We had such a great response to our cheap Easter Basket ideas for younger kids, we decided to put one together for older kids as well. Let’s say right from the start that for an older child, you SHOULD be spending more money. Older children know the difference between a Dollar Store gift and a gift that was purchased with their interests in mind. So, we’re giving you some ways to score cheaper deals on gifts for the older child!
First, we want to start out by saying that bakets for older children should still contain some of the “fun” candy items from when they were younger! This means the $0.50 boxes of peeps are still oka to include! Also, even though they are older, kids STILL love to have Easter Egg hunts! You can still fill them with inexpensive items, but you can fill them with riddles to guess what their Easter Gift might be!
Also, our favorite store pick BY FAR for this age group was Five Below!!!! They have some GREAT items for either boy or girl in this age category!!!
Either Gender:
1. iTunes Gift Cards- Go HERE to learn how you can score 15% off these Gift Cards at Target this week!!
2. Make a CD of 5-10 songs of your child’s favorite music. Based on your budget, you can just download 5 songs for $0.99, and make a cool personalized collection of their favorite songs! If your child has an MP3, ask for it in advance, so you can download the music ahead of time. Amazonis my FAVORITE place to download music!!
3. Accessories- Think about what your child received for Christmas. Did they get a Kindle and need a cover? How about a Wii and they need another accessory to go with it. This is a much less expensive item than the big ticket items that should be saved for major holidays like birthdays and Christmas. Remember, Easter is not technically supposed to be a highly commercialized holiday, but unfortunately, if sometimes becomes that way in our culture.
4. Amazon Gift Cards are another way to limit spending on Easter Gifts. You can print a card letting them know how much they can spend as well!
5. Sites like Plastic Jungle sell DISCOUNTED Gift Cards that others don’t want! Better yet, go through ShopAtHome.com and score CASH BACK on this purchase!
6. Any magazine subscription- Best Deal Magazines is really one of the best sites!
7. Movie Tickets- Who doesn’t love to go to the local theater for a show once in a while!!
8. Mini-golf tickets (if you live in a warmer climate:)
Older Girl:
1. Girls LOVE to dress up and use make-up at almost any age. So, something inexpensive, yet fun would be a beauty themed Easter basket! We came up with several ways to score CHEAP beauty items!
- Use make-up coupons and your cash back programs (Like CVS’s ECB and Walgreens Register Rewards) to score CHEAP nail polish. For example, this week, CVS has some CHEAP Sally Hansen nail polish on B2G1 special! PLUS, Coupons.com has some GREAT beauty coupons right now!(Search under Personal Care)
- Have a “home” spa day. Put a coupon in her basket for a mani-pedi, and even burn some candles, and give her a “mini-massage!” Offer to put on some make-up (Pretend if she isn’t old enough), and even have some fresh fruit and water!
- For older girls, you may be able to snag a mani or pedi- for about $12 at your local salon, so if you don’t like the “home” spa idea, you can always go for the real one for cheap!
Older Boy:
- Is your older boy into a particular sports team? As we said earlier, Five Below was our favorite pick as far as stores, and they have a GREAT selection of sports team items!!!
- Car theme- Is your guy into cars. Get him a magazine subscription to his favorite car magazine, and put the order card in his basket! (Best Deal Magazines has GREAT prices!!)
- Tokens to your favorite local arcade. This is ALWAYS a hit in my house. This can actually be a gift for a girl as well!
Carrie Lawrence Grooms
Just bought the AGC on Nomoreack for $5 for $10 after seeing your post – my daughter is saving for a Kindle (swagging) so this will be an inexpensive gift to add to her basket.