25+ Easter Egg Fillers (That Aren’t Total Crap)

Now that I'm a mom, I see how toys can accumulate REAL QUICK. The worst ones are the useless crap that no one wants. You know... the stuff that kids play with for 2.5 seconds and then abandon forever. Easter is definitely a holiday where this plays out, particularly when it comes to filling up Easter eggs. I mean.... they're so small! What can you really put inside that's worthwhile? With the sheer volume of disposable junk we put into the environment, I wanted to highlight some ideas for easter egg fillers that aren’t total crap. Instead of candy and awful little toys, try these ideas for fillers that both you and the kids will LOVE. 

Psst: If you’re looking for Toddler Basket ideas, check out this post!

Easter Egg Fillers

Rings- You can DIY a bunch of rings really easily using some supplies you have around the house! You can also make rings using gemstones and metal rings. Kids love playing dress up, and they're sure to use these gems to play princess. Or, teach them how to make their own shop and "sell" them to their stuffed toys- or each other!

Stickers- Not sure what it is about kids and stickers but they love 'em. I still have my collection from when I was young! Do a mix of Easter stickers and ordinary pastels to keep the theme, but also make them actually usable outside of Easter. This is also great for encouraging trading amongst the kids!

Activities- It's a fact- people prefer experiences over material possessions! Fill the eggs with clues for your activity plans, and watch the kids guess. You can take them to a movie, go bowling, visit a local museum, etc.

Easter books- While these won't fit in the eggs, you can give books as prizes for Easter egg hunts! Include a print-out in the egg to show the kids what they get. If you have multiple families, this is also a great way to get rid of excess books, or shift around your collection to introduce some new books! I've got a list of our faves here.

Movies- Encourage them to work together! Add letters for a movie title to each egg (like H-O-P) for a DVD they can all watch together. If you do this more than once, color-code the letters so they know which letters go to which word. And, keep a list for yourself to reference in case you forget what's what!

Chalk- You can DIY some egg shaped chalk that fits perfectly into your eggs, or break up some pieces to fit. Toss a chalkboard into their Easter basket, and they'll be entertained until Christmas! Or, at least until the end of the month.

Snack tickets- Have a basket with their fave fruit snacks, chips, goldfish crackers, etc and let them choose one for each ticket. This is super affordable AND useful! Kids love their snacks and hey- I do too! I've got some free printable snack tickets here.

Seeds- This is super easy, affordable, and seasonal! Give the kids a packet of seeds that they can plant and watch grow. You can get individual packets, or buy a larger pack and create smaller envelopes for the seeds using card stock.

DIY Kits- Make use of that craft stash! Put in embroidery floss or a bead kit so they can make their own bracelets. If they're too young for that, try pre-made bracelets.

Puzzles- Break up a puzzle into several eggs and have the kids come together to make it. Have a special puzzle piece with a sticker on the back to decide who gets to keep it at the end!

DIY paper clips- This is a great idea for older kids or those who use planners, need a bookmark, etc. Make some cute paper clips using pom poms or felt cutouts. You can also make some cute tassel ones!

Pom poms- these are perfect for young kids and can be used to make crafts or even to d some learning exercises, like matching colors or practicing fine motor skills. And best of all they're super affordable!

Magnets- kids love magnets and it’s a great way to keep them entertained! You can get letter magnets, animals, fruit… pretty much anything!

Coins- This is great for older kids- and a great way to get rid of all your coins! I remember that any money as a kid was AMAZING to receive. Throw in a few rolled up dollar bills, and the kids are sure to love the hunt!

Washi Tape- A fun way for kids to decorate their eggs, tape up their artwork, and more! You can get large packs of these at Michael’s, Amazon, or even at your local dollar store!

Hair bows- Here’s a super useful filler! They’re small and affordable, plus you can totally DIY some if you want too!

Cars- Depending on the age of your kids, you can probably grab some cars they haven’t played with in a while to stuff the eggs! You can also make them a track using tape on the floor or draw it on a poster board. Then they won’t mind getting some of their old toys back!

Legos or Lego people- This is a great way to spread one useful item across many different eggs.

Band Aids- Like stickers, kids love band aids. Add some fun printed ones and they’ll be ecstatic!

Pebbles- My daughter has a thing with pebbles that I don’t quite understand. Grab some from the yard to fill your eggs, or get some fancy ones in pretty colors.

Plastic animals- These are prefect for playing and adding to dollhouses or playsets. I like to paint my animals to be pretty, but you could also add some fun embellishments like a tutu or a sweater.

Fruit snacks- Pop a pack of fruit snacks or puffs into an egg for a fun and nutritious snack!

Crayons- kids love to draw, so pop some crayons into the eggs and let the kids color after they finish their hunt! Stick a coloring book into their Easter basket and you’re good to go.

Finger Puppets- These are so small and you can get them in all sorts of designs. You could even DIY some too!

Game Pieces- Throw a few pieces of their favorite games into the eggs and gather together to play once you’re done!

A prize bucket- Make coupons for your kids to pick their own prizes! You can write something like "prize ticket" for larger items that won’t fit into the eggs like pencils. (Pssst- I've got free printables for that here)

Once you've got all your egg fillers, don’t forget to make bunny ear headbands for all the kids! These are easy to whip up and can be customized in any style. And as a bonus, they’re no sew!

I hope these ideas were helpful, but I've gotta know- what do you put into your Easter eggs?!

Free Printable Easter Egg Prize Tickets

I've always loved doing Easter egg hunts. I remember that one year, my aunt hid the eggs for us to find. We found them super fast, so then we traded- my sister and I hid the eggs for my aunt and younger cousin to find. After a while, he was complaining because there were SO many eggs to find and we had hidden them really well! We hid empty eggs just for fun, but I think part of the fun for kids is getting a prize at the end.

Psst: If you’re looking for Toddler Basket ideas, check out this post!

The usual tradition is to put candy or junky little toys inside, but I figured there had to be a different solution. I have a blog post with over 25 non-candy fillers that aren't total crap, but first I wanted to share these cute coupons! You can print these out on white cardstock and cut them out easily using scissors. I cut around each ticket individually, but to make it MUCH easier, I recommend getting a paper cutter and cutting around each one and leaving a white border.

Using these coupons is simple- fill your eggs with a coupon or two, and then have your kids trade them in for prizes! You can use them 1:1 (aka 1 ticket = 1 prize) or set up an arcade system where you can pool tickets for larger prizes. As for the printouts, I've got several options- tickets that say what they're for, tickets that only have a picture on them, and blank tickets that you can label yourself. Use them all however you'd like!

Once you've got all your egg fillers, don’t forget to make bunny ear headbands for all the kids! These are easy to whip up and can be customized in any style.

I hope these ideas were helpful, but I've gotta know- what do you put into your Easter eggs?!

Toddler Valentine Basket Ideas (On A Budget!)

While I was browsing the Valentine section at Target, I got the bright idea to make a Valentine’s day basket for my daughter, Hailey. I know that a Valentine basket technically isn’t a thing, but I love holidays and will take any excuse to celebrate. I started to ponder what I would put in my basket, and I was pretty bummed that I thought of the idea as we were essentially leaving the store. So, I made a list and decided to go back and grab what I needed another time (you know… before the inevitable meltdown began). I knew that I wanted my basket to be Valentine-themed, but I didn’t want to waste money on cheap crap or novelty items that she would only use for a day. This momma is on a budget and every purchase counts. So, I filled up Hailey’s basket with a few items that were fun, but could be used year round. Pretty much everything came from either Dollar Tree or Target!

*This post contains affiliate links

Here’s what I put in my Toddler Valentine Basket:

Red and pink snacks- Since Hailey is only 16 months old, I didn’t want to fill her basket with chocolates or candy. So, I grabbed some of her fave snacks and some new ones for her to try. She loved it and wanted her pouches and yogurt bites right away!

One stuffed animal- She’s not big on stuffed toys, so I grabbed this monkey from the dollar tree. She’s having a monkey moment since she knows how to make the sounds!

Bubbles- Hailey LOVES bubbles, so this big pack from the dollar store was perfect for her basket!

Toddler paint and paint brushes- I love to paint, so I decided to get a wooden heart from the Dollar Tree and some paints to go along with it. I can’t wait to paint with her again- we haven’t done it since she was a tiny baby!

Hershey Kisses- I had to give her some kind of chocolate! It’s a Valentine’s Day tradition. And what’s sweeter than a kiss?

Crayola Bath Items- I found these paint soaps at the dollar tree and I thought they would be a fun addition. At first she was very confused and even got mad at us for putting the paint soap on her! After a few tries, she realized she loved them and kept asking for more paint.

Valentine Book- Hailey loves the Halloween version of this book, so I decided to get her the Valentine version too! We’ve been reading it at night and she seems to like it.

Valentine Basket- This was actually something I had laying around the house if you can believe it! I was going to buy a basket but I figured I’d save the money. I have plenty at home I can use! Maybe next year (or for an older child) it would make sense to get a basket just for this- especially for a kid that likes to play with them.

Well, that’s all there is to it! There are so many items that you can add to a basket for your kids. You just need to be creative and think about what they like! Pick 2-3 colors for your basket that you’d like to stick to and it’ll be perfectly pretty. Or, just grab their favorite items and make it a “love” basket- you know, full of things they LOVE!

What would you put in your child’s basket? Let me know in the comments below!

Surviving the "Christmas Is Over" Hangover

It’s the week after Christmas. The presents are opened, the family was visited, and the new year is fast approaching. Christmas was great, for sure. But you still feel sort of... unfulfilled. And maybe you feel this feeling every year. We spend all of December frantically trying to “feel Christmas” and all of January reminiscing it. Somehow Christmas Eve comes and we focus on all the things we didn’t do yet. The photos we didn’t take. The movies we didn’t see. The extra presents we didn’t buy for people. It’s ridiculous.

Most of us are totally blessed. We have a family that loves us, and we got plenty of gifts. But we can’t help but wish we bought more, or got more. Maybe even did more. Last year, my tree was so full of gifts (mostly for the baby!) that it was overflowing. I was scrambling so hard to get everything ready for when family came over that I didn’t even get to photograph the cute gifts in a perfectly curated pile of my favorite gift wraps. I mean, the ones my sister got were SO cute and I only got to admire them for a second before I ripped the gifts open and tossed the wrapping paper away.

When family arrives, the chaos of the day prevents you from taking any well-lit or well-posed photos. Lucky for me, my sister suggested we pose in front of the tree with Hailey last year and that’s how we got these cute photos. But without that, I would have missed an opportunity to take these priceless pictures. In fact, on the way home from John’s uncle’s house, I realized I didn’t get a single photo of me and Hailey on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, aside from selfies I took. I was crying when I realized that she’d be looking back one day and not even see me there. I ended up dressing her back up once we got home on Christmas and took some photos in front of the tree, because I couldn’t handle NOT having a photo of us together on her first Christmas.

Every year, I say I need to start things earlier. And every year, I’m there with a list of things I didn’t accomplish. Maybe the days after Christmas should be spent planning for next Christmas. Nothing crazy. Just a reminder to do all the things you wanted to do. Like bake Christmas cookies, and wrap gifts in a professional manner and then take photos of them. Watch a Christmas movie, wear your matching pjs and take a photo. It’s a great way to hold on to a little bit more of that Christmas spirit, while also ensuring that the feeling of Christmas comes back next year. It doesn’t even have to be anything fancy- a cell phone photo of the fun is better than nothing at all. It’s important to point out that so much of what you see online is taken days or even weeks in advance. Everything is a photo shoot, perfectly posed and directed to elicit just the right emotions. Sure, Christmas cheer is one of them. But so is inferiority, regret, and comparison. So while my to-do list for next year will include taking nice photos of the fun, I don’t want to spend all my time pretending to do fun Christmas activities, and not actually do them. I encourage you to do the same thing.

What should go on this “next Christmas” list? It could be a photo scavenger hunt, or a scrapbook activity. And it should start with a list of what Christmas means to you- memories associated with it, activities to do, ways to give back and help others. And maybe if we use that Christmas regret from this year, we can create a concrete plan for next year that helps us to enjoy the holiday season for everything it is, and not everything it wasn’t.

So, on that note… what was your favorite part of the holidays this year? What will you be adding to your list for next year? Let me know in the comments below!

DIY Monogram Christmas Stocking

About 6 years ago, my husband I grabbed some stockings from Target to hang up on our TV unit. They were cute and simple- red and white stockings with a letter for each of our names. As our family grew, we added additional stockings for cats, babies and a dog. The result was 7 matching stockings that I didn’t even necessarily like anymore! It seemed silly to buy new stockings when I had 7 perfect good ones, so I’ve just been putting them up year after year. However, this year I decided I would give them a bit of an update so that they can match my style more! This is something you can easily do to update any stocking, include those ordinary cheap red and white ones you can find anywhere. And it’s SO affordable that it’s almost free- I bet you have most of this stuff at home already!

*This post contains affiliate links

You will need:

Yarn (similar here)
Glitter paper (similar here)
Felt (similar here)
Scissors (similar here)
Glue gun (similar here)
Pencil & wax paper /printer (similar here)
Pom-pom maker (here)
Cardboard 
Old stocking (similar here)

Directions:

1. The first step is to create your letter for your stocking. You have 3 options:

   • If your stocking already has a letter: Trace over your current letter by using wax paper.

   • Already has a letter, option 2: Print out a template on your computer of a similar sized font that will cover it completely.

   • If your stocking doesn’t have a letter: Print out a template of a letter you like and a slightly larger version of it. A great option for this would be to use a font with an outline, since it will naturally have 2 sizes within it. Something like this.

2. Cut your glitter paper slightly larger than your felt. In the end, you want to create a felt letter that is slightly larger than your original letter on your stocking.

3. Glue your felt letter onto your glitter card stock.

4. Place a piece of cardboard inside your stocking to prevent the glue from seeping to the backside. Glue your letter in the center or over your old letter.

5. Create pom-poms using a pom-pom maker. You can find directions for that here. You can also create tassels by following this this tutorial here. Feel free to embellish using jingle bells too!

6. Attach the pom-poms, tassels and any other embellishments to the hook that is used to hold your stocking up. You can also either glue or sew them onto the inside flap, or use a safety pin!

Then, hang up your fancy “new” stocking and admire your handiwork. You can totally change up your old holiday decor with this! I was able to take my traditional stockings in basic Christmas colors and change them to match my more colorful and fun aesthetic. They definitely feel more “me” now!

And that’s all there is to it! Now you’re got a great monogram stocking, or spruced up an old stocking to have a new look! Will you be giving your old stockings a new look? What colors do you use to decorate? Let me know your plans in the comments below!