10 Non-Candy: Easter Basket Ideas

Want to treat your kids this Easter without all of the sugar? Make a fun and exciting Easter basket with these 10 non-candy Easter basket ideas. Your kids will love them, and you’ll love reducing the candy overload.

We hate how most holidays are centered around excessive sweets, especially for kids. Somehow, sugary, artificially dyed candies have become the center of everything.

With a little creativity, your kids can still enjoy all the holidays without all the sugar.

She handmade our Halloween costumes, the house was fully decorated for every occasion, we woke up to full stockings on Christmas morning, and the Easter bunny came every single Easter. In fact, he still comes! 😉 Our mom always went all out on every holiday.

They still get Easter baskets and have egg hunts, they’re just a little different than we remember as a kid. We remember how exciting all this was as a child, and we want our kids to have similar memories. Instead of filling their baskets with jelly beans and chocolate bunnies, we chose to go a different route.

If you want to move away from the candy-heavy Easter baskets, see this list of ideas for treating your kids without sugar!

Why Non-Candy Easter Baskets?

Reduce sugar intake: It’s amazing how much sugar is available around the holidays. If you want to minimize your family’s sugar intake, these ideas are some great alternatives to all the candy.
Create fun memories: Choosing toys and experiences for your Easter baskets gives you an opportunity to create some memories! Rather than candy, your kids can spend quality time getting creative and having fun.
Save money: You don’t have to spend outside of your budget for a special Easter basket! Many of these ideas are very affordable yet still exciting for children to receive.

A little hand holding an easter basket filled with non-candy treats.

Lara Bars

They come in half sizes, and they fit inside of the larger size Easter eggs. Lara bars are a fruit and nut bar that literally only has dried fruit and nuts. Our kids are focused on them! We buy a few boxes of Lara Bar minis every Easter.

You can find Lara Bars on Amazon. Blueberry, cashew cookie, and banana bread are a few of our favorites!

Fruit

Filling Easter baskets with apples, bananas, and oranges is a great filler and adds lots of colors. All kids love fruit, and we moms love that they are getting something with some nutrients.

Hard-Boiled Eggs

You can buy natural dyes on amazon, or you can make your own following this natural dye tutorial. Our favorite memory of Easter is definitely dying eggs! Hard boil some eggs and let the kids dye or decorate them. Adding a few colored eggs to your child’s basket is a great addition and a healthy snack.

Homemade Lollipops

Though this is technically candy, it is an option that is free of refined sugar! We recently shared our homemade apple honey lollipops, and these make a great addition to any child’s Easter basket. They are sweetened with coconut sugar and honey.

We also have a homemade strawberry lollipop recipe, though that one does use some cane sugar.

Homemade lollipop being held above a plate of lollipops.

Popcorn

After making a last-minute trip to the store, we realized we forgot to get anything to fill eggs with. Our husband suggested popcorn; umm ok, why not? The kids loved it, and it was super cheap! We popped a big pot of popcorn and filled the eggs. They were very happy to have found popcorn-filled eggs. We plan to fill more with popcorn again this year. Last year, we kind of dropped the ball on Easter.

Stickers

All of our kids love stickers! We always put a sticker pad in all of their Easter baskets. Then we buy an extra pack of stickers to cut apart and fill eggs with.

Sidewalk Chalk

Now that it is warm out, we are spending a ton of time outside. We are always looking for more outside toys. Sidewalk chalk is perfect for kids and looks great inside an Easter basket.

Coloring Book and Crayons

For a younger child, you can add a spring or Easter-themed coloring book with a little box of crayons. For an older child, you can add a cute journal and gel pen.

An Easter basket filled with non-candy treats and two plastic Easter eggs.

Lip Balm

All our kids love having their very own lip balm. We have a simple homemade lip balm recipe that is made with all-natural ingredients, and you can make a lot of it for cheap. We will throw a couple of lip balm tubes into everyone’s basket.

Playdough

Playdough is such a fun and affordable way to encourage creativity and focus with your children. They’ll love getting different playdough colors to create with. You can purchase playdough at the store or make your own!

A plastic Easter egg filled with trail mix.

FAQs

Is this taking it too far?

We am sure some of you are thinking it is just one day. Why worry about it? Yes, Easter is just one day, but unhealthy food comes into the picture almost daily. We had to put our foot down somewhere.

Every time we go to the post office or bank, someone is offering our kids candy. They see it in the check-out lanes at the grocery store. We have events at church, birthday parties, and grandma’s house. Thankfully, the grandmas are on board with these non-candy Easter basket ideas!

What can you put in Easter eggs that isn’t candy?

You can also fill them with other small snacks, coins, small bottles of bubbles, or anything else you can come up with! Your kids will love hunting for eggs and getting little treats and prizes, even if they aren’t candy. We shared above that we fill them with popcorn, mini Lara bars, and small sheets of stickers.