Creating Easter Bunny Magic During a Pandemic...The Wait, It's Already Easter Edition?!

Anyone else shocked that Easter is this weekend?!

One of the husband's cousins text me over the weekend that if he forgets "Happy Easter". I literally have seen people preparing and already partaking in bunny festivities on Instagram and couldn't believe that people were celebrating it so early. When I decided to take a look at an actual calendar and imagine my surprise when I saw that Easter was this coming weekend.

In true fashion, I am both prepared and not. I have been collecting goodies for their baskets for the last two months during my short runs into Target. We tend to go with a theme, so it has stopped me from buying things for the sake of buying and filling their baskets full of nothing that they will ever use past the day or will wind up underneath the sofa. We went with a 'fun in the sun' theme and got everything related to being outdoors and playing in the Florida sunshine. This included a lot of sidewalk chalk, bubble wands, cute sun hats, pool floats, etc. All the items either came from the bullseye playground (aka the dollar spot) or Sun Squad. I adore their summer line and they come out with the cutest things. I know Sun Squad reviews are not the greatest, but I have never had a problem and I stand by them, plus the prices cannot be beat. I absolutely adore their Summer Melamine plates and THESE are what we purchased for the Commodore's 1st birthday last year sans paper plates (we did an O'hana theme since we were unable to go to our reservations ::sigh::). I am all about the Target melamine themed plates and buy all the holiday ones. Recently, they came out with THESE Easter ones. I only bought one of each and it looks like the girl bunny one is no longer on the website, so if you find it, I would grab it! They are SUPER cute!

I have talked countless times about the storage box in Commodore's closet that has a collection of goodies in it. Keep in mind, everything is kept in here from holiday basket ideas, stocking stuffers, and good day/bad day treats (sometimes a hard day requires new crayons and I am prepared). In case you were curious on what this looked like, here you go. Sidenote: I love these plastic crates. They are super durable, they are bright and summery, I love that they are kind of transparent but not completely, and in true Dana fashion, I bought several when the Bullseye released them several years ago.

I love those toddler rose-gold Minnie ears. We actually have a Primark at the Sawgrass which I am obsessed with and they always have the cutest Minnie toddler things, so obviously I bought multiples of those too. The flashcards can always be purchased from Bullseye for $1 right at the end of Summer beginning of the Fall school start and again I buy several of these. I actually keep several in my purse from when going out to dinner was a thing and if we were waiting for food or waiting on our table to be ready, these kept EV occupied and she loved them.

Since all my days and lets be honest weeks are running into each other, I am super late with decorating and truly was not to keen about it as I normally am. Oh, I still did it, but I was not psyched about it. Mainly it is Rae Dunn pieces (so obviously really breakable) and it always seems like a lot of work to put everything out of reach of tiny little grabby hands. Because of this, I barely took out anything and just set up one of our tables and took out a couple coffee cups and decor, and that was it. Case in point....

Two storage containers of Easter decor and this is what I did ::cue face palm emoji::

Anywho, onto the baskets. If this is excessive to some, I 100% understand, but at the very least it will give you ideas of what you can get. For me, putting together holiday baskets has always been a fave as shown HERE when I introduced the "Boo Fairy" (it is a total thing people).

As mentioned, the theme this year was 'Fun In The Sun'. We love being outdoors and spend as much time as possible in our backyard (something that we never take for granted that we have...especially this year). Luckily, we live in Florida, so this affords us the opportunity to be outside more often than not. Also having a theme keeps me from getting a bunch of things for the sake of just getting stuff for their basket. ..as mentioned.

The one thing that always remains a constant in any of their baskets are holiday books. The kids love books and love being read to, so it is always nice to include a couple books in their baskets.

Fully aware that Elena is not an Easter story, but what can I say, EV is obsessed

The kids also love ImagineInk coloring books (I have multiples in the box above) and so do I...and any parent that is terrified that they will be the parent posting the picture on Instagram when their kid draws all over their walls and anything else with a blank space that screams...draw on me small child...give me color...anyway...these are a godsend...

I believe they are about $3 in the Bullseye Playground, but you can also buy the bigger versions in their crafting area.

My kids love bubbles, so the wands at $10 (shown below, they are no longer on Target's website for whatever reason) were a must and for good bubble making measure, I also bought THESE for $5, it is a great price and are perfect for a Easter basket fillers.

EV has a pool float that is a flamingo that she positively adores and now that the Commodore is bigger and will enjoy the pool and waterslide more this year I wanted to get him one of his own. Since I try to get the kids the same things, I also bought EV a new one too. THESE from the Sun Squad are amazing for $5 and getting the kids each one was perfect as they only had one of each. I mean if there was ever a sign that they should each get one...it was that. This is how I talk myself into a lot of decisions at Target mind you.

The cutest, right?!

As you can see, EV is really attached to the one from last year even out of the water

For anyone that hasn't had the Archer Farm's Bunny Bait Trail Mix, what are you doing with your life?! It is life-changing and so good and has so many fun flavors (cookies, covered raisins, yummy candy coated krispie things, sugar-coated nuts, etc.). We bought a couple of bags for just nighttime snacking treats with the kids and then bought the ones that have small bags (I am assuming for lunchboxes and purses and such-linked above). I bought the small little bunny Easter baskets from the Bullseye Playground with the intention to put a packet of the trail mix (or two) in each of them and then place it in the bigger basket. Also, bunny sunnies for $1...no brainer!

I should have taken a cue from other bloggers that I follow and just used really cute baskets that can be reused for other things in the house rather than traditional bunny baskets that can only be used once a year (our Bullseye Play ground had these amazing gray coiled ones that I now use for Valentines and other said "basket goodie" holidays). If you know me, you know my love of baskets and all things organization. At $5, the coiled baskets are perfect if you are looking for non-holiday themed ones (especially if your kids have aged out, but it is still something you like to do) and I love that they can be used throughout the year. I love me a basket, so I bought four ::sigh::

I saved their bunny baskets from last year and I keep them in a suitcase in their closet so they don't see them and so that they are out of my way. However I am highly considering this being the last year and just using the above ones moving forward.

Anywho, back to the treats...

I absolutely loved these pool Mickey/Minnie bucket hats that came out this year and was even happier that I could get them in both styles for each of the kids as they sold out pretty quickly. Commodore has really fair skin so it is always nice to find him something that fits his tiny little noggin that he can wear into the pool and I do not have to worry about getting wet as he tends to take off anything that is on his head immediately.

For whatever reason, I totally forgot to take a picture of these and with both kids up and eating breakfast, this was done as quickly as possible in the Commodore's bedroom where the light is iffy.

I am a lover of sidewalk chalk and so are the kids, so every Easter they come out with this really cute container of chalk for $1 (I get these containers every year without fail) and I also scooped up chalk holders as well (Raya and Spiderman!? Yes, Please!). The kids are also firm breakers of said chalk so I am hoping that these super cute holders may curb this. If not, still cute...

I love egg shaped chalk (and crayons) for little hands.

Anyone that knows me or follows me on Instagram knows my love of holiday themed jammies for the kids (::cough cough:: and us). Although I fully recognize that I go overboard for Christmas, I stayed the course and I only purchased one pair for the kids for Easter. I bought THESE on Gap. I absolutely love Gap for both Disney and Star Wars themed outfits/pajamas. Obviously, it is always great quality and I love that the designs are a more mature print (for the most part gender neutral) and are different from anything else that you can buy anywhere. I traditionally wait for their 50% off and an additional 10% (you can stack coupons if you didn't know...you are welcome) and at this point I will just get everything I had been looking at. I also have my text messages set up so the minute the sale launches I am online and getting the sizes that I can (do not hesitate, the sizes move VERY quickly during this time). I find that it is harder to find things I like for Commodore than EV so when I find cool things for him, I always buy whatever I like on the site. I bought almost $300 worth of clothes (including the Easter jammies and an amazing Yoda jean jacket) and it came to about $115 for EVERYTHING!

I am currently trying to decide if this is going to be the night before Easter jammies or night of....#firstworldproblems

I mean stormtroopers as bunnies?!

Coming up with activities for the kids can be both exhausting and exhilarating in one breath. I do love the planning, but it can be really tiring to make sure it all comes to fruition. On Easter there is normally a note from the Easter Bunny, obviously with the carrots that said Bunny snacked on (we leave the bunny a note with carrots the night before). This is from last year...(one foot was EV's and the other was Commodore's).

The basket with all their goodies is hidden. I don't tend to hide all the stuff from the basket separately as I do not want a 'who's is what', conversation with every single thing they find. Therefore, they have two different baskets that they know is theirs and that they look for. I love the Disney Parks Blog . It has been a total lifesaver during the pandemic. There have been a ton of activities to do with the kids, downloads and recipes that we have used throughout the year that has saved both ours and our kids sanity. Check out how we recreated the Disney Cruise for them HERE. I found THIS egg hunt adventure that we are planning to do Sunday. EV loves anything that involves a map or an adventure so I think she will love it. I am still playing around with the idea of a traditional egg hunt (I can buy everything with PRIME on Amazon at the witching hour), but I am pretty excited about the Disney version.

via

We normally do Mickey waffles that EV helps us prepare and that Commodore will be able to help with this year, we get the kids changed and do some family photos (thank you purse sized tripod and outside table) and we just spend the day kind of chilling out. My husband and I are not overtly religious so we do not do church and I am Greek Orthodox and always celebrated Orthodox Easter, so we do not have to worry about the additional pieces of church and a huge dinner as a lot of families do (and which I do love seeing on the Gram'). Our day of relaxing tends to include doing some sort of art project that they can present to the grandma's, maybe taking out the waterslide depending on the weather and the Hubs got a deep fryer for his birthday that we have been dying to try out. We are thinking that a turkey breast might have to be on the menu. I have him buying two for a just in case scenario since it only takes an hour to prepare in the air fryer. I don't want to feel that we are lost for time in case it does not turn out as expected or it all goes to hell in an Easter basket (see what I did there lol). If you want the best air fryer turkey breast recipe ever, HERE you go! You are welcome in advance.

So are you all big plans for Easter people, just do church and a nice dinner, go all out with Easter extravaganza?! Are you planning to be amongst the living again...if so, I am super jelly beans (instead of jealous...get it...okay, nevermind).