Extreme Easter: Kim vs. Ryan

Ryan and I are in a competition of sorts for our first Easter together.  I know, totally not the meaning of Easter, but so totally worth it.  Last year, Ryan was deployed to Afghanistan and ever since then we've been trying to make the most out of each holiday and just really live it up.  Whitney, from Everything Happens for a Reason, shared the Easter basket her husband sent her and it inspired me to declare to Ryan, "we're making Easter baskets for each other."  He kind of laughed and brushed it off, but with all things in life, I knew he was thinking challenge accepted.  Over the weekend, Hannah and I ran some errands and stopped into Michael's.  Their baskets are 40% off and so I picked up this gorgeous basket, originally priced at $9.99.  I was able to swing into Walmart yesterday and started picking out some items to start Ryan's basket.

I absolutely love these 12-gauge shell case coasters.  To my friends and family that are reading this, don't tell Ryan! I want him to be surprised and I think he's going to love these. I picked them up in a local store that I have become obsessed with.

We saw commercials featuring chocolate bunnies and Ryan told me how much he loved them so I picked up a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup bunny and a Russell Stover solid milk chocolate one.

 The soft, plush grey bunny was just something I couldn't put down.  What Easter basket is complete without a little stuffed animal friend?

How to pack an Easter basket:

 You'll need a basket and I chose a wicker one because it's something that can be used around the house for storage or decoration, even when it's not Easter.  You'll also need some type of filler, like cloth or grass and I also chose decorative plastic eggs.

 I haven't perused through Target's Easter aisles yet (I know, surprisingly enough) but Walmart has a fun plastic egg selection as well as other fun items.   The most expensive basket items were the larger stuffed animals for $9.99 and the one that's pictured here was around $5.

These plastic eggs are so cute! They're very thin and cost like a $1 for a full package but they look like something you would find at Anthropologie and so I had to get a pack of them.  They also have "grand prize" eggs that are a silver metallic and significantly bigger than the others.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the eggs.  Ryan isn't big into junk food, so I'll probably fill them with either cute notes or romantic coupons.

 I chose green paper grass in both light and dark green shades to blend the two together.

I love how it turned out and despite the occasional snowfall here, it makes me excited for warm summer weather. 

 I also selected a bright, shimmery filler to mix in with it and give it a pop.  All together, I probably had five or six bags of the grass/shimmer filler.  They were around $1.37 for each one and there were cheaper alternatives there, but I thought the grass would provide more support and I preferred how that looked to anything else.

 For placing the items, I put the stuffed animal as a base in the back, as well as the other two chocolate bunnies.  Despite having the grass as filler, it's only semi-supportive of the items in the basket.  The boxes help support things and push them more towards the front.

 The basket is still incredibly light with the coasters being the heaviest item.  I plan on getting more items to put in the basket.  Right now I'm brainstorming but thinking about getting the rest of the book series for Game of Thrones and maybe a DVD or two (The Hobbit or maybe some James Bond).  What do you get husbands for Easter?  Underwear and white tees? Who knows, I'll probably throw that in the basket, too. 

How do you make your baskets?

Thanks for reading!