creating a spring basket

creating an easter or spring basket doesn't have to cost a fortune, if you plan in advance you can put to the side little things you need or were planning to purchase anyway.

Start with a basket

in my opinion you can never have too many baskets!

it doesnt have to be a traditional simple wicker basket, you could opt for a moses basket which will double up as a toy afterwards for their dollies… or a wooden crate to put toy veggies inside… (think outside the box)

‘olli ella’ are the basket pros, their piki set last year made perfect easter baskets (which we now use as toy storage), while ‘zara’ just released a glorious new home range. alternatively you can also thrift incredible finds inexpensively

A wooden toy

marlow autumn could play with her collection of wooden animals endlessly and shouts “MOO” at the top of her lungs frequently, so an ostheimer brown cow and calf filled our basket this year (widely available online, we purchased from an independent store ‘magic forest’)

i recommend the ostheimer and holtziger wooden animals, as they are sustainably made, hand painted, and hold up well with plenty of play

Something handmade

for her first easter basket i knocked together some friendly felt rainbow carrots and embroidered her monogram onto a cotton drawstring bag we had received with an independent store purchase (for filling with chocolate eggies we hid around the house)

lots of independents will send their clothing in cotton or linen bags and we always repurpose or reuse them

this year i again embroidered her monogram onto a ‘thornback and peel’ handkerchief which was gathering dust in a drawer (their rabbit and cabbage range is delicious)

alternatively any handmade item would do- if you have a little imagination the possibilities are endless

An outfit

growing littles always need clothing so this is the perfect time to put to one side a special item or two you would have purchased anyway and pop it away in your basket for when warmer days arrive

i opted for a ‘uniqua’ pinafore easter outfit for our picnic date from ‘shirley bridal’ who hand embroider their clothing; they hand craft INCREDIBLE heirloom pieces

i also popped in a ‘fin and vince’ bodysuit i had purchased the year before and saved for just such an occasion and a mini ‘pixi and jon’ bag for her to carry around her little treasures

something to read

you can't go wrong with a book

i chose ‘in the forest’ by anouck boisrobert and louis rigard (as she adores their ‘under the ocean’ storybook)

easter themed chocolates

two companies that caught my eye this year were:

the chocolate detective; who make the sweetest chocolate bird eggs, just look at their pink ‘chaffinch eggs’

and the ‘chocolate gift company’

Something inexpensive to craft

plenty of artists offer colouring sheets in their stores online and it is a perfect way to support small sellers; i printed a colouring page from ‘dancey pants disco’ and can’t wait to see her scribble all over it.

here are a few other options:

‘just acorn’ offer lots of free patterns and printables

‘velvet rainbows’ have pdf colouring pages or paper dolls to purchase

you can find a fox paper puppet at ‘lilalune’

and ‘merrilee liddiard’ offer plenty of craft ideas and printables (many of which are easter themed)

Additional gifts for fillers

i additionally opted for some dollhouse items for her dollhouse from ‘pretty little minis’ and ‘minimum world’. you can find miniature easter themed baskets and items widely available online in places like ‘etsy’ too

and of course how could i resist hand making some dollhouse pieces of my own too