Easter shopping

I have so many fun memories of holidays as a child. Excitedly waking up on Christmas morning and lining up with my siblings, waiting for the go-ahead from Mom and Dad for us to rush to the Christmas tree and stockings! Getting up on Easter morning and discovering fun toys and treats in my brightly colored Easter basket! Hunting for jelly bean eggs all over the living room! The eager anticipation of Halloween night…trick-or-treating (either at a select few houses or at a local carnival) and the excitement and strangeness of seeing myself and my brother and sisters behind a costume…daytime family BBQs with corn on the cob and chicken with relatives on 4th of July, then heading out to watch fireworks at night…such moments are a cherished and vital part of my childhood.

Having a child (and soon childREN!!) to share holiday fun with is something that I always looked forward to, even before Josh and I were sure we ever WERE going to have children. He and I love that we get to create fun and lasting memories with our children. Part of that fun for me right now is shopping for holidays. Maybe when the kids get older I’ll be a bit more casual about it, but for now it’s still so new and novel and exciting that I plan ahead. 🙂

Last year, Lillian was 10 months old for Easter. An adorable, bright, cheerful little baby who could stand and cruise, but not walk on her own yet. This year, Lillian will be 22 months old. Our brilliant, happy, running little girl! I think this year she’ll actually enjoy an egg hunt, as opposed to us just placing eggs in her basket last year for her to play with.

Here’s what we did last year:

We bought her a personalized Easter basket from Pottery Barn kids, and also from there we got her a teething/squeaky chick toy and divided plate. We got her dress (12mo) from Sears. I can’t remember where we got her sandals and sweater, but I think Carter’s. The Easter bonnet is vintage from when my sisters and I were little. This is the smallest one I have, and there are a few others from over the years too. We also placed empty plastic eggs in her basket and she had a lot of fun playing with those. 🙂

This year:

Dress (2T) from Sears, Lalaloopsy minis, Easter board book, and weeble eggs from Amazon. This year we will fill some plastic eggs with treats for Lillian. When she’s older, there will be CANDY CANDY CANDY! But she’s not even 2 years old yet and there’s just no need for that yet in her life.

The treats we will fill her eggs with:

All organic, non-GMO treats: Annie’s honey-flavored Bunny Grahams, Plum Organics little Cremes, HappyBaby HappyMelts (mixed berry and banana mango flavored yogurt drops).

The lalaloopsy minis are pretty small, and their separate accessories pose a choking hazard, so I’m bagging those up and saving them for her for when she’s older. The boxes say for 3 and 4 years old on those, and I’ll be playing it safe. See how small the parts are?

So for now the dolls will be discovered in eggs 😉

Yeah, I know, I’m having way too much fun 😉 But they’re only little once!

Have you started planning your little one’s Easter basket and/or outfit yet? I think I’m just overly eager, ha ha!