Are you wondering how to make an eco-friendly Easter basket? Easter was one of my favorite holidays as a kid. I loved dressing up and going to church with my family and of course, the Easter basket! Now that I have two small kids, I want to make sure they are just as excited about the holiday as I was as a kid.
How can we make Easter eco friendly? In this blog post, I’ll be mentioning some traditional Easter basket ideas, but making it eco friendly! I want to provide you with fun and helpful eco friendly Easter basket ideas that you can feel good about for your child.
As with many other holidays in the U.S., we tend to spend A LOT of money. From cute new shoes and new clothes to Sunday dinners and giant chocolate bunnies, we’re always finding ways to make our celebrations fun and memorable. This year, I encourage you to find ways to reduce your waste, reduce your plastic consumption, and purchase meaningful Easter baskets.
This blog post is about 19 best eco friendly East Basket ideas!
1. Rethink The Traditional Basket
What can I use instead of a basket for Easter? Hunter’s Rain boots use eco-friendly materials such as FSC certified rubber, BLOOM algae foam, and recycled textiles. In addition, all their packaging is recyclable. These popular comfy boots are perfect for toddlers. It is a great way to encourage outside play after those April showers. These boots also make a great “basket” to hold Easter items!
Thrifted Option: Make sure to check your local thrift store for boots as well! I’ve been lucky to find amazing boots for my kids at local thrift stores in my area. If you want to stick with the traditional basket idea, check the thrift stores too! There are so many baskets at thrift stores you should never have to buy a new basket ever again!
2. Rethink Traditional Easter Basket Grass
Traditional Easter grass is made from plastic. In addition, this item is often single-use. Once the grass is used it is typically thrown in the trashcan where it ends up in the landfill.
While having grass in an Easter basket is aesthetically pleasing for some, it’s not an essential ingredient for a quality Easter basket. In fact, some of these eco-friendly alternatives are even better than plastic grass! Here are some of the alternatives:
- Use a hole puncher on leaves to make compostable confetti to add to the basket
- Buy shredded paper
- Shred your own paper from junk mail or used paper
- Use tissue paper
- Skip the grass
3. Plastic Free Gum
Did you know gum contains plastic? Yup, the plastic in gum is what gives it that chewy consistency we’re all used to. Instead of consuming microplastics through your gum, try adding these plastic-free gum alternatives to your child’s Easter basket.
Glee Gum: We love Glee Gum! Glee gum is not only delicious, but it is also plant-based and plastic-free. Glee gum also comes in recyclable, plastic-free packaging.
Simply Gum: My second favorite is Simply Gum. I love Simply Gum because I can find it more easily in stores. The convenience and accessibility mean that I often choose Simply Gum more often than Glee Gum which I can only purchase on Amazon or directly on the website. Simply Gum is made from tree sap! Their ingredients are vegan, kosher, and Non-GMO. This is the perfect gum for your child’s Easter basket!
4. Puzzle
Melissa and Doug toys make excellent eco friendly Easter basket ideas. Their materials are often low waste, non-toxic, and have much less plastic than other toys. We love Melissa and Doug puzzles because they are timeless and sustainably made.
5. Eco Friendly Bubbles
This eco friendly bubble station is the perfect Easter basket filler for bubble fun all spring and summer long. These bubbles can be paired with Bubble Tree aluminum bubble bottles which are indefinitely recyclable. One con to these bubbles is that these bubble bottles are not included and must be purchased separately. These bubbles are non-toxic and easy to pour from this refill station. It’s also perfect for toys like bubble toys!
6. Coloring Books and Crafts
If your kids are anything like mine, coloring books and crafts are the absolute best presents year-round. This is one of my favorite items to include as a part of my eco friendly Easter basket ideas because they not only keep the kids entertained, but they allow them to be creative and use their imagination.
Eco Friendly Easter Basket Ideas for Coloring Books and Crafts:
- Imagine Ink Books: these keep my son entertained for 30+ minutes!
- Bird Feeder Craft: this is a store-bought bird feeder, but check out this video for a DIY bird feeder craft
- Light-up Terrarium Kit: terrariums are a great craft that teaches kids about plants and how to care for living organisms. The plants are incredibly easy to take care of!
- STEM Kits: These STEM kits are AMAZING! You can search according to your child’s age for the most appropriate item for your child’s eco friendly Easter basket.
7. Zero Waste Board Game: Count Your Chickens
We love this game! The game is perfect for ages 3 and up. The game helps to teach competition to your little ones but also helps them with counting. The paper in this game is FSC certified and the pieces are made with corn-based plastic!
8. Reusable stickers
Reusable stickers make the perfect sustainability gift for kids for any occasion, especially in Easter baskets. I love these reusable stickers because they come with multiple sticker books and can be used for multiple kids. What makes these eco friendly is that they can be used over and over again. These are incredibly entertaining and are a great screen-free activity that encourages imagination and independent play.
9. Organic Lollipops
Lollipops are my son’s love language! He loves them. Instead of traditional lollipops, we love using these eco friendly organic lollipops. They’re made from organic cane sugar and colored with fruits and veggies like carrot, apple, blackcurrant, radish, and Tumeric. Don’t let the veggie’s fool you, these lollipops are delicious and a great addition to your eco friendly Easter basket ideas.
10. Reusable Water Bottle
This is one of the best purchases we’ve made in a long time! My son drinks so much water because he loves this water bottle. My husband and I also have hydro flasks so he loves the comradery of all having matching water bottles. This makes a great eco friendly easter basket idea to prepare for the warm spring days ahead!
11. Experiences
I will forever be supportive of experiences as gifts! The memories last so much longer than anything tangible you could ever purchase. Here are some suggestions to add to your eco friendly Easter basket ideas for experience gifts:
- Laster Tag (put tickets in their basket)
- Movie Night (put movie snacks in their basket)
- Escape Room (put tickets in their basket)
- Dying Easter Eggs (place materials in their basket)
- Easter Egg Hunt (place clues in their basket)
- Aquarium visit (put tickets in their basket)
- Zoo visit (put tickets in their basket)
- Museum visit (put tickets in their basket)
- Indoor and Outdoor Scavenger Hunt
- Waterpark Season Passes (put tickets in their basket)
12. Easter Book
This book is so much fun. I love the humor and beautiful graphics in this book. We were gifted a similiar version by a close friend about How to Catch a Unicorn. It’s a family favorite! We all know about finding Easter eggs, but this is a fun play on catching the Easter bunny. e picked up a copy at our local book exchange, but if you’re interested in buying this exact book, find it here!
Thrifted Option: visit your local thrift store or book exchange! Typically around the holidays, they will move holiday books to the front of the store for easier access. These books are usually 50% or more off. If your kids are anything like mine, they may not always know the value of books, and second-hand books make more sense from an environmental and financial standpoint!
13. Silicone Beach Toys
One of my favorite eco friendly Easter basket ideas is gifting items you know can be used all spring and summer long. These silicone beach toys are perfect! We live near the beach and these toys get excellent use. What I love about them is they’re not plastic and much more strong and sturdy than traditional flimsy plastic beach toys. These beach toys hold up great for long time use over and over again.
14. Alaffia Essentials Bubble Bath
Do your kids still love bubble baths? My kids love the bath, but I wanted to find a gentle eco friendly bubble bath for them. This gentle, plant-based bubble bath makes a perfect eco friendly easter basket idea. I love that this bubble bath is also a black-owned brand! The bubbles are long-lasting and soothing. They would be a great addition to any Easter basket
.
15. Thrift for a “new” outfit
Stop at the thrift store to snag some cute spring and summer clothes to stick in your child’s eco friendly easter basket! Having a least one outfit in the Easter basket is a tradition that has been going on since I was a little girl.
To see one of my latest thrifting hauls for my kids, check out my Tik Tok here!
16. Wooden Carrot Sorting Toy
Here is another of my favorite eco friendly Easter basket ideas. This wooden carrot sorting toy is great because it works very well with the Easter theme, but also is a fun game that I’ll keep your kids entertained. Based on teh size of the carrots, toddlers must decide which carrot fits into the hole. We love sorting games like this one because it helps with fine motor skills and hand eye coordination!
17. Dolls from recycled material
Barbie has gone eco friendly! We love this eco friendly Barbie becasue she is a great addition to your Easter basket. This beach themed barbie is made for recycled materials! Barbie is packaged in paper which is easily recyclable and recycled plastic is taken from oceans.
18. Crayons
Have you tried soy crayons? If you’re going for a craft theme in you Easter basket this year, Adding crayosn is a great eco friendly Easter basket idea! These crayons are made from soy beans oil and wax! The colors of these crayons are deep and bright. This is the perfect paring for crafty spring activites!
19. Sidewalk chalk
Sidewalk chalk is one of those classic eco friendly Easter basket ideas because it is great for spring and summertime outdoor play. This Easter, check out this non toxic washable sidewalk chalk for your child’s Easter basket. We love that this chalk is jumbo so it is great for toddler hands. The colors are vibrant and the chalk doesn’t break easily. Grab this classic Easter basket gift idea here!
More Eco Friendly Easter Basket Ideas and Tips:
Skip the stuffed animals
It is incredibly easy to accumulate too many stuffed toys. After a certain point, these toys begin to contribute to clutter in your home and are often thrown out or donated. If you’d really like to have a stuffed toy in your child’s easter basket this year, take a more eco friendly approach and thrift! Thrifted stuffed toys are perfect for an eco friendly Easter basket idea.
Thrift Baskets
While you’re there, thrift an Easter basket! Baskets are one of the top items to buy at thrift stores! There are so many options – different colors, shapes, and sizes. Instead of buying a new basket for Easter, grab one at the thrift store instead.
Skip the plastic single-use toys
Skip the plastic single-use toys this easter. You know which toys I’m talking about, those little toys that you now will never be used more than once, if that. These toys are often found at the dollar tree or in packs in the party isle. These items are often cheap, poorly made, and end up as waste. Avoid creating more plastic waste by skipping these toys.
Stick with items that your child needs and can use over and over
This Easter, choose reusables that your child can use over and over. Opt for items you know your child needs this spring and summer. Other things that make great eco friendly easter basket ideas are consumables! Snacks that you know your child will eat is a great idea for an Easter basket filler.