21 Ideas for Baby Boy's First Easter Basket

Welcome! Make sure to check out my NEWEST Easter Basket post:

105 Ideas for an EPIC Toddler Easter Basket!

Growing up, we had an Easter tradition that I looked forward to every year. The Easter Bunny would hide our baskets, and my brothers and I would scour the house looking for them. We knew which basket was ours because we had special baskets made for us when we were babies, and we used the same basket every year! I remember hoping that I found my brothers' baskets before they did, just so I would be able to watch if they were getting close to theirs while I looked for mine… like two games in one. Of course, the rule was that if we found another basket first, we had to put on our best pretend faces and act like we hadn't seen anything.

Well we officially have our first baby and this is one tradition I want to carry on! This year, Daddy will obviously be helping Beckett look for his Easter basket. I think I'm just as thrilled to impress & surprise Brian as I am Beckett! :) I've been brainstorming ideas for Beckett's first basket for over a month now. Below I've shared all of the items Beckett will find in his basket(*), along with other items I considered.

I hope you have as much fun assembling your basket as I did mine!

1. An AWESOME basket!*
Obviously, you're going to need a basket for your Easter basket. I made this one by using a cardboard box and creating my own cover for it! There are a billion mistakes because A) until recently I didn't sew. And B) This is only my SECOND project on an embroider machine and before the first I had never even SEEN one in action! So… I decided to just OWN this pitiful, sweet attempt at making something sentimental for my baby boy! ;)

2. Stuffed Toy: Something Easter themed, or something unique!
I liked {This Tutorial} of a ridiculously cute stuffed octopus! You could even use old baby clothes.

3. Books!*
I go crazy over books. My favorite places to buy them are Marshalls, Ross, and TJMaxx. I definitely got too many this go around. (14 total!) As always, I made sure to buy a couple specific for the holiday. These two I found at Walmart (or just click and order through Amazon!).

4. Sunglasses*
We plan on hitting the pool this summer. I thought these were seasonable appropriate, practical, and CUTE!

5. Sunscreen*
For the pool. :)

6. Binkies/Pacifiers
Easy & Practical.

7. A receiving blanket*
This one is homemade. I just chose a pattern I loved out of the baby flannel section. This is an easy project. Just cut a square and stitch the edges. This one is 42X42.  I like making them myself because then they are extra big! We use these a lot in our house.

8. Bubbles*
All babies love bubbles! And they're a perfect spring time activity.

9. Fresh Food Feeder*
A friend recommended filling these with frozen veggies to help with teething. BRILLIANT! (Check them out here on Amazon!)

10. A Pin Wheel
Simple, fun, & seasonal.

11. A DVD*
We went with Veggie Tales Easter! (Check it out here on Amazon).

12. Toy truck
Because every boy needs one.

13. Teething Ring, Teething tablets, Orajel, etc.
Practical!

14. Taggy Toy
Taggy toys are all the rage! Buy one or make one. There are a TON of {Ideas on Pinterest}. Or just order one on Amazon. There are a ton of cute options here.

15. Plastic Easter Eggs*
The small ones are definitely fun to play with, so I put a few empty ones in Beckett's basket. I considered putting cash in one for his ESA, but decided against it.

Of course, the traditional sized eggs are not big enough to hold anything that's not an infant choking hazard (other than food). However, these beasts definitely are! I've seen these handy dandy eggs at Walmart and Walgreens. I happened to use this one to mail an Easter treat to my nephew.

16. Sippy Cups, Kids Plates, or Utensils
Right now there are Easter themed items everywhere! My sister in law found these at Walgreens.

17. Bath Toys or Rubber Ducky
Cute, practical, springy!

18. Bunny Headband
Buy one or make your own! I made {this one} for my Easter card, so it was a little more boy friendly :) Side note: This particular project was a total Pinterest FAIL for me! We literally had to duct tape the ears to his head to get them to stay up for pictures!!

19. Clothes!
Onesies, Rompers, T-Shirts, etc. All more fun if they are personalized!

20. A Hat
You're going to need them for summer anyway!

21. Baby's First Bible*
What a perfect occasion to give such a sweet and sentimental gift! We chose this one. It's a board book and happens to have Joseph on the front (Beckett's first name is Joseph).

And that's 21!

Since this post, I've doubled in the number of kiddos I have and they're at the toddler & preschool age now! I just did an even more elaborate post with a TON of great ideas for littles in that age range. A LOT of the ideas are great for any age range, so make sure to check it out!

DIY Personalized Yoga Mat

So my newest endeavor in the adventure of recovering pre-baby body is yoga. I didn't want to invest a lot in my new yoga mat, but wanted it to be unique, so I did a little pinteresting for ideas and happened upon {this sassy friend}. I thought if she could paint her yoga mat, so could I! Of course, I went with something much simpler. So without further ado:

Here's how I got this look.

Materials:
Paint {The Sassy Life used acrylic. I used leftover wall paint from my playroom makeover. [Reveal coming soon]}
Brushes
Black Sharpie
Baby Wipe
Ruler
Yoga Mat {This is the $8 one from Walmart}
Pen, marker, chalk, or pencil

Step 1:
I used a pen and sketched out my initials by hand. I used a piece of paper (in place of a ruler) and the gridlines on the mat to make sure my letters were equal in height, width, and thickness. In this picture you'll notice that the circle in my D is WAAAY too small. I thought my pen would rub off with a baby wipe but IT DID NOT. I recommend using a washable marker. I think it would come off easier.

If you're not confident in your letter sketching skills, you can print letters REALLY BIG on the computer, cut them out, and use them as a stencil.



Step 2:
Fill in your letters with your base color. Unfortunately, I went ahead and painted my D even though it was a hot mess. 

Once I realized it, I knew I had to fix it. Luckily, I had pink paint from my playroom that was the EXACT COLOR of my mat! So at this point I went back and made my D better and colored over any stray pen marks. This is when you would whip out that baby wipe to brush off the washable marker.

It took me a couple of coats to get the paint to cover the texture of the mat. I used a blow dryer in between coats… mostly because I'm impatient.

Step 3:

I used a thinner brush, and white paint to create a "shadow" or trim along the right edges of the letters. At this point, I also used that baby wipe, wrapped around my nail, to clean up any spots that weren't quite straight or were too thick.

Step 4:

I used a black sharpie to trim the left edge of the letters. 

And voila! CUTEST. MAT. IN THE CLASS! ;)

The Sassy Life tutorial suggests covering the paint in mogde podge. I have some on hand, but decided I was pleased with the paint as is and would try it out without the modge podge. It is flexible and isn't cracking (yet), but I will make sure to update if I start to have problems! :) 

Have fun!