Alyssa’s Second Easter
The first time I made this basket craft was many years ago with my daughter, Alyssa. She was almost two years old. It was getting close to Easter and I had baked cookies for my neighbor and wanted a container for them. Alyssa scribbled a beautiful design on some paper and I cut it out and folded it to make a basket. We put the cookies in it and knocked on our neighbor’s door. She opened immediately. As usual, she was on her way out the door. She had a job at our local mall, coordinating seasonal activities. This was a busy time of year for her. She thanked us for the cookies and told me to come over to her house in the evening. She said she had a surprise for … and used her eyes to indicate it was for Alyssa.
Later that evening I knocked on Karen’s door. She was so excited. “Come on in. Look at this!” She had the Easter Bunny costume from the mall. “I borrowed this from work. I thought your husband could put it on and hop in to surprise Alyssa.” She put the costume in a giant paper bag, so I could sneak it into my house.
My husband was not as jazzed about the costume surprise as Karen was. As Alyssa, now in her twenties, reminds me, “Dad was the master of inventing games that took little to no effort on his part. They were super fun, but he hardly had to move to make them happen.” She’s right. He invented a game called, “Wrap Me.” We had one of those foam chairs that folded into a floor bed. Alyssa would lay on it and shout, “Wrap me, Daddy.” Grant would then slip his hand under the foam cushion and fold it up over Alyssa. She’d bust out of the chair and yell, “Wrap me again!” Another of his games, “Cave In,” required him to throw a blanket over his legs and collapse it on the kids. He’d shout, “Cave in,” when the blanket was about to collapse. His lazy games were creative and the kids loved them!
Grant reluctantly put on the costume. He snuck outside and knocked on the door. Alyssa opened the door, saw the Easter Bunny and said. “Hi Daddy. Wanna play Wrap Me.” My husband is a quirky dresser, but not bunny costume quirky. We have no idea how she knew the big bunny was her dad, but she knew and Grant was glad she knew. Apparently, that costume was hotter than blazes. He was happy to take it off and lounge on the family room rug next to the folding bed-chair for a few rounds of “Wrap Me.”
This basket craft is perfect for all age groups. A toddler can scribble on it, stamp it, or cover it in stickers. Older kids can make more sophisticated designs and glue crafty embellishments on it. It is a super simple, super functional basket. Click BEST BASKET to get the template and instructions for the basket craft.
