How To Create An Easter Basket On A Budget

Earlier this week on Instagram I shared an easy to make, budget-friendly, DIY Easter basket that I put together for $0 bucks!! I made two of them for both of my daughters, with items I already had on hand at home.

Due to the unforeseen financial hit that a lot of us are experiencing because of quarantine and job loss  (or cut in hours), I wanted to create a resourceful and intentional Easter basket that won’t leave you feeling stretched or guilty for spending a lot of extra money on. Some Easter basket ideas I’ve seen floating around have toys, clothes, stuffed animals, and etc. in them that cost upwards of $150 per basket (!!!) – and if you have several kids, that just is not feasible or ideal to do, given the season we are in.

I wanted to create a unique Easter basket that anyone could do with resources they already had at home and I thought, what better gift to give your kiddos than books? So I created a DIY Easter Book Basket! In this post I will be sharing how I made the Easter baskets look SO cute, what I put in them, and how you can create the same thing for your kids in minutes.

how to create a diy easter basket

• I grabbed two baskets that I already had on hand to assemble them into “Easter” baskets. I got the rattan one from Hobby Lobby, and the pink canvas one from Target’s dollar spot.
• I had crinkle paper on hand from a box I had received in the mail the week prior, so I used that as filler.
• I grabbed all of the Easter and Spring books (see my lists below for what’s I put in their book baskets!) that I knew my toddler hadn’t seen or read yet (I usually rotate our books so that seasonal books are only out during that season), and layered them tallest to shortest in the baskets.
• I had some pretty hair bows that my toddler hadn’t worn yet, so I grabbed the packaging (luckily I still had it!) and placed those in the basket.
• I grabbed both of my toddler’s favorite bunnies and placed each into a basket, more as a way to get her excited that “her bunnies were gifting them the baskets.” This was so much more cost effective than buying another stuffed animal!
• I set out some wooden eggs in a cute pink egg crate as decor. I had purchased these a week prior to do as an Easter craft with my toddler on Easter weekend.
• Lastly, I pulled a card from my Trader Joe’s card stash (they’re only a dollar and have so many pretty and unique designs! I have several for different occassions so I’m always prepared) to write a special Easter note in as part of their basket gift.

my list of Easter and Spring books in their baskets that we had at home

Up in the garden, Down in the dirt
Bunnies for tea
Amelia Earhart
Counting with barefoot critters
E is for Easter
Happy Easter Biscuit
Peter Rabbit
We Are The Gardeners
Nature sticker scenes activity book
Brilliant Bugs
You’re my little hunny bunny

Other Spring and Easter Books we love!

Little Blue Truck’s Springtime
Happy Easter, Mouse
Jesus Rose For Me
God gave us Easter
Rabbits and Bunnies and Hares!

This is my first year doing baskets since my girls are now almost 11 months and almost 3. I can’t wait to continue this tradition through the years for them! Are you doing Easter Baskets this year?