Trying to eliminate Easter Candy Overload!

I am not a perfect homemaker, I am still new to the parenting thing, and am not always as health-conscience as I should be. I love crafts, but rarely find the time to do them.

During my 2+ years so far as a mom, I have learned that I hate having candy in the house! I know as a parent it's my job to put my foot down and say "no" to my son when he wants candy for breakfast (which I do!), but I would really rather not have that battle at all. He's 2, he has plenty of time to eat candy later on. When he can brush his teeth right, all by himself, without crying about it!

For Christmas, I didn't put candy in his stocking, just a few fun toys and pajamas. That may sound outrageous, because it IS Christmas, but there are enough people in my family that give him candy, he doesn't really need any from me. That will most likely change as he gets older, and he realizes that Santa is supposed to put candy in the stockings.

Now that Easter is just around the corner, I realize that I AM going to be that mean mom, that doesn't load the fun Easter Basket up with candy either! I just hate the idea of filling a basket up with junk and sweets, to either be consumed in one day, or to be the subject of toddler vs. mom battles for the next few weeks. Now don't get me wrong, he will have candy. Just not from me. My parents do Easter Baskets for the kids, too, and there is always candy in them. I will be filling the baskets up with crafts that I am working on, and some fun toys for the kids. And a book, maybe a "First Easter" book if I can find one for cheap.

My son has a play kitchen that he absolutely loves. He loves cooking, and anything that has to do with a kitchen. For Christmas he received a lot of wood play food (I do try to stay away from plastic, due to the chemicals and recalls recently). For Easter, I plan on making him felt play eggs. I am still trying to figure out how I'm doing this.

My daughter is only 8 months old, and could care less about an Easter basket; she is still getting one, and it's going to be as full as my son's. The picture is a very rough draft of the "makeable" cupcakes I am making for her. They will be put together with velcro, so that her and my son can make cupcakes by putting them together and decorating them with felt pieces. They fit into a mini cupcake pan, which fits perfectly into my son's play oven. I can't wait to perfect my cupcake, I'm sure the kids will enjoy it! I do need to work on my sewing skills, because it took me over an hour to hand-sew this itty bitty thing :0)

Do you have any great craft ideas to put into an Easter Basket?