Here comes Peter Cottontail … and the rest of the Easter onslaught of chocolate eggs, sugar bunnies, plastic grass, and way too many jelly beans. For anyone who celebrates either the secular or religious holiday on Sunday, ideas of health and nutrition sail out the window in the face of all that candy.
Here are some ideas from Kidspot.com–hop through these suggestions and create a wholesome holiday!
Easter baskets are the key to healthy Easter gifts
Instead of relying on colored tin foil wrapped chocolate eggs, why not create an Easter basket filled with healthy gifts? Kidspot has great ideas to make your own Easter baskets, including:
Chalkboard painted, personalised Easter hunting pails
A unique felt Easter basket
A matchstick Easter basket
A feather Easter bowl
Fill the Easter baskets with everything BUT chocolate eggs
There are all kinds of healthy treats you can use instead of chocolate. Why not try:
Baking healthy biscuits like banana biscuits or oaty crisp biscuits.
Dye your own real eggs to place in a pretty arrangement try our ideas for quick dyeing, crepe paper dyeing,natural dyeing and then read Kidspot’s great Easter egg craft ideas to decorate them.
Use brightly colored plastic eggs that open up (you can buy them from craft shops like Spotlight) and place a gold coin inside each egg.
Make your own pastel-colored play dough and roll it into an egg shape, wrap in cling wrap and place in these cute Easter egg carton cups.
Make egg-shaped cereal bars out of healthy wholegrains and wrap them in cellophane and Easter bunny stickers.
Make our Easter hanging cones and fill them with healthy trail mix for a healthy Easter egg hunt idea.
Head to Kidspot’s Easter Activities slideshow and print out some fun coloring pages or mazes. Roll up the sheets of paper and tie with a pretty ribbon. Hand over the ‘Easter scrolls’ in our cute Easter pail.
Remind the kids that Easter bunny loves carrots
A bundle of fresh carrots or pre-cut carrot sticks wrapped in a decorative bag can be part of an Easter basket. Parents can also hide carrots along with chocolate eggs as part of the Easter egg hunt if you don’t want to overload them with too much chocolate.
Give gifts instead of chocolate
It’s no secret that plenty of people now give gifts rather than chocolate eggs. While it might make traditionalists recoil about the true meaning of Easter, an actual gift like a toy or book will last longer and be healthier than chocolate.
Take a look at Kidspot’s Easter gift guide:
Easter gifts for adults
Easter gifts for school children
Easter gifts for preschoolers
Easter gifts for babies and toddlers
For more ideas, see http://www.kidspot.com.au/Easter-Gifts-Healthy-Easter-alternatives-to-chocolate+4595+406+article.htm