Be mindful of waste this Easter and opt for creating your own zero waste Easter basket. You’ll never miss those pre-packaged Easter baskets! 
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Easter is such a fun holiday but many of the activities and gifts are not so eco-friendly. You can head to just about any Dollar General or Walmart and see mounds of Easter baskets themed from dolls to trucks and even art kits. Unfortunately, these are all packaged in many single use candies, plastic grass, cheap baskets, and dinky toys. Many (if not all) of these items end up trashed in no time.
For those that wish to be a bit more intentional this Easter, consider creating a zero waste Easter basket! You have full control over what items go inside the basket and it feels good to skip the junk and only buy what you know will get used.
A Few Tips To Keep In Mind
When creating your own zero waste Easter basket, it’s important to be mindful of what you are purchasing. Here are a few of my favorite tips for going green this year for Easter.
1.) Only purchase what you know will get used.
2.) Buy quality. If the item looks like it is easily broken, leave it be.
3.) Avoid plastic and packaging.
4.) Make it yourself!
5.) Buy used.
The Basket
Before going out and purchasing a basket, put a bit of thought into it. Shop around your own home or in my case Mimi’s basement. Maybe you have several baskets laying around. Why not use one of those?
My mom kept many of ours so this year I’m using a couple of mine and my brother’s old baskets. I’ve even seen some neat baskets that weren’t baskets at all. Umbrellas can be a creative take on a basket or even a pot that you can plant flowers in!
Skip the plastic grass at the bottom of your basket and opt for biodegradable alternatives. Paper scraps can be put through the shredder and work just as well. I am shredding up the brown paper that comes in boxes from online shopping. These can later be composted or recycled after use. If you are concerned with the lack of color, shredding up used construction paper could be an option or even skipping paper entirely.
Books
This is my number one favorite item to put in Easter baskets. If I’m being honest, its my “go to” gift for just about any occasion. Birthday parties, Christmas, baby showers, you name it and that’s probably what I’m gifting!
You just can’t go wrong with books. With technology being so advanced I fear that reading actual books will one day be a thing of the past, but never in our home.
My favorite place to order books from is Usborne. The quality is awesome and there’s such a wide range of books I have a hard time choosing. This year I went with “Secrets Of The Vegetable Garden” for Wyatt and “Find The Duck” for Wren.
Here is a list of some of our favorites!
The Usborne Big Book of Big Dinosaurs
Arts & Crafts
What kid doesn’t like to do arts and crafts? The classics of crayons and coloring books are always a hit but don’t limit yourself. You have a ton of options here!
Play Dough
Our kids love play dough but the individual containers can get a bit wasteful. Thankfully though, they are super easy to make yourself! It only takes about 10 minutes and for added benefits I put in a few drops of essential oils. Lime, lemon, and orange make a great uplifting combination! I reuse glass containers from coconut oil to store the play dough. I’ll leave the recipe at the bottom of this post if you’d like to check it out.
Chalk
Sidewalk chalk is another good one and can sometimes be found packaged without plastic. I grabbed 2 packs at Dollar General for 50 cents each!
Painting Supplies
Paint, colored pencils, and even oil pastels would be a neat add to Easter baskets. You could gift a drawing book for a child who is learning to draw or a fresh set of paint brushes for the kid who is into painting. I found a sketch book on clearance at Hobby Lobby and grabbed that for Wyatt’s basket. We need lots of practice on our nature sketching!
Edibles
If you really want to go zero waste for Easter, food is the way to go! I’m skipping the packaged candy this year for a couple of different reasons. Number one is the amount of packaged waste and two, we will be getting plenty from church and family egg hunts. If you prefer to do candy, consider making your own or buying from the bulk bin section of your grocery store.
Homemade muffins, granola bars, trail mix, and cookies all make great additions to a zero waste Easter basket. Store it in a small mason jar or other glass container. If you don’t have either of those, just use what you already have!
Seeds
Seeds are a fun one to add. You can get them for pretty cheap and they are so much fun to grow with children. Wyatt loves to check on his seedlings to see how much they have grown daily. I have a packet of zinnias in his basket and we are going to try out growing our own herbs this year so I also threw in cilantro and parsley.
Experiences
Nothing says zero waste like gifting an experience! You can gift tickets to a game, a day out at the zoo, or even make your own coupons to “cash in” for special dates.
I’m adding a few ice cream cone vouchers from local restaurants.
Something They Need
Clothes
If your child is in need of anything, add it to the basket as well! A nice pair of summer pajamas would make a great filler to the bottom of a basket. If the baby needs a new cloth diaper throw that in too! We bought an adorable cloth swim diaper last year that can be washed and used over and over again. That same diaper still fits this year so WIN! Throw in some sunscreen, a beach hat, and a pair of sunglasses and you will be set for the pool.
Zero Waste Kit
If you are new to zero waste, Easter baskets would be a great start to a kit! Bamboo toothbrushes, reusable straws, and stainless steel water bottles are all great additions. We love the 360 cups for little ones and Klean Kanteen is a good brand for older kids.
Print Homemade Play Dough Recipe
Homemade Play Dough
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1/2 tsp cream of tarter
- 2 tsp oil any oil will work. We use coconut oil
- food coloring (optional)
- essential oils (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the dry ingredients in a sauce pan
- Stir in the water, oil, and food coloring.
- Heat the mixture over medium-low heat. Make sure to stir often.
- When the mixture resembles a dough remove it from the heat and allow to cool.
- Once cooled, add a few drops of essential oils if you choose. I did one drop each of lemon, lime, and orange. Kneed the dough with your hands to thoroughly combine the oils.
- Have fun! Store in an airtight container. (We reuse glass coconut oil containers)
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Pin It For Later
Thank you for these ideas! This has me wanting to make a basket for myself too 🙂
I’ll definitely be sharing and pinning this!
Thank you so much Kylie!