What’s In Yours? 5 Easter Basket Ideas

Get inspired to make your Easter baskets the best of the season! From simple kids’ Easter basket ideas to new decorating techniques, make your baskets unique and fun with these ideas from Pottery Barn.

Dye Your Basket

Your Easter basket ideas don’t have to focus on treats and gifts alone. Spice up your entire presentation by dyeing the basket itself. Use a natural basket in a porous material, such as straw, rope or thin wood. Choose a light color material that isn’t painted, sealed or dyed. To dye your baskets, choose hues that you love. Pretty pastels are traditional for Easter, but feel free to go vibrant for some extra springtime pizzazz! 

To start, get a large bucket and fill it halfway with boiling water. Add about a half cup of vinegar and mix in enough food coloring in your desired color to turn the water a deep, vibrant shade. The darker the water is, the brighter your baskets will be. Using clean tongs, gently dunk your baskets in the dye bath until they’ve absorbed your desired amount of color. You can flip and turn the basket until the entire thing takes on the look you want. Dry the baskets on newspaper. If you feel they’re too light, dunk them a few more times in the water mixture until they’re nice and bright.

Upgrade Your Traditional Plastic Eggs

Plastic Easter eggs are a basket-organizing staple. You can put a personal twist on yours to make them extra special. Decorate colorful plastic eggs to look like fruit and veggies using permanent markers and paper. Add tiny seeds and a leafy crown to pink or red eggs to make strawberries. Cut out thin, tall leaves and tape them orange eggs to make carrots. Draw small circles and add paper stems onto purple eggs to make grapes. Let your imagination run wild with these! You can add paper wings and marker-drawn faces to make birds. Or, use a metallic paint pen to create patterns or write messages. From washi tape and sticker decor to decoupage using cut-out images from magazines or vintage Easter cards, there are many opportunities for customizing your plastic Easter eggs. This is an especially fun activity to do with kids, too.

Bourbon Bunnies for Grown-Ups

Are you having adult friends over for Easter? Fill their baskets with this grown-up twist on holiday treats. Small, hollow chocolate bunnies are an Easter basket staple. They’re also perfect for creating fun Easter mini-cocktails. Pick out some hollow chocolate bunnies, chicks or other Easter animals. Be sure to choose foil-wrapped varieties. Use a small marinade injector to gently fill the hollow insides with a little bit of bourbon. Then, use melted chocolate to seal the hole. Choose a spot at the bottom of the animal where the chocolate tends to be at its thickest and your chocolaty patch will blend in. 

You can use a different liquor or liqueur if you’d like. Raspberry or orange liqueurs taste great. But, bourbon and milk chocolate do pair well together. Be sure to mark your liquor-filled chocolates so you don’t mix them in with any unfilled versions. Consider adding tiny homemade party hats or even glittery stickers to set them apart.

Natural Basket Filler

Plastic Easter basket grass is nostalgic, but it lacks an aesthetic connection to the natural world. Bring your Easter basket sophistication up a few levels by opting for a natural filler material. Faux plants and leaves are always an option. You can also opt for something more organic. Real dried grasses or hay can work. However, they’re often quite messy and are not friendly to those with allergies. Opt for dried mosses instead. Reindeer and Spanish moss are two great varieties that are sold in bulk preserved quantities. They don’t tend to shed and make as much of a mess as other filler greenery. Plus, neither variety requires soil or water, so your baskets can stay clean for re-use after they’re emptied.

Theme Your Kids’ Baskets 

Create a fun theme by focusing your kids’ Easter basket ideas on a certain color, character, activity or motif. Kids in middle school and older may appreciate a tech-themed basket complete with small items like extra charging cables in a fun color, emergency battery power banks in an Easter-friendly shape or candy-colored earbuds. For younger kids, a basket focused on their favorite books or movies allows you to seek out treats and containers in specific colors. Include some character toys to fill out the basket and add even more excitement to the day.