easter basket fillers: all things girly 2

Obviously, we're loving all things Hello Kitty around here. And sparkly and rainbow-y. Yep, all things girly.

I have a very hard time loading up E's basket with everything sweet and sugary. So how do I avoid the chocolate and jelly bean crash and still have a happy six (almost seven) year old? I'm spilling the (jelly) beans with the hope it will give you some simple ideas for next year.

• A Hello Kitty bucket to store things in and take to the lake/beach this summer.
• A new beach/pool/sprinklers towel. Ella went nuts over this rainbow towel at Target awhile back (the other side is rainbow stripes), so I purchased it and tucked it away. It's not an official "beach" towel (just a regular bath towel), but she LOVES it and she can take it outside instead of my good ones.
• Sparkly flip-flops.
• Green Toys jump rope. It's a nice one. We found it at Pottery Barn Kids, but also saw them at Whole Foods and on-line at Amazon.
• That red, flower-y thing in the background is a clipboard. A little strange I know, but Ella kept taking my Deals to Meals stuff off mine and using it to write and color on. I found this one at Target, and she LOVES it!
• Belly Washers 100% juice in a Hello Kitty bottle. (Found it at Walmart.)

{In The Bucket} List

• A Junie B. Jones chapter book. Ella's teacher holds on to book orders if I e-mail her and let her know my order contains gifts. I also bought a book for each of my grandkids with my last Scholastic Books order. I save a lot and it benefits Ella's class. (They get a free book with my order.)
• Wreck-it Ralph DVD. Lynn bought it the day it came out and I stashed it away.
• Fun pink and white striped straws.
• A box of Hello Kitty bandaids (It's rough when Lynn or one of the boys needs a bandaid around here :))
• A darling notebook and matching pencils.
• A snack bag of mini Peanut Butter Ritz crackers (a fave)
• And because I'm not the meanest mom on earth, a small Reese's bunny, two mini bags of Skittles in eggs, and a serving size box of Trix cereal.

Ella was thrilled with her haul and never missed the extra sweets. Her favorite things? The clipboard and the jump rope.

So what's in your bucket?

*Check out my strategy and tips for creating simple and fun-filled Easter baskets at Easter basket fillers: all things girly (2012 edition).