Easter Egg Hunt - Putting blog posts into practice!

Sometimes it's easy to blog about stuff and put it on the to-do-list and it can fall by the wayside.....well this Easter we have definitely walked the walk around here with some sugar free egg fillers for the Easter egg Hunt.  And I'm so glad we did considering the small amount of chocolate I did put in some eggs, Miss 2.5 went up on a sugar high and crashed on a sugar low a little later. But it's only Easter once a year so we just rolled with it.

The Hunt

Watching her collect the eggs was so much fun, and I'm so glad I helped the Easter Bunny set it up. He definitely knows how to hide eggs!

Egg Fillers

Our Egg Fillers were hair clips, underwear (to keep encouraging toilet training success!), baby chicks (which got cuddles tonight before bed so clearly a hit there), cute bunny stickers below (which I found in one of the dollar stores), bracelet, necklace, Kinder Surprise eggs x 2, Mini eggs, and some jelly beans.

The Spoils

The Kinder Surprise didn't stand a chance, Miss 2.5 was into it!

And as predicted I tripped over those eggs so many times today (and it was only Day 1!), but Miss 2.5 loved the novelty of collecting them in her bag again and opening them and closing them and so on and so on..... so next week we will definitely be making use of my 28 Upcycling Ideas for plastic Easter eggs post.

Thrifty Thursday - 28 Upcycling ideas for plastic Easter eggs

I don’t know about you but the week after Easter I keep tripping over those plastic eggs I used for the Easter egg hunt.  And I’m sure there weren’t that many to begin with, it’s like they multiplied overnight!  

I decided to find some uses for those sneaky eggs and found so many fun ways to upcycle them.  I’m sure you will agree when you see how many fun ways there are that you will be saving those eggs and wishing they would multiply so you can use them for some of the ideas below.

Believe it or not, there are some great storage ideas using the plastic eggs, considering how small they are.  But when you see the different storage ideas you can see how handy they are for those little storage jobs.

1.      Creative Lunch box ideas

2.      Popsicle holder and popsicle recipe

3.      Snack containers

4.      Keep jewellery from getting tangled by placing one in an egg. Great for travel!

5.      Play dough storage – keep stored by colour

6.      Give those little bitty small parts of board games like puzzle pieces a new egg home. Keeps them from getting lost!

7.      Crafty storage, organising little beads snaps, buttons, or ribbon. colour.

8.      Toy treasures stored in an egg

9.      Keeping small parts of toys together using egg storage

For learning activities, plastic Easter eggs have many uses, from scoopers during sensory play to memory games and alphabet eggs.

10.  Rainbow Rice scoopers during sensory play

11.  Alphabet Eggs with items starting with that letter or matching up capital and lowercase letters

12.  Water Bead activity

13.  Memory Game

14.  Egg Transfer activity using a couple of tools like spoons and tongs for fine motor exercises

 It wouldn’t be upcycling fun without arts and crafts, and as you can see there are many crafts using the plastic eggs.  My favourite is The Lorax and the plastic Teacups (cuteness of course!)

11.  Plastic egg garland

12.  Egg Animals

13.   Make Maracas - Fill with beans, rice, or sand and glue or tape the egg shut. Or both!

14.  Teacups

15.  The Lorax

16.  Make egg shaped  bath bombs

17.  Caterpillars

18.  Bird feeder

19.  Dino dig

Of course being an egg shape there would be a use for them as an egg during role play games but who knew you could disguise them as a strawberry or a carrot?

20.  Cupcakes, a great addition to any tea party

21.  Play food for baby or teddy or dolly…..

22.  Mr Carrot

23.  These Strawberries are super easy to make

24.  Eggy Eggs complete with insides

Happy Eggcycling!

Tutes Cute Tuesday - Make A Custom Felt Bunny Family

I found this cute tutorial just in time for Easter and I am so in love with the cuteness of it all (and the fact it's no sew too!)  This tutorial comes courtesy of While Wearing Heels, whose blog name I love!  So I'm off to buy felt and embroidery hoops and put this on the to do list for the long weekend.  See a snippet of the details below but head to While Wearing Heels for the fine print.

Thank goodness Mommy Bunny was having a good hare day.

Moving on to Daddy bunny, who won Mommy bunny over with a 24 carrot ring. 

And, last but certainly not least, Baby Bunny.  Baby Bunny enjoys spending her day playing hopscotch.

Happy Easter xx

21 Sugar Free Easter Crafts, Keepsakes and Gift Ideas

Source

Seeing as I'm all about a 'lets not give Miss 2.5 copious amounts of Easter eggs and chocolate' *Easter this year I thought I would share with you some Easter gifts and crafts that are on my (and could be on your to do list) this Easter. Non chocolate gifts and keepsakes are a great way for Easter to be an all year round experience and not just a one off and the crafts are a great way to break up a long weekend especially if the weather turns pants.
*I'm not saying there will be no chocolate this Easter, I just don't want it to turn into a sugar crazed fest that involves huge highs and crashing lows and that's just the parents.

Easter Crafts

1. Sock egg hat Tutorial
2. DIY Playdough surprise eggs (this one is a MUST!)
3. Mr & Mrs Egg Decorating
4. Sleepy Bunny goody bags Tutorial
5. Egg Shaped Chalk Tutorial
6. Thumbprints Egg Dyeing Tutorial 
7. Bunny Tail Bunting

Easter Keepsakes

1. I Love You to the Moon & Back Heart
2. Bunny in a Bottle Necklace
3. Easter themed books -check out this competition on Kiwi Families to win some
4. Bennett Bunny
5. Clementine Rabbits Frame
6. Wooden Bunny Egg Cup
7. Bashful Bunny

Easter Gift Ideas

1. Easter Bunny Hat
2. Sleepy Bunny Hair Clips
3. Knitted Hot Cross Buns
4. Easter Bunny House Shoes
5. Wooden Bunny Ear Teething Ring
6. Country Road Bunny Knit
7. Beautiful Bunny Crayons

Easter Giveaway

I have a 3D Bunny Cookie Cutter to give away from Making It! which would be a perfect for any Easter themed baking or crafts you have planned for the long weekend.  

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Tell me in the comments below what you're planning to do this Easter that is sugar free

- one comment per person

- you must live in New Zealand

- giveaway closes on Monday 14th April

For an extra entry head to the Making It! facebook page and have a look around, and click like while you are there.

IMPORTANT 

- make sure there is some way for me to contact you! Leave an email, or have your name clickable to a profile or something.  If there is no way for me to reach you then I'll have to draw another entry!! This has happened previously, so I wouldn't like to do this and disappoint someone!

Easter Inspiration - 36 Sugar Free Easter egg fillers

It’s inevitable that with a celebrated occasion like Easter that there is ALOT of sugar on offer for the kids.  It seems there are aisles dedicated to Easter in every store, and that’s just in January! Marshmallow treats, chocolate bunnies, eggs in every size colour, flavour and favourite TV character imaginable.  They say everything in moderation so this Easter why not try reducing the sugar overload when organising your Easter egg hunt by trying some of these sugar free Easter egg alternatives.  Now I’m not suggesting a completely sugar free Easter, I'm not that deluded silly to know that there will inevitably be chocolate on offer for Miss 2.5. I’m just saying there are other options out there for your Easter egg hunt which are toddler-friendly and fun.  Plastic eggs can be bought from most dollar stores and filled with relatively inexpensive treats.  Try these different ideas for each age group.

Babies

It’s up to you if you would like to take your little one on an Easter egg hunt around the garden, if you have an older child then it might be nice to have both of them hunting for eggs.  A little bit of teamwork on the older children’s part might be nice in helping their younger sibling find their eggs. 

1.      Finger puppets

2.      Hare Bib

3.      Rabbit with Carrot sock set

4.      Felted Chick in her nest

5.      Bubbles

Alternatively you could package the eggs or the smallest member of your family in an upcycled egg carton like this one -

Toddlers

6.      Stickers or stamps

7.      Alphabet magnets spelling their name

8.      Chalk or Crayons 

9.      Cute Erasers

10.  Cute wooden bunny pegs

11.  Playdough

12.  Food – cute animal crackers, trail mix, fruit or fruit nuggets

13.  Bouncy balls

14.  Magic grow capsules

15.  Slime or Silly putty

16.  Toys like  cars, animal figurines, Lego figurines

17.  Balloons

18.  Hairclips

Kids

19.  Puzzle pieces- put the puzzle together to make sure you got all the eggs

20.  Temporary tattoos

21.  Lip Balm, Nail polish, Hair chalk

22.  Silly Bandz

23.  Friendship bracelets

24.  Shoe charms

25.  Pencil Toppers

26.  Paratroopers

27.  Jewellery

28.  Coupon

29.  Headphones

And lastly don't forget Mum & Dad

30.  Hipster Bunny Rambo tote bag (to collect your eggs)

31.  I smell chocolate fridge magnet

32.  White Rabbit cufflinks

33.  Singing Floating egg timer

34.  Fresh Fluffy Bunny Shea Butter Hand cream

35.  Tea Cup Bunny Earrings

36.  Red Rabbit Brooch

Happy Easter xx