The Cutest Easter Basket Ideas for Kids!

While your little one may love jellybeans and chocolate eggs, we’ve got some non-candy Easter basket ideas to keep the sugar rush at bay. Here are some of our favorite giftable items right now, freshly picked for your kiddos’ Easter baskets this year!

GloPals: Perfect for Bathtime Dance Parties, Sensory Fun, and More!

If you haven’t had a party in the bath yet, you’re missing out. Just turn out the lights, put on some ‘tunes and grab your GloPals! We love GloPals characters to pop into this year’s Easter Basket since they’re the perfect small size and they make bathtime extra fun for the whole family. There are 5 cute characters to collect, plus a couple of extra fan favorites like Daniel Tiger and Abby Cadabby.

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Water activated, just toss them into the bath and watch them glow. They turn off when dry and each cube lasts a minimum of 16 lighted hours, which is a lot of bathtimes! Bonus: we love that these were created by a mom to help her child overcome his fear of the water. Plus, they’re made from 100% recycled materials, how sweet!
MSRP: $11-16, available on GloPals.com and Amazon.

To add even more sensory FUN to this year’s Easter Basket, your little will love the latest product from GloPals: The Glo Pals Sensory Play Jar! With a warm glo that changes color to the touch, it’s a great addition to a calming corner or playroom as it is quite captivating! It’s also easy for children to hold on their own and filled with magical light-up pieces that are totally customizable. GloPals also sells fun Filler packs and other adorable tools for scooping, sifting and straining.
MSRP: $20, available on GloPals.com and Amazon.

New, Adorable (and Eco Friendly!) Stuffies from GUND

We were excited to hear about GUND’s new collection of stuffies for Easter, including their line of Sustainably Soft Friends which are sourced from 100% recycled materials, using luxe, ultra-soft recycled plush, fill and sustainable packaging. Each 13” plush comes from 10 recycled plastic bottles! Choose from Buttercup Duckling and Lilac Lamb.

They also introduced a couple of other ridiculously cute stuffies that are perfect for Easter baskets: Curtsy the Ballerina Bunny, the Oh So Snuggly Chick, and the Peter Rabbit Mini Plush, which pulls at my heart strings.
MSRP: $18-$25 each, available on GUND.com and Amazon.

Calling All Builders! Magnetic Tiles for the *WIN*

Forever a crowd-pleaser, add color and fun to your Easter basket this year with magnetic tiles – the MORE the BETTER! One of the most versatile toys we’ve encountered, they’re popular with basically every age group from 18 months to adulthood. Magnetic tiles are great for encouraging STEAM learning, fine and gross motor skills, and cognitive development through building.

Most widely known are MAGNA-TILES, but we like Connetix Magnetic Tiles since their magnets are extra strong and they come in really beautiful color assortments. Plus, Connetix offers some really unique sets featuring larger base plates, fluted ball run tubes, and motion pieces with real rubber wheels allowing your little architect to level-up their building creations.
MSRP: Prices range from $15 and up, available on Amazon

Join the Screen-Free Revolution with Tonies!

All the moms I know, including myself, are obsessed with their child’s Toniebox, and for a good reason! Once you purchase the box ($99 for a basic box set), there are literally hundreds of Tonies to choose from. Place a character on the magnetic surface of the box, and each Tonie will play 1-2 hours of screen-free stories and songs. It will easily become your kiddos new favorite story time companion!

Littles love the Disney and PBS favorites, while kids 6+ will love the National Geographic, and DC comics Tonies. There are even Tonies for potty training, yoga, meditation and mindfulness, and Creative Tonies, that you can record your own content on – perfect for sending a message directly from Grandma! They even sell cute travel bags and clever magnetic shelves to store everything on so they don’t get mixed up in your playroom.
MSRP: $9.99-$17.99/Tonie, available at Target, Walmart, Amazon and local shops like Butterbug Boutique.

Even MORE Easter Basket ideas for kids that are inexpensive and easy to find:

• Kinetic Sand – Kinetic sand is our go-to, fan-favorite for sensory fun since it comes in various sized-packs and in all different colors (some are even scented) and never dry out, ever. I just saw that Amazon even has a web-exclusive for a 26-piece pack of small bags, which could be great if you’re making a bunch of Easter baskets or filling over-sized eggs.
  MSRP: From $7.99; $10.99/2 lb. bag of sand, available everywhere.
• On the Go: Water Wow, Sticker Activity & Scratch Art Books – Oh, Melissa and Doug, you can do no wrong. More great products that our family loves since they’re small, easy to take on the go and you can reuse them a million times (well, minus the scratch art books). They sell multi-packs of these as well.
  MSRP: From $7.99, available at Target and Amazon
• Books – There’s no such thing as too many books! Check out our list put together by the Hillsborough County Public Library for Great Books to Gift, which has them broken out by age group. Don’t forget to add a sweet note in the cover!

Originally published in the March 2024 issue of Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine.