Smarty Spin on Easter Baskets

Oh how this Smarty L-O-V-E-S to play the Easter Bunny! Our Easter fun starts with four hand-painted wooden baskets from the Buttercup in Eastover. This is a 30-year+ Charlotte tradition and these baskets are just presh. And yes, my boys will use these until they don’t believe, which means no Easter loot! Our Easter bunny also leaves clever little bunny baking flour tracks from the door to the baskets, I’m hoping this will stretch that belief for at least another year for my almost 9-year-old!

I’m not a huge fan of loading up with candy and chocolate. Sugar + JenP’s kids = Tazmanian devils! So we limit our sweet treats to Peeps, a sprinkle of jelly beans and Reese’s eggs. For the rest of the basket, I like to include stuff that I’m already planning to buy for spring/summer such as goggles, new sunglasses and we always, always have a new book. Here are my other fun picks:


OK, we all know the obvious trendy silly bandz, will be especially fun coming from the Easter bunny. Locally, Alphabet Soup, Toys & Co, and even Walgreen’s has them. And let’s not forget about Snap Caps and Hot Tops, which will dress up any little Smarty’s basket.



Showing off our Easter bunny’s Florida flare, we always get new flip flops in our baskets. My faves include Havaianas Love flips for $18 and jeweled flips for $39 for girls. These sporty camo flips for $14.75 are perfect for the dudes. Nordstrom has a good local selection of Havaianas, although I don’t think they have all of these styles.

Moving along with my practical ideas, my kids coming from a uniform school could always jazz up their outfits with a new belt. My favorite belt lines are Vineyard Vines for boys and Eliza B for girls, locally available at Fancy Pants in Myers Park.

Our friends at Alphabet Soup always have the most fun selection of gift ideas. Top of my basket list for baby Smarties include mono’d bloomers and mono’d Sleepyhead Bunnies by North American Bear for $34. I also noticed that they have my kindergartner’s favorite “bloomer” shorts , Monkeybar Buddies, on sale for $12.99 with limited sizes. Fancy Pants also has a great selection. Alphabet Soup also has these highly popular and presh Easter shirts for just $29.

For the girly-girls, you can always stock up on American Girl doll accessories, although these can get expensive. I recently fell in love with a Charleston vendor, Remily’s, who makes custom appliqued doll outfits for just $16. How adorable are these?

For the tweens, girls always need more shoes, peep this new Smarty trend, Twinkle Toes by Sketchers. Also consider new earrings for those newly pierced ears. For the tween boys and girls alike, iTunes gift cards are always a hit and you can just grab these in your grocery or Target checkout lines.

So think outside of the box, Smarties, and let’s make our dentists proud – you know they cringe at Halloween and Easter candy stash! Please share your ideas and cool finds around town!