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If you look forward to giving Easter baskets to your children each year but don't enjoy the high price of expensive pre-made baskets, here are some simple ideas for saving money on this fun holiday tradition. Like anything else you buy, it helps to set a spending limit -- maybe $5 per Easter basket. Then have fun being creative and trying to keep within your basket budget. Our family usually reserves Easter baskets and Easter Egg Hunts for the Saturday just before Easter -- saving Sunday for church and family celebrations. I try to shop for Easter basket fillers in advance (I use the same principle for Christmas stocking stuffers, too). You can keep a basket in the corner of a closet for storing these types of items found throughout the year. Keep an eye out for small games and toys in clearance bins at the grocery store, at dollar stores, and during any stops to thrift stores or yard sales. In the days immediately following Halloween, bags of candy often go on sale for half price (or less), so I'll sometimes purchase several bags of family favorites and stick them in the freezer. Frozen candy will keep quite nicely until Easter. Small, fun items that you'll probably need to purchase for your children during the course of the year can be saved to include in their Easter baskets: crayons, felt pens, glue stick, glitter glue, novelty toothbrushes, fun-flavored toothpastes, hair ribbons, barrettes, a new hair brush, bubble bath in fun containers. Ideas for the Basket Itself:
Filling ideas:
Happy Spring! Deborah Taylor-Hough (free-lance writer, wife and mother of three) is the author of "A Simple Choice: A Practical Guide to Saving Your Time, Money and Sanity" and the bestselling book "Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month" (Champion Press). She also edits the Bright-Kids e-zine -- simple and fun educational ideas for families. To subscribe, send an email to: join-bright-kids@ hub.thedollarstretcher.com. You can visit Debi online at: http://members.aol.com/dsimple/ Copyright Deborah Taylor-Hough Used with permission. All rights reserved. Share your thoughts about this article with the editor. Just Click Here and tell us what's on your mind. Do you have a time or money saving idea that wasn't included in this article? Please send it to tips@stretcher.com. We get the best ideas from our readers!
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