Caterpillar loves getting arty – anything where he can get messy with paint, glue or glitter brings a grin to his face and it's a nice creative outlet for parents too. Unfortunately, I'm not very arty myself and appreciate a little guidence. Craft packs, like these ones from Wilkos, give you inspiration, instructions and at £1-£4 are about the same price as an Easter Egg.
When I had Caterpillar I was shocked to discover just how many magazines and comics are available for children – the range is huge and includes almost every TV character you can think of. Most include stickers and many include art supplies too (we especially love the Mr Maker magazine). With something to suit any child's taste these are a great little gift.
Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks have single-handedly saved my sanity during the last four years and I'm not even ashamed to admit it. With the latest Disney offering – Moana – freshly released you'll win lots of brownie points with both the kids and the parents who get to enjoy a little peace.
Caterpillar and I share a love of books and they will always be a great present in my book (ha!). Children's books can be really expensive but they don't have to be. I'm a big fan of both The Works and The Book People for some amazing bargains.
Children don't care where their toys come from so why not grab a handful of cute toys and art supplies from your local pound shop, package them up in a bright box, and the children will think it's Christmas instead of Easter.
Hope you find these suggestions helpful. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments below. Happy Easter!
For our little one's first real Easter basket (his first Easter at 5 months we just gave him a bunny and a couple little toys and a big plastic egg to play with) I really didn't want to do chocolate/jelly beans/candy in general. He does get a taste of chocolate and other sweets every now and then, but I don't want to overload my 17 month old on sweets. So we bought yogurt melts for his eggs instead 😉 He'll have the joy of shaking an egg and finding a surprise, and I'll know he's having a decent snack instead of candy!
I'm with you! I love chocolate but I'm trying to go with a less chocolate fuelled theme this year. Our egg hunt eggs are plastic and filled with little chicks and toys. I've also gone down the book route and I'm thrilled at how many Easter themed favourites are available. You have just inspired me to try and get hold of a copy of The Good Dinosaur too – although I think that one might be more for me!
I agree that's it's always a good idea to have some alternatives to chocolate lined up! We are doing an egg hunt for ours this year, but I'm only going to do it with miniature eggs, so that each have about 6 very small ones to eat at the end. My mum would go mental with the chocolate if I let her, so I've told her that it has to be crafts/books if she wants to get them anything extra! And definitely with you on the pound shop things-it was MA's birthday at the weekend, and he had one big present, but I panicked the day before that he should have some little bits to open when he woke up, and grabbed a few bits from the bargain bin at the local toy shop. Well, the £2 bargain bus has received all of the attention, and the big present totally ignored!!
Initially when I saw your blog title I thought…what alternatives to chocolate? This Mum is mad. Then I realised you were talking about the kids and I thought, thank goodness, I was really worried then, haha.
Great tips for Little Monkey however. I've just text my Mum to pick up the Little Dinosaur instead of an egg. At least Henry will be happy with his animation and I'll be happy with one less egg to stuff down my face :o).
I love the Craft pack! Can I play with this even though my child isn't old enough? I noticed the DVDs for kids at Sainsbury's today were very cheap, it was something like 2 DVDs for £5! Great list to prevent myself from gaining 5,000 pounds over 2 days ; ) Thanks for linking up with #StayClassy!