How about a cute easter or spring related book? Then a little stuffed animal or toy that relates to something in the book. Building a book collection for kids is a wonderful thing to do.

Another tradition would be to buy them a new spring coat or jacket each year. When they are little you could include a small toy, as they get older a plastic egg with some money or a gift card. Kids love those.

Les, their mom's a teacher and there are sooo many books I'm afraid to get one for fear they already have it! lol

Here in OK. it will be getting warm around Easter.

I do like the egg idea as they get older.

Look at this website, adorable stuff!

Here is a link that might be useful: Easter Baskets

I have 8 grands and they get a basket from us (grandparents) and then they get to hunt outside (inside in bad weather) for the eggs the Easterbunny leaves.

I like to give books and always check with their mothers to make sure they don't have the ones I'm getting and they, too, have many, but they get read to nightly and they remember who gave them each book and also love books. If you go that route one to look at for the 2 1/2 yr old is "The Golden Egg" by A.J. Wood. It has lots of wonderful colored eggs and lift flaps and is just a really neat book.

We have also given toys and little stuffed bunnies and chicks. Spring toys are great like sidewalk chalk or bubbles (gymboree makes the best bubbles).

As you can tell, I get really excited about grandkids and holidays!! Hope you have fun.

I love the idea of bubbles! And the flap book. Henry's just old enough to do the bubbles. And sidewalk chalk!

Thanks!

I ordered The Golden Egg (with flaps) from Barnes and Noble. I couldn't believe Amazon didn't sell it except for used books. There was another book by the same name which was tempting, but I like the flaps on this one. Both books got great reviews!

I'm not big on candy for kids. My kids always got other things in the basket; the candy was a filler. There are lots of things to fill baskets with- I used to go to BJ's Wholesale & buy the cotton T-shirt material PJ's; my daughter collects monkey's; not any monkey; they were beanie & Gund. I usually did a Barbie for my daughter; while my son got a train/plane toy. Coloring books; crayons in a special tin; new juice cup. For my friends little guy (3) I got him Toy Story juices; a new Thomas the Tank train set from Target. I've also done books; toy cell phone; new outfit; Pez. As was mentioned bubbles; at his age it's usually the parent that holds it.

I'm not big on stuffed animals unless they are meaningful. My daughter still has her original Tigger from her Godmother.

I would do stickers instead of candy. My 2 year old loves them. Especially the ones that come with a back ground and you place them like in an art project. Great practice ofr fine motor skills too. Color book and crayons would be a hit in our house. Books are always a hit. Clothes is appreciated by me as a parent. Sometimes appreciated by my daughter too, but not always at the moment she gets it.

I'm with Polly on wishing the kid wouldn't get candy. My in-laws have been good so far and honored that. I figure there will be plenty of times for them to eat candy as they get older. No need to introduce it at this age.

My children in the mid 40s still remember the Easter Egg hunt grandma always put together. Even when they knew darn well where she hid them. Forever memories.

I'm going to give H a little chocolate bunny is all. His mom and dad are very good at not keeping any sweets in the house at ALL. Except healthy snacks.

I have a question. Last night I ordered my 6mo. old granddaughter a summer outfit, one to crawl around in.

That's when it dawned on me she needs diaper covers/bloomers to go with her summer tee shirts. I mean, she IS a lady and all. :)

I was floored at their price! The cheapest I found was about $12 each!

Seriously, is there a store that sells plain old diaper covers in white or pink at lower prices? I want to get some with ruffles but those are in the $20 range. Wow!

Me too emagineer!! We always had an egg hunt at my grandparents - and usually my out-of-town cousins were here also. Those are my memories of Easter - that and the pictures of us kids in our Easter outfits! I would focus more on the day and it's meaning to your family (for us it has strong religous meaning)and plan a special events (such as an egg hunt) rather than gifts. You can put small gifts into the eggs. We ALWAYS had a golden egg that had the best prize (usually $5 LOL). Lovely memories of easter lunch and then the egg hunt.

tina

Ditto to emagineer and tina! my 40+ kids still cherish memories of grandma"s house and cousins and the egg hunt that went on all day----grandma would rehide and they loved it. In those days it was real eggs. today we do the same thing, but use the plastic eggs with little surprises inside. It may be a few coins, stickers, tatoos, etc. Its the thrill of the hunt!

We'll definitely do the egg hunt. We always hosted Easter here and since we live on an acre with a lot of trees, it was a lot of fun! The funniest part was when the kids hid them from the adults.

I was thinking about the "no candy" thing when kids are small. My mom never kept any sweets in the house the whole time I grew up, excluding the occassional pound cake or banana pudding. I wonder if that's why I crave sweets to this day? My boys always had cookies and stuff, and now that they're older, they don't really have a sweet tooth.

One year for my GD I filled a large (cheap) basket with spring outdoor toys (cheap, again). Bubbles, sidewalk chalk, plastic horseshoe game, wiffle ball/bat, plastic tennis rackets with velcro and cheap balls are some examples. It is a good time to encourage outdoor play. The reason I say cheap is that in the spring and summer they need outdoor, plastic that can be left on the sidewalks, patios, and lawn. It is also a good time to get a new beachball or a colorful playground ball.

Another year I gave her a new swimsuit, cute flip-flops, and a new pair of shorts - gotta get a girl's summer wardrobe started!

I wouldn't spend a lot on a 6 month old - perhaps a new stuffed animal or a ball small enough that she can hold. Or a new sundress! Or a little basket filled with hairbows, ribbons, and a cute pair of summer sandals.

Have a good supply of plastic eggs on hand to hide in the house in case of rain. You don't want to lose a real egg in the house (peww). My mother cared for my son when he was young and his favorite memory of Mamaw is that they hid plastic Easter Eggs in the house the entire week before Easter. She was so patient!

Tuesday

oaklyok

I am a teacher also and books are my go to gifts anytime of year. My one grandson has so many books I think he could open up his own town library.

Here's a suggestion. My daughter keeps a spread sheet of all the books he owns. If I buy any I add to it. This way I don't have to remember what I already got him.

Also, after the holidays BN has them half off and I buy for the following year.

The suggestions of bubbles, stickers ,sidewalk chalk is good. Also some pool toys or sandpails.
Have fun with it.

We really never got a "gift" per se, our Easter outfits were considered our gift as I remember.

But, as a kid, I do remember Easter candy, and it was a treat and made good memories! Interestingly, none of us siblings are big candy eaters, but we were never deprived of it either. I know kids that are, and they go totally crazy when they do get it! But, I am sure it works both ways.

denali, I love the idea of a spread sheet! I'll tell my DIL about it.

Or you could just enter the books on Librarything.com. It's still free for the first 200 books, I think. After that it's still cheap, even a life-time, unlimited-use, account costs just $25. Imagine growing up with a list of every book you had, and getting old enough to start adding your own book choices.

The neat thing is it can be either open to the public (but with no names of course) or entirely private. If your daughter enters the books they have or add, and you enter the books that are coming, then everybody can avoid duplication. And there's even a portable app thingy for use when checking the list by cellphone whilst standing in the aisle at Barnes and Noble.

I love my LibraryThing account!

Here's a link:

Here is a link that might be useful: Library Thing on-line personal book cataloguing site

The book, "The Golden Egg" by A.J. Wood (there is another book with the same title written by someone else) came in yesterday, and I know Henry will just love it! The story is easy to understand and short, beautiful illustrations & the colored eggs inside all look like jewels and they change colors when you move the book. I may keep it for myself. :)

oakleyok:It is a neat book..glad you like it!

liriodendron: also glad to learn about the Library Thing account..sounds like an easier method for me to keep track of book presents. Thanks!