Super Eco

Photo credit: jmurawski, flickr

Ditch the cheap hollow chocolate bunnies; this year Easter goes green! Thrifty green Easter bunnies (and moms and dads) know these tricks for a greener Easter basket:

1. Reuse the basket. Get a high-quality wooden basket and it will last for years.

2. Use real grass. About a week before Bunny Day (April 12 this year), line the inside of your basket with plastic wrap. Add organic soil. Soak a handful of wheatberries for a few hours and sprinkle a thick layer of them on top of the soil. Keep moist. When they sprout, place in sunlight.

3. Reuse refillables. These adorable German papier-mâché nesting eggs will last through multiple kids and multiple years of use. (Give your old multi-colored plastic ones away, or make them into bath toys.)

4. Dye natural. Go natural in dyeing your organic cage-free eggs with beets, onion skins, red cabbage, and spinach. Instructions here.

5. Give green gifts. Great idea for kids? Watering can, kid-sized gardening gloves, and packets of seeds.

6. Homemade is filled with heart. Do you knit? Sew? Craft? Homemade toys—even the ones not actually made by you, like from Eco Etsy—are appreciated by kids.

7. Think small. A token is pretty much all you need. It's the experience, not the toys and candy, that make an Easter basket fun.

8. Chocolate? A must. Especially when it's organic, high cocoa content, and fair trade. How can you resist? (get some for yourself while you're at it)

Need more green Easter ideas? Have a look here.