Budget-Friendly Ways to Fill an Easter Basket

Easter is right around the corner, and with it will come millions of happy kids waking up to find their Easter baskets filled with toys and treats.

Those millions of baskets can end up costing billions, though.

In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent a combined $16.4 billion on new clothes, Easter basket candy, Easter dinner, and other related gifts and items in 2015e.

That breaks down to an average of $140.62 per person.

As a pretty frugal person and parent, that number seems crazy to me.

You don’t have to spend that much to treat your kids to a fun Easter basket. There are some great, cheap ways to fill an Easter basket without your kids even knowing the difference.

Check out these budget-friendly ways to fill an Easter basket without going over budget.

Budget-Friendly Easter Basket ideas for young children

Young kids’ baskets are by far the easiest to fill.

Some classic and inexpensive items that little kids love to receive in their Easter baskets are:

• Bubbles
• Sidewalk chalk
• Art supplies
• Candy
• Little toys
• Sand play tools
• Squirt guns
• Stuffed animals

You can get most, if not all, of these items at your local dollar store for more savings.

Budget-friendly Easter Basket ideas for a middle schooler

Middle schoolers are a tougher crowd to please with Easter baskets than younger kids.

Since middle schoolers are just starting to focus in on their passions, why not take a cue from their interests?

If your child loves art, you could fill their basket with new art supplies like charcoal, pencils, watercolors, or pastels.

If your child loves sports, give them a sport-themed basket filled with Gatorade, their favorite sideline snacks, and a book or magazine about their favorite sport.

If your child loves drama and acting, get them a soundtrack from their favorite musical.

Budget-friendly Easter Basket ideas for high schoolers

Just because your kids are getting older doesn’t mean they can’t still enjoy getting an Easter basket.

My parents filled my basket, as well as my siblings’ baskets, until I was 21. If you aren’t sure what to put in an older kids’ basket, consider doing themed baskets.

For example, you could do a snack-themed basket for your grown son and fill it with chips, jerky, a magazine, and his favorite energy drink.

If your daughter is into fashion and beauty, you could fill her basket with a nail polish, a new tube of mascara, her favorite fashion magazine, and some new toiletry items like hair ties and a new hair brush.

Budget-friendly Easter Basket ideas for any age

The following ideas are great Easter basket ideas for any age or gender:

Split a large bag into several smaller portions

M&Ms, Jelly Bellies, Runts, Whoppers, and Reese’s Pieces are all great candies to buy in bulk and then split among several different baskets into either the plastic eggs or other small containers.

Used books

My kids love books, and they don’t care where I get them from. You can find some great treasures in thrift stores and used bookstores. Why not put a “new” used book in their Easter basket to add to their personal library?

Ice cream coupon

Put a coupon for an ice cream cone in one of their plastic eggs. After all the rest of the candy is gone, you can go out as a family for a treat.

Flip-flops

Summer is around the corner, and every kid needs a new pair of flip-flops for either the pool or the beach. Flip-flops are also colorful, cheap, and look great in Easter baskets.

The best places to find budget-friendly Easter basket fillers

If you know where to look, you can find some great, budget-friendly Easter basket fillers in some of the more popular stores. The following are my favorite places to get cheap fillers for Easter baskets:

Dollar store

The dollar store has coloring books, crayons, candy, sunglasses, and trinkets which are perfect little fillers for Easter baskets.

Craft stores

Fabric stores and craft stores like Michael’s may seem like unlikely stores to find inexpensive fillers, but they’re actually great places to find small items. An added bonus is that craft stores almost always have coupons available online as well.

Target

I actually bought all of my kids’ Easter basket fillers at Target for less than $20 this year for both baskets combined.

The $5 and under section at the front of the store has some really cute Easter goodies, and the back of the store also has a $1 Easter basket goodies wall. My kids’ baskets will be bursting with chalk, bubbles, playdoh, and candy, and contain one little toy each.

Clearance aisles

Whichever store you go to, don’t forget to check the clearance aisles. Leftover stocking stuffer gifts from the Christmas season make great fillers for Easter baskets.

Pharmacies

If you fill your prescriptions at Walgreens, RiteAid, or CVS, make sure to enroll in their rewards programs so that you can benefit from store coupons and free credits. You can get quite a bit of shopping done for “nothing” when you use those programs.

Choose quality over quantity

One great way to fill your child’s basket with the things they love without going overboard on spending is to choose quality over quantity. A basket doesn’t have to be completely filled to the brim and bursting with goodies.

Choose one or two nicer items, and then get your child their favorite candy instead of filling their baskets with trinkets they’ll just ignore or throw away.

Remember to stay on the lookout for great deals to help keep the cost of each item low. By shopping where you know the prices, you can find their favorite items for fairly cheap.

Kids don’t care how much you spent on the basket; they’ll just be thrilled to have a special treat on Easter Day, no matter how old they are.

How do you fill your child’s Easter basket? Do you try to stick to a budget?