Easter Basket Gifts: Gaming Systems vs. Candy & Bottles of Bubbles

The Easter season is upon us. Easter baskets filled with goodies is a staple tradition in many homes around the Jersey Shore. So exciting right? Not so much! Now listen, don’t get me wrong. I love the whole Easter basket thing. Jelly beans, robins eggs, solid chocolate bunnies, basket grass that gets everywhere, etc… What I don’t like, is the pressure us parents on a budget feel. Some of you may know exactly where I am going with this and some of you are going to be a little ticked off at what I am about to write.

Most of us parents want to give our children the world. Some of us have a budget to where we can get lavish items for our children and some of us do not. There is no question about that. What I question is this: If we all believe in 1 Easter Bunny, why is it that 1 Easter Bunny is getting your child a new XBOX and my child is getting a couple of movies, jelly beans and a bottle of bubbles? What in the world is going on here?! Didn’t Santa just come? So now I have to explain to my child in bold face lies that Santa ran out at Christmas and made a deal with the Easter Bunny, so he brought it instead. Bold face LIES!!! Haha.

Why can’t you bigger budget people just stay on a lower level? Why do you have to be so extra? Especially for a baby that can’t eat any of the candy and certainly won’t remember the moment?

So now I have to be honest, I used to go extra for my kids. They are older now so they are lucky if they get a chocolate bunny and some Reese’s Eggs. However, my extra wasn’t on a Santa Claus level. I am a pretty crafty person and growing up I can remember getting some pretty useful items along with outdoor toys to be used in the spring and summer. A new Easter bonnet and socks (the little white ones with the lace on them to wear to Easter Church services). So, when the Easter Bunny showed up at our house, my kids didn’t always have a regular basket. Their gifts were put together using the items they were getting that year.

One year I took umbrellas and used them as their basket, the one item they got was the movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. That was the theme for that year. All items had to do with weather and of course key points in the movie. Now with two kids you know you have to do the same for both of them. That’s why they each got one or two things solely for themselves and the rest were things to do as a family, with wiffleball being the main ingredient to each year’s Easter Basket Tradition. To all you parents that get big ticket items for an Easter gift…keep doing for your child, just know I am judging you! HAHAHA