Baby's First Easter: Basket Ideas

Easter is almost here, and Scoops will be just shy of 6 months old when the fluffy patron saint of pastel candy makes his rounds. I wasn't going to make her an Easter basket, but then I found some cute miniature Dr. Seuss books in the dollar bin at Target and decided, meh, what the heck. (Side note: I also almost didn't give her any Christmas gifts since she was only a little over 2 months old then and I knew she wouldn't be able to unwrap anything or know what was going on. What was I thinking? I ended up feeling compelled to buy her some books and a few small toys, and now she loves them! Duh, mommy. The gifts will be there for her to play with when she's ready in a couple months! And books are pretty much never a bad idea.) I also found a cute pair of sunglasses, which I figured were necessary since the sun is often out now and Scoops' head is too frickin' tiny to properly support most brimmed hats for her age group. (Seriously, she's in, like, the first percentile for head circumference. It's daddy's fault, he has a tiny head, too. But hey, I'm not complaining!) Admittedly, I already used the sunglasses for her first beach day last weekend, but since she's not going to know the difference, I'm still planning to put them in her Easter basket. 

I figured I should probably look for ideas to add a few more items to the basket, and thought I'd share my findings with you. Here is a little round up of 5 Easter basket ideas from around the Web. I'm pulling a little inspiration from all of these!

These charming items suggested by Sara at Running from the Law would make a chic Easter basket for a new baby. She also has an inspiration board for an equally cute toddler Easter basket.

I like the no-fuss simplicity of this basket from Sierra and Faith over at Winks and Eyerolls. Practical items, but fun as well. (This is actually the same basket I'll be using for Scoops!)

This sweet pink basket from Jenny at Richly Blessed is honestly a little too frilly and full for my taste, personally, but I love some of the items she's included. I'm particularly fond of the Pat the Bunny book. If I could find my copy that was given to me as a baby, I'd put that in Scoops' basket for sure!

I love all the non-candy items Julie, from the girl in the red shoes, used in this adorable basket. Sensible items, like a sippy cup and socks, and fun stuff, like bubbles and a plush toy, strike a nice balance here.

And lastly, this super chic shopping guide from Kate at The Shopping Mama is simply beautiful. I like that she's also listed the approximate price of each item included, so you can plainly see how easy it is to put together a $100+ Easter basket! ;-)

I did feel inspired to get a pretty wooden toy like the ones shown in Kate's list, and found this Baby Car from Plan Toys at a local shop (shout out to Granola Babies!). It was $15, but it's the only "expensive" thing I'm putting in the basket. I'm also adding a plush bunny, as a few of the inspiration baskets above have, that a Great Aunt of mine gifted me at my baby shower. Scoops hasn't played with it yet since she's pretty easily entertained by the same few toys right now, so I think this is the perfect time to introduce it to her. I'm using a basket that's been lying around the house not being used, and I'll decorate it with paper "grass" and ribbon saved from previous projects and gifts received in the past (I save almost all packaging from gifts I've been given - everything can be used at least twice!). Here's what I've got to work with, about a $25 total investment after sales tax:

Turns out those cute little books are actually blank notebooks (way to read the packaging, mama), so I think I'll wait to give them to Scoops until she can effectively wield a crayon. Hey, maybe Grandma will buy a Pat the Bunny book I can throw in there instead. :-) Even without a book, this sweet little basket will have 3 nice gifts inside it. Easter shouldn't rival Christmas in terms of gifts, in my opinion. I'm just happy to mark the special occasion of my sweet Scoops' first Easter with a cheerful little set of small gifts for her.

UPDATE: Click here to see the finished product!

Are you putting together an Easter basket for your little one? How old will she or he be this Easter? What items are you including in the basket?