Monday, March 27, 2017

How to Create a Faith and Fun Filled Easter Basket



The night before Easter, my husband and I were determined to foil our children by hiding their baskets in unexpected locations. Our four kids had become quite adept at finding their baskets in no time flat. As I opened the oven door and slid the pink basket onto the rack I thought, “She’ll never find it here.”

Before my kids awoke Easter morning, I quietly slipped into the kitchen.  While on auto-pilot I preheated the oven for the egg bake and our traditional sour cream coffee cake.

My attempt to be stealthy failed. Downstairs they came ready to find their basket. My daughter’s fine-tuned sleuthing skills and keen sense of smell lead her to the oven. She discovered a steaming hot basket filled with melted candy and a mushy chocolate bunny.

Making memories, even out of mishaps, will draw a family together. Easter traditions that include basket hiding and finding are fun (and usually safe) for all. Basket filling presents a unique opportunity for parents to bring Jesus into the resurrection celebration.

Create a faith-focused and faith building Easter basket for your kids.Include all or some of these 25 items with the corresponding scripture reference in the basket.  Each one represents a biblical story, gives a truth, or provides a promise of God. 

Use numbered gift tags with twine and attach the verse provided to each gift.  As your kids unpack their baskets, save the gift tags. For the next 25 Sundays your family can read and discuss the bible passages in numerical order. All the verses are about Jesus’ life, teaching, death, or resurrection.  

  1. Trail Mix:  Deuteronomy 6:6-7
  2. Magnifying Glass:  Luke 1:1-4
  3. Flip Flops : Luke 3:15-16 
  4. Squirt Gun:  Matthew 3:13-17 
  5. Bible: Luke 4:14-21 
  6. Legos Luke 6:46-49 
  7. Kleenex Luke 7:11-17 
  8. Eraser Luke 7:36-50 
  9. Seeds Luke 8:11-15 
  10. Flashlight Luke 8:16-18
  11. Sunglasses:  Matthew 17:1-8
  12. Family Activity Coupons: Luke 10:38-42 
  13. Hairbrush or comb: Luke 12:6-7 
  14. Coloring book with crayons:  Luke 12:27 
  15. Band-Aids: Luke 17:11-19
  16. Juice box: Luke 22:7-23
  17. Scented lotion or cologne: Luke 23:55-24:12
  18. Red, white, purple, black, orange, green, yellow, pink jelly beans: Respectively   Romans 5:9, Isaiah 1:18, John 19:19, Romans 3:23 and 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Matthew 28:5-6,  Rev 21:21,  Romans 15:13 
  19. Gardening tools : John 20:1-18
  20. Goldfish crackers:  John 21:1-4
  21. Chocolate lamb: John 21:15-17
  22. 40 Pennies:  Acts 1:1-6 
  23. Bubbles:  Acts 1: 7-11
  24. Worship music CD: Acts 16:16-40
  25. Journal with a pen: John 21:24-25 

Parents can encourage their kids to remember Easter every day by creating a basket that can be enjoyed beyond Easter Sunday.


One final note: the oven is meant for baking not for hiding. 

He is risen. He is risen indeed!




Lori Wildenberg
Licensed parent and family educator, co-founder of 1Corinthians13Parenting.com co-author of 3 parenting books (with her 1st solo endeavor to be published in May 2017 Messy Journey: How Grace and Truth Offer the Prodigal a Way Home),  mom of four (plus one daughter-in-love), wife to Tom,  Contact Lori for your next event. She is also available for parent consulting and parent training courses. Lori can also be found mentoring over at  MOMS Together community on Facebook. 


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