How to Have an Easter Without Candy
Several years ago when our family first began our real food journey, we decided to skip giving our kids candy at Easter. We were just a month or so into our new way of eating and we need some time to heal our bodies and get used to our new lifestyle. Bringing candy into our home would have caused us to lose progress and might have reignited our sugar addictions. We decided it would be better for the boys to skip candy that year.
Kids Have Too Many Opportunities for Eating Sugar Around Holidays
As I became aware of the amount of sugar in our diets, I was stunned by the opportunities my children have to consume sweet treats. Sugary treats that come from grandparents, school parties, team parties, and friend parties. Sugar is unavoidable.
Early on in our real food journey I knew I didn’t want to be that mom who bans fun, but unhealthy food. (That’s why I let my kids eat junk food.) I knew my boys would have plenty of sweets in the week leading up to Easter. I wanted to show them that Easter is fun with or without candy!
How We Made Easter Fun Without Candy – A Scavenger Egg Hunt
Each year we hide plastic eggs in the front and back yard for the boys to hunt. It’s been our tradition for as long as I can remember and we have so much fun with it. However, the appeal of finding candy-filled eggs would be gone this time due to our candy-free Easter. We had to come up with something different and super-fun.
We decided to combine Easter egg hunting with a scavenger hunt. Oh boy, was it a hit! My husband and I had lots of fun coming up with the clues and the boys had a blast finding their way to the prize eggs.
Here’s how we did it:
We had the boys use teamwork to find 10-15 eggs in various hiding places inside and out of the house. Each egg contained a clue to find the next egg and clue. The final egg contained the clue to find the prize eggs. (The prizes were three gift cards to Target–they could buy anything they wanted – except candy!)
They each had a job to do for the scavenger egg hunt. Our old was 10 at the time and his job was to read the clues. Our then 8-year-old picked up the eggs when they are found and handed the clues to our 10-year-old. Our youngest, who was 6, carried the basket of found eggs.
What to Put in Easter Baskets Besides Candy
We still wanted the boys to each have an Easter basket on Easter morning, so we came up with a few fun items from the Dollar Spot and some art supplies. Even though I do give our boys some candy on Easter now that we’re established in our real food lifestyle, I try to chose candies that are free artificial colors, sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners, and other yucky ingredients.
There are so many Easter basket alternatives to candy. Check out some of my favorites below.
Easter Basket Alternatives to Candy
Here are some cute ideas from the Target Easter Basket Stuffer Collection
Easter Basket Stuffers from TargetIf you’re looking for something with a little better quality and a lot less plastic, check out these lovely Easter basket stuffer ideas from Etsy. Remember, quality over quantity is key here.
