Easter Basket Angst

Tonight, I am finishing up the parental Eastertide ritual of gathering up goodies for the teenagers' Easter baskets.  I have proposed to the offspring that once you stop believing that the Easter Bunny is real, you are probably too old for an Easter basket,  but that concept was met with incredulous disbelief.  Easter is like Halloween in this way; teenagers are staring straight ahead at adulthood, but they're not quite ready to say goodbye to the rituals of childhood like Easter baskets and trick or treating yet. 

I am an Easter basket candy Scrooge; I try to be judicious in the amount of candy placed in the baskets, mostly because I can't handle temptation and whatever doesn't get eaten before church on Easter morning will be eaten by me, stealthily, after church on Easter afternoon. Unfortunately, my doctor seems to think I'd be better off eating carrot sticks instead of Twix bars.  If I have to suffer, we're all going to suffer. However, as a tree-hugger, I also try to avoid unessential plastic.

I've seen plenty of pictures of plastic bits floating around the ocean looking disgusting and hurting wildlife. As a proud Adopt-A-Spot owner, I've picked up plenty of discarded plastic items of all varieties.  I also hate wasting money on stuff I know is going to end up in the trash can. Unfortunately, a lot of Easter-themed candy comes packaged in a lot of excess plastic. Every time I am tempted to buy some fun little plastic toy, I have to remind myself of what I know to be true after years of dealing with Happy Meal toys:

No matter how cute or fun, it will end up in the local landfill in about one week. 

Therefore,  I tell myself, walk away from the slinky.  Put down the Rubik's cube key chain.  Just say no to the bouncing ball that lights up.  Walk past the plastic rabbit filled with Reese's Pieces candy. Avoid the adorable tins filled with miniature chocolate candy bars, while averting the gaze and murmuring the mantra "carrot sticks! carrot sticks!".

Cute today, landfill tomorrow. 

I decided to ask the offspring if they had other ideas for Easter basket fillers.  I guess I was thinking they'd have useful suggestions for inexpensive items that could be easily obtained at the local grocery stores.  However, I was quickly disillusioned when I talked to my son.

Me:  Give me some ideas for things you'd like to find in your Easter basket.
Son:  The Fire Station Lego Set!
Me:  (looking on Amazon) This is expensive!
Son:  Mom, the Easter Bunny has money!

I think he has the Easter Bunny confused with Santa Claus.