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Last year I posted about an annual tradition I partake in during the weeks before Easter… I am a secret agent for the Easter Bunny and bring light and joy to others.
For the past decade or so, I have put together Easter baskets full of goodies for the Sunday School class comprised of the oldest members of the church I grew up in.
The baskets are typically delivered on Palm Sunday – they used to be delivered to their classroom, then 2020 hit and the baskets were delivered to their front porches. This year they are trying a new class time/day so they will be getting their Easter baskets a little earlier than Palm Sunday.
I love putting together care packages for loved ones, and I approach this Easter basket tradition with the same level of excitement.
Instead of just filling a bunch of eggs with candy, I like to include a variety of goodies in their baskets. (Plus, several of them are on restrictive diets…Who wants a goody basket of goodies you can’t eat? Fear not, I DO include some chocolate yumminess.)
This year’s basket includes:
-a book of wordsearches, and a brand-new pen
-a travel-sized bottle of lotion
-a tube of lip balm
-a package of variety nuts (a protein packed snack)
-a package for cheese crisps
-a “stained glass” cross with a bible verse about light (I made these, more details below)
-a small notepad
-a small chocolate bar and three plastic Easter Eggs filled with a variety of chocolate treats
I sourced most of these things from Dollar Tree. I have twelve to make so this helps keep costs low enough to make this tradition feasible each year.
“Stained Glass” Crosses
The one thing that did not come from Dollar Tree this year were the crosses. I always like to include something religious in the baskets – a little reminder of the reason for the season. This year that led me to the wood aisles of Hobby Lobby.
I bought two packages of these raw crosses (two packages because I needed twelve and there were only eight in each package) I removed their rope hangers (simply untied them) and proceeded to paint them black – front and back (black acrylic paint).
After they were dried, I traced them onto a variety of pieces of scrapbook paper. I then cut well within the traced lines.
After I had all the paper crosses cut out, I place the crosses (a few at a time) face down in a shallow empty box. I sprayed their backs with spray adhesive and placed one of the scrapbook paper crosses on each of their backs (face down so the pretty side shows through the cut outs in the cross.
I then added a dab of hot glue to the top of the back of each cross to reattach the little rope hanger. Before tying the knot back into the rope I printed a list of Bible verses about light, then and cut them apart and punched a whole in one end. I strung the paper slip on the rope and tied the knot.
In theory, if I had had this idea earlier, I could have cut out the crosses and used the scroll saw to cut the little “windows” in them – if you are into Do It ALL Yourself projects, that might be a great option for a similar plan.
[…] post was originally written to be the closing thoughts of the last post (Easter Baskets for the Elderly). But then I realized it was a very verbose ending in included a challenge to Be The Light. I […]
[…] really love putting together gifts and care packages (like the Easter basket/care packages I do for the elderly in my church). I tend to shop all year for Christmas gifts, and they end up […]