a few cents and a small amount of your time.  Here are a few that our kids have enjoyed:

Flubber

It’s way more fun than it looks in this picture!!

Peanut Butter Honey Fudge

Tiny Cookie Bites

Homemade Bubble Bath

Fruit Leather

Honestly, my kids enjoy the Easter Egg hunt so much, they really don’t think too hard about what’s in the eggs!

AND…what’s really important about Easter anyway?!  :)

What kinds of things do you like to put into your kids’ Easter Baskets?  Have any fun ideas or neat family traditions to share?
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This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.

See more ideas in this series here:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4!

To finish up (er, wrap up this series)…here are some fun ways to wrap up your gifts:

Snowman Gift Sack

Use scraps of fabric, buttons and bells to make this cute snowman gift sack!  Directions and patterns here.

Christmas Crayon Wrap

The boys and I had fun one evening shredding old crayons to make this project.  Just one piece of advice though.  Don’t let your three year old put the remaining red and green crayons into his pocket without you knowing it after you’re finished using them.  You may end up with an entire load of laundry, including socks, long underwear and undershirts that look just like that wrapping paper.  Bet you’re wondering how come I know that, huh?   And no.  I will not model my new Christmas Blotch long underwear for you.

Learn the steps for making this Christmas Crayon Wrapping Paper here.

Christmas Bagelope

Turn a simple envelope into a little Christmas bag…a Bag-elope!!  Find the directions here.

Thanks for joining me for this gift making series!

Here are a few more gift ideas and fun things to make!  If you missed the other posts in this series, check them out here.

Applesauce Bread

I delivered a big loaf of applesauce bread to some friends the other day.  Their response?  “This bread tastes JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS!”  Ah, you’ve gotta love delivering a nice loaf of Christmas to someone!

 

 

Kettle Corn

¼ cup oil
¼ cup sugar
½ cup popcorn kernels
 
Heat oil, add sugar and popcorn.  Shake the pot back and forth till the popping slows.  Carefully dump kettle corn in a large bowl and sprinkle w/a little salt.

Pretzel Wreaths

 

I got this idea from my very clever (beautiful, intelligent, talented, sweet….) sister-in-law, Michele.  These are very easy to make and oh-so-cute!  See instructions here.

Merry Christmas and a HOPPY New Year Card!

Is he the cutest?  (well, as cute as a frog can be anyway)  These cards are simple to make and fun to give!  Here’s the pattern and the instructions.

In a couple of days, I’ll share a few fun ways to wrap up your gifts!  Thanks for all the ideas you’ve been sharing in the comments too!  Is there no end to all the fun ideas?!

As you can probably guess…giving gifts of food are my favorite gifts to give.  (Say that five times fast.)

Everyone likes to eat…and food gifts are very likely to be used and loved.  (Unlike a big fish on a plaque that has a sensor in it and sings when someone walks by.)  (My apologies to those of you who have a fondness for Billy the Big Mouth Bass.)  :)

Here are some of my favorite ideas for gifts of food:

Calico Bean Soup Jar

Layer in jar:
1/2 cup dried lima beans
1/2 cup dried pinto beans
1/3 cup dried kidney beans
1/4 cup dried minced onion 
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup dried lima beans
1/2 cup dried pinto beans
1/4 cup dried kidney beans
 
Attach a note with the following directions for making soup:

To make soup: Bring Bean Soup Mix and 8 cups of water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Cover, remove from heat, and let sit 1 hour.
Return pot to heat, 2 carrots, chopped, 2 stalks celery, chopped and  2 pounds ham hocks  or beef soup bones.  Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 2 hours, until beans are tender, skimming fat as necessary.
Remove ham hocks or soup bones from soup. Remove meat from bone, chop and return to soup. Heat through and serve.

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 ½ cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar or rapadura
½ cup cocoa
1 stick butter
1 t. vanilla

In medium saucepan, stir together cream, sugar, cocoa and butter.  Cook on medium heat until butter is melted and ingredients are thoroughly combined.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. 

Pie of the Month Club

Someone emailed or commented about this idea back when I was putting together the For the Love of Pie Ebook.  I CAN NOT find the email or comment to give credit to whom credit is due.  (If YOU were the SMART person who mentioned this idea, please claim it in the comments.) 

Anyway, using recipes from the For the Love of Pie FREE ebook or your other favorite pie recipes…you can give a loved one a certificate for a “Pie of the Month Club” or some clever title you come up with.  Then, you get to make the recipient a pie every month for a year.  Who wouldn’t LOVE that?

What are some of your favorite food gifts to give?  (Or receive!?)

Learn more Frugal Friday ideas here.