9 Alternatives to Easter Candy

I don't know about your kids, but after Valentine's Day, Christmas and Halloween, mine are beginning to think they get candy every single day. (We try to ration it out. And then it lasts forever.)

Filling Easter Baskets with More than Candy

So, here we are, staring at Easter already and …. more candy. I am on a mission to hunt down alternatives which I can suggest to the Easter bunny this year.

Top Non-Candy Items for Children's Easter Baskets

1. Pencils.  My kids love pencils.  We use them for homework all the time.  Since our dog likes to steal them and eat them, you can never have too many.
2. Grippers or erasers for those pencils.
3. Little books with word searches and other games.
4. Coloring books.
5. Sidewalk chalk.
6. Stuffed animals.
7. Bubbles.
8. Crafts.
9. Bouncy balls, etc.

Provide Easter Candy in Moderation

I still feel the need to have a chocolate bunny and some jelly beans for the kids. I am a fan of everything in moderation. I don't want to keep it all from my kids because I think they should learn some self-restraint. How can you learn that if you never have the opportunity to practice? They also can figure out some basic budgeting skills (and bartering) with their little stash of goodies.

Be Cautious of these Easter Basket Items

Be careful considering the options that your Bunny provides, some items may be more trouble than they are worth.

1. Little toys/greeting cards with batteries—tiny “button” batteries can cause a lot of problems if swallowed by kids or put into different orifices (up the nose, in the ear, etc). They irritate/burn/erode tissue and have to be removed (sometimes surgically). The National Battery Ingestion Hotline (operated by the National Capital Poison Center) estimates that 3500 people in the US swallow these types of batteries per year (and it noted “of all ages”—it's not always just the toddlers—I've seen plenty of older kids who “should have known better” with different items shoved in strange places.)
2. Those fun little super-strong magnets—these also can wreak havoc if swallowed (they can bind together through different parts of the intestine and then cut off the blood supply to that area and they may also have to be surgically removed). According to the US Public Interest Research Group, there were approximately 1700 ED visits because of magnet ingestion between 2009-2011.

Hopefully, this Bunny will get creative and hide the eggs with some type of scavenger-hunt-type theme. Or maybe they could concoct some type of obstacle the kids could have to overcome to get to those eggs—maybe make them do something active in order to earn the prize. It may happen. If that ole Bunny gets organized.

For more information on our CHI Health nutritional services: https://www.chihealth.com/en/services/nutrition.html.

Original post date: April 2014. Revised January 2023.