Frugal Easter – 8 Low-Cost Ways to Celebrate

You don't have to pay a lot to fill your child's Easter basket. Here are 8 frugal family fun ideas to take your Easter celebration to a whole new level, on the cheap.

1. Skip the elaborate and expensive Easter baskets and opt for other inexpensive containers that can be repurposed after the holiday. Consider sand box buckets or toy dump trucks for boys and small decorative containers and jewelry boxes for girls.

The dollar store (or the dollar aisle at Target) is a great place to look for these. And because they don't have an Easter theme, you won't have a seasonal markup. Just tie with a pastel ribbon and fill with the items below.

2. Instead of the traditional Chocolate Easter Bunny, make your own bunny-shaped treat. A quick Google search will give you loads of ideas. Maybe you'll create a homemade bunny from Rice Krispie treats (use colored marshmallows for a pastel bunny) or use cookie cutouts in Easter-themed shapes from your favorite sugar cookie or gingerbread recipe. You'll be making new traditions, so you'll be spending less next year, too.

3. Opt out of the sugar rush by stocking up on inexpensive non-candy items for the kids' baskets.

A few ideas:
* Inexpensive coloring books and crayons.
* Bubbles and bubble blowers.
* Jumpropes.
* Balls.
* Sidewalk chalk.
* Easter-themed stampers and other small art supplies.
* Hardboiled eggs that the kids have dyed and painted themselves.
* Simple and inexpensive paperback books, such as those you can order from Scholastic to benefit your child's school.

You could also start an annual Easter tradition by creating something sentimental for your child to hold on to over the years. Write a special letter to your child each Easter and include it in her basket. Make a mini photo book or insert a family photo in an inexpensive or handmade frame.

4. Fill the plastic eggs for your Easter egg hunt with more inexpensive non-food treats, such as:

* Small toys (Oriental Trading Company has loads of these at very affordable prices. They have inexpensive Easter baskets, too)
* Temporary tattoos
* Stickers
* Balloons
* Erasers in fun Easter shapes
* Whistles
* Necklaces and other novelty jewelry
* Coins

5. Make your Easter dinner a potluck affair. If you're always the one hosting the big Easter dinner, volunteer to make the ham and delegate the side dishes. Everyone likes to contribute and you'll have a less expensive, more relaxed day.

6. Make a special Easter tradition of helping families in need. Look for an organization or a church in your area that is making Easter baskets to take to families in your community. Helping out in this way is bound to be a treasured Easter tradition, and it will turn everyone's focus away from what they are getting in their own Easter basket to what they can give.

7. Organize a neighborhood Easter egg hunt, instead of an individual one for just your family. Every family can contribute a few dozen filled plastic eggs. Then enlist the help of older kids in the neighborhood to hide the eggs. This is a great way to keep them in on the fun.

8. Re-use. When the festivities are complete, make sure to save the Easter grass and plastic Easter eggs to refill again next year. It's a more environmentally friendly choice and you'll save big.