Stumped for Ideas? Create & Fill an Awesome Easter Basket for Teens!
Tuesday, March 22, 2016If you have a teenager, you know how difficult Easter can be. What do you put in their basket? I fill my younger daughter's basket with lots of candy, toys, and coloring items, but my teen son is too old for those. He was really too old for his colorful woven basket too. What's a mom to do? She gets crafty.
Stumped for Ideas? I brainstormed the perfect ways to help you create and fill an awesome Easter Basket for your teen (and I filled it with amazing treats like M&M's® Easter Sundae and Starburst® Jellybeans.)
You can paint your entire box if you're not crazy about the color, or maybe if your teen is into Neons. Another idea is to paint it with chalkboard paint and add colorful chalk markers as a gift in their basket.
I love the idea of using a sturdy box. When they're too old for Easter Baskets entirely, it can be used for organization in their bedroom or dorm room when they go to college. Nice decorative boxes have so many great uses!
Now for the personalization. If you've never stenciled anything before, it's incredibly easy. You can get the stencils in the same craft store, and they'll usually carry different styles of type. I chose a utilitarian type, but you can choose a script or something more whimsical.
What you'll need:
- a set of stencils
- acrylic paint in a color to contrast with your box color (Make sure it's a thicker paint. Too thin and it will run under your stencils. Look in the "art" section.)
- tape
- a paintbrush
- a paper plate
- newspaper to protect your surface
- Align the letters on your box. You can draw a baseline with a pencil to help keep them even if you need to.
- If the stencil edges overlap, mark where you want the letters, remove it, and cut the edge of the stencil. You want the stencils as flat as possible to the surface. If the edge is lifted, the paint will ooze under.
- Tape the stencils in place.
- Squeeze paint onto the paper plate and dip the brush in, but don't soak it. Too much paint will run.
- I used a cheap foam brush because I didn't want brush strokes on my letters, and gently dabbing the brush down on the open area works well. If you stroke across the stencil, you could push paint under the letter edge.
- Carefully remove the stencil while the paint is wet. Allowing it to dry could glue the stencil to the box.
- You can do one side or wait until that side is dry, flip it over, and do both sides.
Now that you have a cool Easter Basket, you need some "grass." You can use traditional Easter grass, but why do that when we're making such a custom treat? I would suggest shredded gift paper to contrast with your creation, or paper in their favorite color. You can pick this up while you're in the craft store, and it's usually called "gift shred" or "decorative paper shred" and you can find it with the gift bags and wrapping paper.
Now to fill our baskets! I started with snacks for those late-night homework sessions. Some great snacks to include are:
- popcorn
- chips
- pretzels
- snack mix
- trail mix
- jerky
- dried fruit
- or whatever else they love to snack on!
You can keep these in their original packaging or you can repackage them (if giving immediately) in clear bags to show off the contents.
I wanted to add in some gift cards for fun activities. What do teens love? Music and movies! At least these are my son's favorites, so I included iTunes and Malco gift cards. Choose an activity that your teen loves most and get a related gift card. Are they saving up for a guitar? Get them that much closer with a gift card to a music store. Some other gift card ideas for your teen:
- restaurants
- craft stores
- sports equipment retailers
- clothing stores
- music stores
And lastly, you can't forget the main attraction in any Easter Basket: candy! Chances are, your teen has not outgrown this gift. For my teen, I picked up:
- M&M’s® Easter Sundae
- Starburst® Strawberry Jellybeans
- DOVE® Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny
- Hubba Bubba® Bubble Tape
- Skittles® Egg
- Skittles® Tube
- and a bag of Easter Mixed Chocolates (included SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY®, 3 Musketeers®)
I also picked up some plastic carrots to fill with some of the candy. These are a little more unique than the traditional plastic eggs. I'll be "planting" these in a row in my basket.
Now to fill your basket! Start with the tallest items in the back and fill in as you go.
Doesn't that look like any teenager's dream Easter Basket?! It's filled with all of the things they love and the unique homemade basket is the perfect finishing touch that says you worked to make this a very special Easter for them.
For more ideas, check out My Confection Corner, a great resource for Easter basket inspiration and creative recipes; It's also where you can find all the products needed to make the perfect Easter basket.
I hope you and yours have a lovely Easter!
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Do you have a teen? Would they love a custom basket? What would you add? I love to read your comments!
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