Cheap Easter Basket Ideas with Peat Pots

Peat Pot Easter Baskets & Easter Gift Ideas

Cheap Easter basket ideas can be very special, especially when you combine the love of a handmade Easter gift with an inexpensive Easter gift or two.  Let me show you how to use some small Easter DIY projects, made out of peat pots, to create cheap Easter baskets.  This year I made some small Easter DIY projects out of peat pots for my grandkids and loved ones.  The peat pot Easter basket can be a pretty DIY Easter gift all on its own, just attach a pretty tag.  

If you don’t want to make the peat pot baskets, you can substitute them with small Easter buckets, or mugs and create the same small gifts without the DIY project part.  The containers cost a little more than the peat pots will but it is quicker.  

Here are the different cheap Easter basket ideas.  I will include the how-to for the peat pot baskets including the free printables after sharing all my own examples.

Cheap Easter Basket Gift Ideas 

The homemade peat pot basket is a great way to add thoughtfulness to whatever you give, gift cards, nail polish, practical items, art supplies, artificial plants, faux flowers, small Lego sets, stickers, and so forth.   The peat pot basket allows you to spend almost nothing on a container and gift the small things you would never consider simply handing to someone.    

The small size of the peat pot baskets may indeed challenge you to think of items small enough to fit inside them. But, a smaller basket is much cheaper to fill. You can skip the extra cost of buying a traditional basket and purchasing large amounts of basket fillers, and it is every bit as thoughtful and caring. 

I bought all the Easter treats you see at the bulk barn so I could just purchase the candy that I needed, and didn’t have large stashes of leftover Easter candy. Seasonal candy is especially pricey and loses its charm once the holiday is over.

Golf Gift Easter Basket for Basket for Boyfriend or Husband

For an adult Easter basket for a significant other think of a hobby they love, like golf.  Add some jerky, candy, a golf ball, golf tee, and add a gift card to cover the fees. For stringent budgets, you could spend your budget just the gift card and “borrow” some items from their golf supplies to decorate it.   My hubs loved this idea.

The vintage truck free printable is linked below with the how to. I use a darker ribbon and kept the embellishments minimal.

You can do the same thing for a golf-loving woman, but make the basket embellishments more elaborate.  

Cash and Candy Easter Basket for Older Kids

My grandkids are at the age where cash is king.  They like to go do things with their friends, more than anything a Grama could buy them. The basket in the picture is designed for a girl teen, as my grand kids are all girls.  

Stuff the basket with Easter grass and add some sweet treats, A small chocolate Easter bunny, Cadbury mini eggs, and jelly beans. Roll the cash into a right roll, or use a game card and wrap it in a slip of paper and a tiny ribbon.  Hide it under the Easter eggs so at first they think they received only candy.

For a boy’s cash and candy basket, you could include Easter eggs and other goodies, a small Lego set, hot wheel cars, or a game gift card. Change the basket image to one of the truck printables. Replace the butterfly with a Lego man piece. I would keep the ribbon as shown in the image because it’s not frilly,

Kids Easter Basket

The Dollar Tree has some of the best easter basket stuffers, it’s a treasure trove for stickers, markers, and stamps. The egg in the above picture is sidewalk chalk. I cut out some Easter-themed stickers to pop in the basket and added an eraser and little Easter stamps inside. I also bought a big fluffy white bunny pen, but it looked odd in the pretty picture.

The Dollar Tree has some of the best easter basket stuffers, it’s a treasure trove for stickers, markers, and stamps. The egg in the above picture is sidewalk chalk. I cut out some Easter-themed stickers to pop in the basket and added an eraser and little Easter stamps inside. I also bought a big fluffy white bunny pen, but it looked odd in the pretty picture.

For a boy kids basket, do the same idea, add some silly putty, a card game, collectors cards, a small Lego set, plastic parachute men are always a hit.

Cheap Basket Idea for Men

This peat moss basket is made more for a man, with the toned-down embellishments. I created this idea for a coworker, brother, or uncle.

The basket is filled with beef Jerky, a bag of peanuts, and scratch lottery tickets. Great for a coworker or brother.

Other Creative Ideas for Cheap Easter Basket in Peat Pots

It’s been my experience that kids of all ages enjoy a chocolate Easter bunny or an Easter basket. The best part of creative Easter basket ideas is that you can customize them to suit anyone.

For an older person, I would skip the chalk and stamps, crayons, etc, and go for something more planner-orientated. Pretty pens, fancy post-its, pretty office pins, and a scented candle are some ideas.

If none of the Easter baskets I created suit your needs, here are some other peat pot Easter basket filler ideas you may like.

Jewelry Basket – Earrings, necklace, it doesn’t need to gold to be thoughtful

Scented Basket – Candles, assorted essential oils, a bar of soap

Practical Items Basket – Great for those just starting on their own. Create a sewing basket of things they don’t think they will ever need. A few buttons, white and black thread, a small pair of scissors, and fabric glue.

Gardening Basket – some seed packets, and garden markers with labels.

Calendar Basket – Stickers, stamps, and a pretty pen and pencil.

Last Minute Easter Basket – Do you have a brother or uncle who may or may not be home at Easter, for a last-minute idea, make a basket and place some scratch-and-win lottery tickets, dried pepperoni, and Easter treats. For a woman, I would use nail polish, cotton nail pads, and a lottery ticket or two. Every year I purchase one or two extra chocolate Easter bunnies as well.

For a woman who loves to get her nails done, create a peat basket and stuff it with a gift card, add some nail polish, emery boards, and hand cream. For a very tight budget replace the gift card with a high-end small chocolate Easter bunny.

Giving the Easter Baskets

It’s our tradition to do an Easter brunch instead of dinner. To give the baskets out I put each person’s basket on their place setting and let them decide which basket they thought was designed especially for them. Everyone guessed right away which was there and thought I was coo coo for going to all the trouble. It was fun to make up all these different Easter basket ideas, and I was able to create all the cheap Easter basket ideas personalized and thoughtful. I am certain you will as well.

How to Make DIY Easter Baskets with Peat Pots

The peat pot Easter baskets were fun to put together and took about an hour plus drying time. The whole point of making the DIY Easter baskets was to keep the price down so they are very affordable to put together. I have included the link to the free printable Easter clipart in the supplies.

Small Easter Basket Supplies

Today I am joining in with Creative Craft Blog Hop that’s hosted each month by Sara from Birdz of a Feather. The other craft ideas will be added at the end of my post.

Dry Brush the Peat Pots

Use a little bit of white paint, craft paint is fine and with a paintbrush dry the peat pots. If you haven’t dry-brushed the before it just means painting with very little paint on the end of your brush. I didn’t want the pots to be completely painted, allowing little bits of the tan color of the peat pots to show through. When your brush is first dipped into the paint, begin by painting inside the peat pot, once your brush has less paint on it, brush the outside. Once painted set aside to dry.

Optional Plaster of Paris for Weight

Depending on what you place into your small Easter baskets you can have trouble with the silly things toppling over. To prevent this mix 1 cup of plaster of paris with 3/4 cup of water, and mix well. You can add more water a tablespoon at a time if you need to. The plaster will be like a thick yogurt.

My peat pots had a large hole in the bottom, so I placed them on paper before adding the plaster. Scoop a tablespoon of the plaster in the bottom of each pot, then divide up any leftovers equally. smooth the plaster slightly. Let dry overnight.

Printing the Clip Art

Cut a piece of tissue paper just a bit smaller than letter size 8.5 by 11. Tape the tissue paper to the letter paper using painter’s tape. Make sure the edge is crisp and square.

Before printing test which side of the paper your printer prints on. I make a piece of letterhead, up and down. Run a test page and see which side the print comes out on. My printer prints on the bottom

Place the tissue paper side up or down as needed in your regular paper slot, and print normal quality and color.

Adding the Clipart Embellishment

Instead of using napkins, I chose to make some printable Easter templates that are exactly what I wanted. Here is an image of the Easter image template. Follow the link to open it and then print.

There are a total of six different templates, two lambs, two bunnies, and two flower trucks. Feel free to use them for personal use only. You can see a very slight grey circle around each Easter figure. I placed them to make it easier to tear the tissue paper.

Tearing the Tissue Paper Easter Transfers

Once printed cut off the outside tape. Hopefully, you can see the very slight grey circles around each printable figure. Using a small brush dipped in water, wet the tissue paper around each circle, and then tear the circle out. Making the tissue paper wet makes this much easier to do.

Apply Mod Podge to the front of the peat pot, and apply the printable spreading flat starting in the middle. Make sure the edges are Mod Podged down. Once attached place a second layer of modpodge over the surface of the tissue. Let dry.

Attaching the Wire Handle

Cut six pieces of wire 10 inches long, and twist the ends so they can poke through the peat moss basket. Make a nice arch out of the rest. Once the wire is ready punch a small hole using a needle into each side of the peat pot. Place the wire through and pinch it into place. Repeat for your other baskets.

Cheap Easter Basket Decorating and Embellishing

I chose to place a paper doily from the dollar store inside each Easter basket. The paper doilies are made for food service so I wanted them in the Easter baskets for candy. The peat pot is also just a paper product but it isn’t made for food so I was a bit uncertain about using it.

Now the fun part, go wild making your basket as simple or as elaborate as you like.

Choose your favorite colors, and consider the receiver. Then grab the glue gun and add ribbon, flowers, leaves, feathers, stickers, and even a small faux bird basket.

I hope you have fun creating these small baskets. Happy Easter Leanna

Creative Craft Hop Posts to Enjoy

Lots of exciting brand-new projects and ideas to inspire us. Have a great time checking them out.

The Painted Apron | Spring Bottle in Bloom

Patina and Paint | Easy Easter Craft

Life as a Leo Wife | Farmhouse Bunny Topiaries

Purple Hues and Me | Twisted Rope Container with Top

My Thriftstore Addiction | Egg-cellent DIY Floral Arrangement in 2 Easy Steps

Decorate and More with Tip | Adorable Easter Craft DIY

Birdz of a Feather | Slip on Coaster

Blue Sky at Home | How to Easily Decorate Old Bottles with Paper and Vinyl

Southern Sunflowers | How to Decorate a Dollar Tree Bunny Wire Wreath

Modern on Monticello | Easy Tile Pallet Wall Art

The Apple Street Cottage | Spring Fence…and a Bunny!

Other Cheap Easter Basket Ideas to Try