Frugal Easter Ideas

Every year this becomes an issue. I try to get candy for the kids, but I don't want them getting sugar highs all day Easter. So, I try to find frugal ideas for things that can go into baskets, and even the eggs. This year is just like every other year-only Easter snuck up on me!! How? I mean, it is not like it came early this year. Usually, I am more prepared. Plus, my 2nd oldest daughter will be having her 13th birthday on Good Friday-so I have to add in her present for that weekend too :)

One thing I have done in past years was to use those candy melts from teh store (Walmart has even carried them in the past) and use molds to make little candies to go into eggs. Im not sure if this is less expensive than buying candy, but when my kids saw the cute Easter-themed shapes they were thrilled! And, it probably did cost me less than buying those sorts of chocolates. Another year, I used those same molds to make crayons for my kids (no, I did not use the molds for candy again). My kids went nuts and all it took was melting down all those little crayon bits we had in a container waiting for something to be done with them :) I was even able to make some neat colors, or put a few different colors in one mold to make interesting tye-dye crayons :)

As the kids have gotten older and not into the cutesie things anymore, it gets a bit harder to figure things out-frugally that is :) So, in my search I found some folks with great ideas. Here are links to their pages-I hope you can find some unusual ideas to make your baskets fun this year-and affordable!
Thrifty Fun
Thrifty Fun Easter Basket Ideas
Frugal East Baskets by Deborah Taylor-Hough
Thrifty Fun: Easter Basket for Coffe Lovign Teens (or other family member/friend)

And here are some suggestions for all those decorated hard boiled eggs:
Ideas for Using Leftover Easter Eggs
We tend to have alot here since all the kids want lots of eggs to decorate, so this link was very helpful to me. We eat eggs for breakfast and I make deviled eggs for lunch. I also make deviled egg potato salad which helps to use up some eggs. I also love tuna salad with boiled eggs in it-yum!