Gifting an Easter Basket… A Kindness Project for Littles (And a Whole Foods Market Giveaway!)

In this post I’m going to talk about how you can help your children learn to think of others during holidays, particularly Easter, by letting them make an Easter basket for another person, not just waiting for their own full of candy! This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Whole Foods Market. All opinions are 100% mine.

Two weeks ago I had a shocking realization.

A realization no mother wants to make.

A tough one.

I realized that my kids were not used to thinking of others, and they were beginning to at very spoiled. 

I was in denial at first. I blamed it on human nature, their immaturity, and all manner of things. Until I had to admit… they wanted to get exactly what they wanted when they wanted it. They simply were not used to accommodating others.

I have an idea how this happened and as part of my 3 step approach to un-spoiling the kids (more on that later) I am teaching them to think of others. As part of this approach, for Easter, I wanted them to pack an Easter basket full of goodies and give it away.

To someone else.

Instead of thinking about getting a basket full of chocolate and how many eggs they will catch, I want them to think about how to bless another family.

Gifting an Easter Basket

Here is how we’ve gone about creating an Easter basket for another family that’s near and dear to our hearts.

Choose a Friend

As you may already be aware, April is Autism Awareness month. A family we love very much has an Autistic son and, as it happens, he’s on a gluten and dairy free diet. When we were choosing which child (or children) to give an Easter basket too, we chose this particular family. They’re our neighbors, friends, and we thought gifting them a basket would be a double whammy… a gift for Easter as well as a show of our support for the particular journey they are on.

If you want your children to learn and think of others, ask them who you could bless this Easter. Who knows what type of answer you may get, but go with it. The more children are involved in making decisions about something the more they’ll own it. It could be a school friend, church member, neighbor, or even a stranger!

Let the Kids Fill It

Because our friend’s son is gluten free, we decided to make sure everything we put in the basket he could eat. At Whole Foods Market there are a significant number of items that are gluten free, even the goodies you’d normally need to steer clear of, so we selected the ones that looked good to the kids.

We went to Whole Foods Market after a long day at the beach so the kids were fairly wild and excited to walk around inspecting everything and choosing what to put in the basket.

Everyone wanted to hold the basket, of course, so after a few minor scuffles my husband took the boys ahead and my daughter and I completed the selections. She’s at the age where she can read and I had fun listening to her reading the labels.

You may notice her foot stomp in reaction to her brothers’ unwillingness to do what she said. I’m not saying she’s bossy. I’m not saying she’s not.

Give With Love

Instead of letting your children wake up on Easter with a table full of stuff for them, have them think of others. Let them write a special card, or color it if they don’t write. Have them give mothers in the church flowers on Easter. Let them think about others, not only what they’ll “get.”

You can drop it off anonymously or let your child deliver it. I don’t think it matters here, but the idea is that instead of teaching our children every holiday is a way for THEM to receive presents, we view holidays as ways we can think of and love others.