5 Tips for a Plastic-Free Easter
Last Updated March 25, 2024
Easter is coming up and like most holidays, it can bring a lot of plastic waste. Bleyer Industries, once the only American manufacturer of plastic eggs, used to make 250 million plastic eggs each year! That’s a lot of plastic eggs used for a few minutes and then thrown away. Add on the plastic grass used to fill an Easter basket and the plastic toys, the Easter Bunny brings a lot of plastic waste. Luckily, there are many options for those who want to celebrate Easter without all the plastic.
Choose a Reusable Basket
Let’s start with the basket. It’s tempting to buy a brand new cheap basket every year but it’s also very wasteful. Instead, find a higher quality basket that can be reused and re-loved each year. You can find secondhand wicker, bamboo or wood baskets at your local thrift shops. Or you can find new ones at your local crafts store or even big box store.
Cloth baskets are another great reusable option.
For the younger children, stuffed animal baskets are adorable and soft for the accident prone toddlers.
Finally, metal buckets are a practical option that can be reused for other purposes. Over the years, my kids have received several of these small metal buckets during Easter or Halloween. We use them to store pens and markers or to store cooking utensils in their play kitchen.
You can also choose a larger-sized metal bucket that can be repurposed into a bucket for mopping or for an ice bucket to hold drinks. Whatever basket you choose, go for reusable. Think about how it can have a life after Easter. Can it be repurposed into something that can be used all year round? Or at the very least, can it be used for many Easters to come?
Skip the Grass or Use Paper
When filling an Easter basket, skip the stringy plastic grass. Honestly, what child has ever said “Ooo! Plastic grass!”? Things like plastic grass are a “nice” filler but it’s a waste of money, the kids don’t care, and it’s more plastic waste!
If you’re a designer who is all about the details and can’t stand the idea of having a basket without grass, then choose paper grass. In the gift wrapping section of a major box store, they usually have paper filler that’s made to be added to gift bags. This is a better option than plastic grass. Or even better, you can make grass with construction paper or even junk mail!
Get Creative When Filling the Basket
Walk down the Easter aisle of any big box store and you’ll find loads of plastic-wrapped candy and cheap plastic toys that will be played with for a day and then forgotten about.
When filling an Easter basket, think about quality instead of quantity. Think about how often quantity and choice paralysis (like what to eat for dinner) affect adults. It’s even worse for kids! So, instead of filling their basket to the brim with lots of stuff, choose a few quality items or maybe even just one quality item.
Start by thinking a little outside of the box. My daughter loves rabbits, so Easter is pretty awesome for her. A few Easters ago, I bought her this little rabbit-shaped planter and surprised her with it after school. She LOVED it! It’s a cute plant that she kept in her room and enjoyed well beyond Easter.
If you can think of something special your child will enjoy that is made from metal, wood, glass, or will naturally decay, go with that. You don’t have to follow the traditional “rules” of an Easter basket.
For those who want a more traditional Easter basket, instead of buying bags full of chocolate and jelly beans, choose a foil wrapped or boxed chocolate bunny. Just make sure the boxed bunnies aren’t sitting in a plastic tray like this one below:
Choose something like these foil-wrapped Lindt bunnies in a cardboard caddy. I was able to find these bunnies at Target. By the way, I LOVE Lindt chocolates, it’s definitely the smoothest. 🙂
Some other plastic-free options for candy are these various types of eggs packaged in paper cartons. I found both the Reese’s Pieces Eggs and the Whopper Eggs at Target.
Also, consider making some of your own treats with your kids. My kids love decorating cookies. So, instead of store-bought treats, make some bunny and egg shaped cookies! Or how about some egg-shaped rice crispy treats or cake pops? You can wrap them in parchment paper before putting them in the basket or pop them in a tiny reusable container.
As for toys, you can follow the concepts of my plastic-free holiday gift guide by choosing toys that are made from metal or wood. But this would be a good time to mention that you don’t need to give your kids more toys during Easter. Let’s be honest, it’s just going to be more toys cluttering your house that you’ll have to pick up at the end of the day. So, unless it’s something they would absolutely love, I’m sure they’ll be stoked with some candy!
Switch Up Your Egg Hunt
Egg hunts are a ton of fun. Oftentimes, I’ll fill our reusable thick plastic eggs with cereal and hide them around the house. The kids have a blast and I occupy them for an hour. But Easter egg hunts can be incredibly wasteful too. First, there’s the number of plastic eggs made and discarded each year. Then there’s the plastic-packaged candy and plastic knick-knacks that are used to fill the eggs.
Instead of going this traditional route you can try hiding some reusable objects like reusable eggs, marbles, or even quarters. Wooden egg shakers are a great substitute since they make a little noise. For the older kids, you can hide marbles or quarters.
After the kids have found all the eggs and marbles they can trade them in for a prize or if your family is competitive, there’s a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner. This way they can get one bigger prize they are excited about instead of lots of little tiny prizes that will be forgotten about the next day.
Decorate Eggs Instead of Buying Plastic Ones
I used to love decorating eggs as a kid. We bought the basic dye kits and would either decorate boiled eggs or would hollow out eggs.
To hollow out an egg, you take a pin or needle and poke small holes in the top and bottom of the egg. Then you blow out the contents of the egg into a bowl. Afterwards you rinse out the inside as much as you can and decorate the hollow egg!
You can find these dye kits in most big box stores and they’re generally plastic-free. They probably only have a small plastic packet for the dye tablets.
What do you think? Can you use some of these tips to reduce or eliminate the extra plastic waste this Easter?
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