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Tag Archives: Easter

Quality Items to Put in Your Child’s Easter Basket

4 / 15 / 194 / 15 / 19

Quality Items to Put in Your Child s Easter Basket | Mama Papa Bubba

Oh how I love spoiling my kiddos on special occasions like Easter!  My goal is always to fill their baskets with quality items that they’ll actually USE, even if it means spending a little more or purchasing less.  Their baskets vary year-to-year of course, but usually include three types of things…  Books to read, supplies to create with, and open-ended toys to play with.  I also love using holidays like Easter to add to their most loved collections (things like their LEGO, animal figurine, musical instrument, and Maileg mice collections).

You’ll find all of my recommendations in the ‘Easter Basket Goodies’ section of my amazon shop, but in case it’s easier in list form, here are some of my favourite quality items to put in your child’s easter basket…

Books to Include in Your Child s Easter Basket{this post contains affiliate links}

Books for Little Kids

Pat the Bunny

Bunny Roo, I Love You

Richard Scarry’s Bunnies

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Runaway Bunny

Richard Scarry’s I Am a Bunny

Planting a Rainbow

Books for Older Kiddos

Outside Your Window 

Over and Under the Pond

A Seed is Sleepy

A Nest is Noisy

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt

Botanicum

Farm Anatomy

An Egg is Quiet

Nature Anatomy

A Butterfly is Patient

Outdoor Items to Include in Your Child s Easter Basket | Mama Papa Bubba

Things to Use Outside

Hape’s adjustable bamboo telescope 

rainbow umbrella

bamboo & metal gardening tools for kids

lemon umbrella

Melissa & Doug Magnifying Glass

Pustefix bubble solution with wand (seriously the BEST bubble solution)

egg-shaped sidewalk chalk

Green Toys Gardening Kit

Creative Supplies to Include in Your Child s Easter Basket copy | Mama Papa Bubba

Creative Supplies

Do A Dot Art! Ultra Bright Shimmer washable markers (like bingo dabbers, but washable!)

Set of 23 thin rainbow coloured washi tapes

MT pastel washi tape set

Lyra Colour-Giants Skin Tone coloured pencils (the quality and colour range of these is lovely)

Play-Doh Spring Eggs Easter pack

Crayola Silly Putty Eggs

Melissa & Dough Farm Puffy Sticker Play Set

Crayola egg-shaped crayons

Usborne Easter sticker book

Elmer’s translucent colour glue

Only pastel markers

Toys to Include in Your Child s Easter Basket | Mama Papa Bubba

Toys

Green Toys’ mini race car in pink

Ezri Wooden Vegetables

Wood Eats!  slicing veggies play set

Jellycat Stuffed Bunny

Pastel PLUS PLUS building toy set

Janod fruits & veggie basket

Grimm’s Pastel Wooden Doll set

Grimm’s Pastel Rainbow Forest Set

Grimm’s pastel tree slices building blocks

Grimm’s large pastel stacking tower

Grimm’s blue & green wooden wobbling stacker

Plan Toys pastel car

Musical Instruments to Include in Your Child s Easter Basket | Mama Papa Bubba

Musical Instruments

Shumee Organic Wooden Egg Shakers

HABA musical eggs

PHEVOS porcelain bird water whistles

Homi Baby organic wood baby rattle

MVPower kid’s xylophone

TSLIKANDO natural wooden shaker eggs

Lightwish metal hand bells for kids

Collectables to Include in Your Child s Easter Basket | Mama Papa Bubba

Collectables

Maileg Ballerina Mouse

Baby Maileg Mouse in Carrycot

Little Sister Maileg Mouse

Baby Brother Maileg Mouse

Racer Dad Maileg Mouse

Wooden Holztiger Goose

Wooden Holztiger Chick

Wooden Holztiger Hen

Wooden Holztiger Pig

Wooden Holztiger Bunny

Wooden Holztiger Calf

Wooden Holztiger Rooster

Wooden Holztiger Rabbit Eating a Carrot

Wooden Holztiger Duck

Wooden Holztiger Sheep

Schleich Chick figure

Schleich Drake figure

Schleich Lamb figure

Schleich sheep figure

Schleich hen figure

Schleich black and white calf

Schleich brown and white calf figure

Schleich goose

Schleich mama pig figure

Schleich farm world figure set

Schleich farm animal set

Mini Brown & White Bunny Finger Puppet

Folkmais mini jack rabbit finger puppet

Folkmanis mini duckling finger puppet

Folkmanis mini monarch butterfly finger puppet

Folkmanis mini chick finger puppet

Folkmanis mini lop tarred bunny finger puppet

LEGO BrickHeadz easter bunny

LEGO easter egg hunt building kit

LEGO easter chick

Alright, there you have it…  My recommendations for quality items to put in your child’s Easter basket.  Ooh – and don’t forget a couple of sweet treats of course!

For creative plastic egg fillers, pop over to my CBC Parents post, 10 Awesome Non-Candy Easter Egg Fillers Your Kids Will Actually Use.

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Easter Weekend {2018}

4 / 7 / 184 / 15 / 18

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Oh Easter long weekend, how I adore you.  Also?  I sort of love that spring break ran straight into Easter weekend this year. Between 4 days in Palm Springs with my girlfriends, a week in Vancouver with our little fam jam, and a low key long weekend of Easter fun at home, I feel like definitely made the most of our break.

Good Friday was a travel day for us, so Saturday morning the kids and I hit the ground running and went out first thing to get groceries and pick up a helmet for Sam while Brad slept in.  When Sam went down for his nap, Grae, Brad, and I got started on setting up our trampoline after having stored it in pieces for the winter.  It was a big job and Brad and I nearly gave up at one point, but we ended up getting it put together in about 3 and half hours, which is two hours less than what it took the Springfree guy when we first got it, so yay us for sticking it out!

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On Sunday morning we woke up to snow {yes, in April!} so instead of crying and packing the kids into the car and immediately heading back to Vancouver {I kid… sort of ;)}, I mixed up some pancake batter, I pulled out my griddle, and put together these little bunnies for a late breakfast.  Sam dove in immediately and had his first ever taste of dark chocolate {not sure why I didn’t replace his chocolate chips with raisins, but what’s done is done – hah!} while Miss G admired her bunny and ensured we could make another if she ate the first.

{this post contains affiliate links}

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After breakfast we got to some egg decorating, which was a total blast.  We’ve done all sorts of decorating methods over the years {silk dyeing, fruit and veggie dyeing, marbled shaving foam dyeing, good old wax resist dip dyeing…} and this year we decided to try volcano dyeing – a fun, science-y twist on egg dyeing!

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You can get all of the details over on Toddler Approved, but basically you create baking soda-based paints, paint your egg with them, let it sit for a minute…

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And then give your egg a vinegar bath which creates a super fun, fizzy reaction.

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We didn’t follow the instructions exactly and chose to swap out the food colouring for washable liquid watercolours {CAN}…

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But I think our eggs still turned out just beautifully!

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After Sam’s nap, the kids got dressed in their little matchy-matchy overalls and fox socks {CAN}, which pretty much was the cutest thing ever.

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{For the record, I will dress them in coordinating clothes forever and ever so long as they let me.}

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With matching outfits on and baskets in hand, we headed out into our {very brown, very in need of attention} backyard for an egg hunt.

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This year we did the same thing as we did last year and had Sam search for blue and green eggs and Miss G hunt for pink and yellow ones.

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I love this method because a) at this point, Sam’s eggs and Grae’s eggs are filled with very different things and b) because it allows Sam’s eggs to be fairly easy to spot and Graes eggs much harder to find.

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The best part?  How into it Sam was this year!  Last year he found a few eggs, discovered they had raisins in them, and it was game over.  He quit searching and began eating. This year he was a total egg hunting rockstar.

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As was Miss G, of course.  Despite some of her eggs being in super tricky spots, I think she finished off the day missing just 2 of her 30 something eggs.

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When they were mostly all found, it was time to find out what was inside, which was so much fun.  Both kiddos found treats, stickers, animal figurines, egg-shaped sidewalk chalk, and finger puppets for our collection, and Sam had little ankle socks, a vehicle-themed threading set broken up over several eggs, and a small toy fire engine in his.

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Miss G had sticky notes, stamps, and loads of different type of hair ties in hers.

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For a late lunch I decided to make something I often make on the weekends – a family snack platter.  As usual, it included loads of fruits, veggies, and nuts, but I decided to make it a little more Easter-y just for fun.

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I whipped up a chocolate peanut butter spread with natural peanut butter, cocoa, and pure maple syrup to put on little multigrain baguette rounds, I included some of the eggs we’d dyed, plus Love Ducks and bunny crackers, and cut pineapple, cantaloupe, and tofu into fun spring shapes using cookie cutters. I finished the whole thing off with just a few dark chocolate covered cashews and then it was time to eat!

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Needless to say, Sam loved it…

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As did Grae.  In fact, I’m pretty sure she ate all four purple hardboiled eggs.

A post shared by Jen Kossowan (@mamapapabubba) on Apr 1, 2018 at 11:13pm PDT

I don’t have anymore real camera photos to show for the remainder of the day, but it was basically spent out on the freshly set-up trampoline and then it was into our usual eggy bath at the end of the day.  Plastic eggs, a couple of scoops, and a bin or bowl that will float on the water are always a hit!

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Early Monday morning we kicked off our annual Easter basket scavenger hunt, which is always so much fun but was even better this year because Sam was old enough to really participate. I sometimes go a little bit overboard with Easter baskets because a) I’m a bit of a squirreller and by the time Easter rolls around I’ve often collected more than I intended to and b) because we’re not really people who buy things for our kids other than on special holidays and occasions, so I can happily justify it.  Also, I just love spoiling my kids a few times a year. :)

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Our kiddos were up with the birds as usual, but we managed to hold off the scavenger hunt until 7 a.m. until they could wait no longer.

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The last couple of years Brad has come up with rhyming clues and I’ve written them out onto little card stock eggs or bunnies, but this year we went the lazy route and printed off these pre-made scavenger hunt clues and they were perfect!

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They took the kiddos all around the house until they finally found their baskets in our laundry room on top of the dryer!

Here’s a peek at what was in them this year:

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First up, a close up look at what was inside little Sam’s basket {oh, how I looooove putting together Easter baskets}…

  • a little tee and shorts for spring
  • a Hugo & Debra Naturals coconut bath bomb {CAN}
  • Make It Grow by Debbie Powell {CAN}
  • a metal kazoo to add to our collection of musical instruments {CAN}
  • a Constructive Eating utensil set {CAN}
  • a few Holtztiger animals to add to his collection {CAN}
  • some Annie’s Homegrown snack mix
  • The Little Rabbit Who Lost her Hop by Jedda Robaard {CAN}
  • Stabilo’s Woody 3-in-1 crayons (these are amazing and can be used on windows too!) {CAN}
  • a little garden rake
  • Bilberry fruit snacks from Ikea
  • a red truck he fell in love with while visiting Dilly Dally Kids
  • a packet of AuraCacia Calming Foam Bath {CAN}

I’ve provided Amazon links above because I know it’s easy for most people to order from, but I picked up the majority of these items from our very favourite kids store in Vancouver, Dilly Dally Kids {you don’t even know how happy I was that we were in Vancouver just before Easter!} If you can ever pop in and check it out, I highly recommend you do.  Their shelves are stocked full of very carefully curated kids’ items and books and sometimes I feel like whomever does their ordering is inside my head because their store is pretty much a collection of all of my favourite brands, books, and toys.  I picked up the bath products at Nature’s Fare, the fruit snacks while at Ikea obviously, the little outfit and snack mix from Target while I was in Palm Springs, and the Stabilo crayons from Collage Collage {our favourite Vancouver kids’ art studio}.

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Next up, Miss G’s basket…

  • Draw, Colour, & Sticker Nature Sketchbook {CAN}
  • a Papo unicorn {CAN}
  • a slide whistle to add to our musical instrument collection {CAN}
  • a sweet little ruffle sleeved romper
  • a Hugo & Debra Naturals coconut bath bomb {CAN}
  • strawberry fruit snacks from Ikea
  • Pür bubble gum (the girl is gum obsessed) {CAN}
  • a small garden shovel
  • a few little Scheich animal figurines to add to our collection {CAN}
  • a Denman Island dark chocolate bunny
  • a packet of AuraCacia Cheering Foam Bath {CAN}
  • a Spirograph set (best fun ever!) {CAN}
  • Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman {CAN}

Again, I found most all of this at Dilly Dally Kids while we were visiting Vancouver, but the romper is from Target, the fruit snacks are from Ikea, the gum is from Winners, and the bath things and chocolate bunny are from Nature’s Fare.

Easter 2018

The kiddos enjoyed their Easter basket goodies for a good couple of hours while Brad brought our car into the shop {yes, on Easter Monday!} and I very leisurely made an Easter brunch of wholewheat cinnamon buns, egg and potato bake, tofu scramble, and berries before we all sat down together and enjoyed it.

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The rest of the day was spent outside in the sunshine jumping on the trampoline, getting some yard work done, and doing a spring texture hunt as a family.

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{Aren’t these sweet?  You can get both free printables here.}

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Until next year, Easter weekend…

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Easter Weekend {2017}

4 / 27 / 172 / 3 / 18

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I’ve been pretty terrible at sharing day-to-day life sorts of things recently…  When I do actually find the time blog, I seem to share mostly kids’ activities, which means that all of the fun milestones, monthly Sam updates, and birthday celebrations get to continue their stay in my drafts folder. :/  The thing is, when I go back and look through the now thousands of posts on my site, it’s the more personal posts that I love best.  The ones that tell about our decision to move back to Kuwait or how Miss G puked all over me while riding the metro home from the Eiffel Tower or how we told Grae she was going to be a big sister or about finally bringing Sam home.  And so, my effort to share more of our personal family life begins once again…  with our recent Easter weekend. {And gosh, was it ever a good one.}

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Easter Egg Hunt Sensory Bin

4 / 12 / 174 / 12 / 17

Easter Egg Hunt Sensory Bin | Mama Papa Bubba

With this upcoming Easter being the first that Sam will actually get to participate in the festivities, I figured we’d better give him a chance to practice his egg hunting skills if he’s to stand a chance against his quick and experienced big sister.  Well, that or we had 45 minutes to kill between arriving home from a day of errands and picking up Grae from school and the Easter stuff just happened to out begging to be played with. :)  Either way, Sam has absolutely been loving our collection of little plastic Easter eggs and this Easter egg hunt sensory bin was a total hit.  

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Our Easter {2016}

3 / 27 / 164 / 3 / 16

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I’ve always loved making holidays special for Miss G, but my goodness…  Now that we have two??  It’s most definitely double the fun. {At least!} This was our sweet little Sam’s very first Easter, and though it was a super low-key, rainy day with just the four of us, it was perfect.

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Happy Easter!

3 / 27 / 164 / 3 / 16

Easter 2016 | Mama Papa Bubba

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Easter Basket Goodies for Grae & Sam

3 / 18 / 164 / 3 / 16

Easter Basket Goodies for Big Kid  Baby | Mama Papa Bubba

I absolutely love playing the Easter bunny, and this year, with baby bubba now here, it’s twice as much fun!  Besides the fact that I just couldn’t wait, we’ll be away for a good chunk of next week, so I figured I’d get everything picked up and ready to go this week so that I’m ready for when Easter weekend rolls around. I still have to add grass and make them look pretty, but I think we’re now pretty much good to go as far as Easter baskets are considered. ☺

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Fruit and Veggie Dyed Eggs

3 / 17 / 163 / 4 / 18

Dye Eggs With Fruit and Veggie Scraps | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

A couple of days ago, Miss G and I had the absolute pleasure of having a morning out at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. together.  Besides it genuinely being one of our favourite kid-friendly restaurants in the city {I’ve written about it several times in the past – see here and here}, while there, we got to hang out with fellow blogging friends, sample the delicious brunch menu {yum!}, and learn all about dyeing Easter eggs naturally!  Our kind of morning.  

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Clay Easter Egg Garland

3 / 11 / 163 / 18 / 16

Clay Easter Egg Garland | Mama Papa Bubba

Several weeks ago, Mr. Sam and I had our first ever crafting session together {ha!!!}  I’d whipped up a batch of our go-to homemade modelling clay to make little hand and footprint keepsakes, and when I had some leftover, I decided to cut out several egg shapes knowing that Easter would  soon be on its way.

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Our Easter {2015}

4 / 6 / 154 / 8 / 15

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With it being spring break currently, this year’s Easter fun was sort of spread out over several days to accommodate meet-ups with friends and some planned family outings.  Not that Miss G minded one bit…  I’m pretty sure she would have continued the celebration all week long if she could! ☺  

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Happy Easter from Kuwait!

4 / 5 / 154 / 7 / 15

Happy Easter

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An Easter Egg Hunt With Friends

4 / 5 / 154 / 8 / 15

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Ahh… Such a great morning!  Some very good friends of ours here in Kuwait hosted an Easter egg hunt / party for the munchkins in our play school co-op and it was fantastic.  After meeting up at their house and getting a group photo of all of the munchkins {so cute!} and then one of each mom with her littles, we headed to a nearby nursery for an egg hunt.  There was grass(!), greenery(!), and a beautiful kept playground(!), and the kids had an absolute blast working as a team to find all 100 eggs left by the Easter Bunny.  After we were all sufficiently sunned and sweaty, we headed back to the house where the kids traded in their eggs for prizes and the host treated us all to a delicious brunch.  It was a wonderful morning and I’m so thankful to have our family of friends here to celebrate with while we’re away from our families back home in Canada.  {It goes without saying that it’ll be very sad to say goodbye to them come June, but I’m currently in denial about all impending goodbyes. ☹} 

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Dark Chocolate Fruit and Nut Lollies

4 / 2 / 154 / 7 / 15

Dark Chocolate Fruit and Nut Lollies | Mama Papa Bubba

This afternoon, after a lovely morning out of the house, Miss G and I got started on the first of our homemade Easter treats.  After seeing some milk chocolate lollies covered with pastel-coloured candy sprinkles while at Dean & Deluca last, I knew we could very easily make our own {healthier} version and that’s exactly what we did today…  We made dark chocolate fruit and nut lollies and  Miss G is pleased as punch about having a bowl full of these pretty little lollies sitting in our kitchen!

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Just for Fun: Easter Over the Years….

4 / 21 / 144 / 26 / 14

Because I just can’t help myself…  Her first Easter took place in Kuwait, in 2012 and 2013 we were back at home in Canada, and now here she is in 2014 sitting back in the very same apartment in Kuwait.  Funny how things turn out sometimes…

Easter Over the Years

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Happy Easter from Kuwait!

4 / 20 / 144 / 26 / 14

Happy Easter 2014 | Mama Papa Bubba

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