I’m not anti-candy. Not at all. (Hey, look at my physique, there’s clearly been candy in my life on many occasions!). That said, I don’t
want to just fill a bunch of eggs with candy and let the kids have at it. Sure, I do some candy treats, but we’re big into the hunting of the eggs in this family and I try to think “outside the box” for fillers. Since Easter’s just around the corner, I thought I’d share a few of my suggestions for non candy ideas for Easter Eggs!
Here are This Mama’s suggestions to put into Easter eggs:
For the Preschool Crowd:
1. Stickers
2. Tattoos
3. Bouncy Balls
4. Bandaids (what kid doesn’t love character bandaids?)
5. Mini Erasers
6. Matchbox Cars
7. Whistle
8. Tubs of chapstick/lip gloss
9. Coins
10. Puzzle pieces
The puzzle pieces might be my favorite…and you can do it a few ways. You can just tuck a piece or 2 of a puzzle in a bunch of eggs and finish the puzzle together as a family after the hunt, OR, you can get a puzzle per kid, and they have to find THEIR puzzle pieces. This can be a lot of fun and you can make it more and more challenging depending how old your kids are! The last way you could use puzzle pieces is to have a “larger” prize-type item and get a picture of it- cut that picture into puzzle pieces and tuck each piece into an egg to be hunted for. (You will likely have to color code the eggs or “label” them per kid with some of these ideas!)
School Age Kids:
1. Hair ties, hair clips
2. Tattoos
3. fun bandaids
4. chapstick or lip gloss
5. mini nail polish, matchbox cars
6. mini figures (Lego figures, miniature My Little Ponies, etc)
7. little keychains
8. puzzle pieces
9. clues on paper (When they follow the clues, they find a hidden surprise!)
10. coins
You can always buy different sized eggs, which would definitely allow for even more creativity in your hunts. Fruit snacks lend themselves nicely to being tucked into the medium sized eggs, as do pairs of kid socks, underwear and hair clips!
shirley says
thanks for the great ideas! i found some solid color bandaids (one box had a strip of each of their favorite colors…score!!) and also some angry birds bandaids. my grands will LOVE them!!! also using some little chocolate bunny shaped graham cookies. the rest of their easter gifts are some cute plates/bowls i found in the party section at WM and things like bendy straws, small puzzles, bubbles and tub toys. possibly the cutest thing is a “carrot” made with a cone of plastic wrap filled with whales cheese crackers (or goldfish if you prefer). i found that idea (as well as your post) on pinterest! hoppy easter, everyone!!!
Diana - Teacher Mom says
I love the idea of using bandaids and puzzle pieces. Great tip! Thanks!
Aprile Mazey says
Those are all great ideas! Thanks, I have a 2 year old daughter that I don’t want to eat candy so I end up buying her little sesame street characters that will fit in the larger plastic eggs.