The following is from Michelle of Open Eye Health:
Cruising through the aisles at my local grocery store recently, I couldn’t help but notice the huge assortment of Easter decorations, baskets, plastic grass, egg coloring kits, and overly packaged candy.
While I was not surprised to see this many options, I started wondering if there are other ways to celebrate Easter that wouldn’t be quite so costly to the environment.
I decided to make a personal effort to be more eco-friendly this year and began brainstorming and gathering a number of ideas for celebrating while still being kind to the earth. Luckily, as it turns out, many of these tips can actually save you money and start right in the home.
Table of Contents
Easter Baskets:
For more eco-friendly Easter baskets, simply reuse regular household baskets instead of purchasing colorful new ones. Perhaps you already have decorative baskets for magazines, remote controls, or toys that could easily be dressed up and filled with goodies. This saves money and materials for specialty colored baskets as well as storage space throughout the year.
Basket “Filler”:
Baskets can be filled with shredded magazines or paper (even junk mail!) that you are finished with instead of plastic green filler. You can also purchase natural, non-toxic moss from most hobby stores if you prefer a more formal look. This moss can be reused later in homemade floral arrangements and décor.
Candy:
To avoid buying individually packaged sweets, try bulk snacks like trail mix, dried fruit, and nuts. Homemade treats such as cookies and snack bars are also a great option. These items can be wrapped in reusable snack bags or natural material (for example, cheesecloth) cut to size and tied with string or ribbon.
Toys and Gifts:
Eco-friendly toys and gifts produced without toxic chemicals also make excellent basket fillers. Healthystuff.org provides information on these types of chemicals in toys as well as specific toy rankings. Other eco-friendly gifts can include anything from reusable stainless steel water bottles to a gift card for iTunes music purchases. Put the finishing touches on your baskets with homemade paper nametags tied with ribbon or string.
Easter Eggs:
For decorating Easter eggs, you can make your own natural egg colorings using vinegar, vegetable oil, and colorful foods such as berries, vegetables, coffee, tea, and juice. Enjoy eating the hard-cooked eggs later as snacks with sea salt, on toast for breakfast, with salads, and in egg salad sandwiches. The shells can also be composted if desired.
Decorations:
Kids can make their own decorations such as this eco-friendly Easter Egg Garland using cardboard, magazines, and string. You can print free coloring pages with Easter designs, or try these creative egg carton crafts.
I’m excited to try out some of these eco-friendly ideas this year…
Do you have any tips to help make Easter more “green”?
Printable Easter Treat Bag Topper
Michelle Smallegan has a passion for natural health and green living. She enjoys sharing ideas for making both of these simple on her blog, openeyehealth.
