Sick of filling your kids’ Easter baskets with candy made from
artificial ingredients, nasty food dyes, and synthetic fragrances? Me, too!

That’s why I’ve tracked down the best organic Easter candy to put in your kids’ baskets this year. Read on for links to organic chocolate bunnies, peanut butter cups, jelly beans, and even DIY marshmallow chicks.

But First:

 Don’t Forget: Use Your Big Green Purse to Make a Difference! Why?

This year, 81 percent of Americans are expected to celebrate the holiday, spending a whopping average of $150 per person. That includes $2.6 billion on candy!!! When you shift your spending to healthier, safer, organic products, you support businesses that are trying to do the right thing for people and the planet. You also create incentives for conventional companies to get the nasty junk out of their products. Need proof?

Jelly Belly Organic Jelly Beans , a conventional company that sells billions of jelly beans made the old fashioned way, responded to demand from consumers like you for organic products by making these organic jelly beans with non-GMO ingredients, including organic orange, peach, strawberry, raspberry and lemon juice!

Buy less candy overall (research shows kids are actually just as happy with a little as with a lot), but when you do shop, spend your money to get better products for yourself and send a message to manufacturers that you want them to do better, too.

NOTE: As much as I advocate shopping locally, you won’t find much organic Easter candy in your local CVS, WalMart, or Target. I’ve provided the links you need to buy online, but remember: order early so your deliveries arrive by April 20, the Saturday before Easter. 

Best Organic Easter Candy

Organic Chocolate Box – Coracao crafts chocolate that’s 100% organic, and contains no cane or refined sugar, no gluten, and no dairy or soy (they use coconut sugar instead). You can customize a box with almond butter cups, salted caramels, truffles, and peppermint patties.

sjaaks Organic “Melk” Chocolate Bunny – This vegan, non-GMO chocolate bunny from Sjaak is one of a variety of organic Easter candy options the company makes. Also check out their caramel eggs and solid eggs.Annie’s Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks – A long-time favorite, these certified organic bunnies contain no artificial flavors, synthetic colors, preservatives, or high-fructose corn syrup. The variety snack packs include four flavors: berry patch, summer strawberry, sunny citrus, and tropical treat.

Organic Jelly Beans from Surf Sweets – These organic, gluten- and nut-free, non-GMO candies are also free of allergens related to dairy, eggs, soy, wheat, fish, shellfish, sesame, and sulfites.They’re also free of artificial sweeteners, corn syrup and artificial colors. But they are still sweet, so keep an eye on that. According to the nutrition facts on the label, a serving size, which contains about 30 pieces, contains 32g of sugar!

Organic Sour Beans (as opposed to sweet jelly beans) – These are organic, gluten-free, non-GMO and contain no dairy or nuts.

Sweet & Sour Bunnies – If your kids like sweet and sour gummy things, they might go for these organic sweet and sour organic bunnies that rely on carrot juice, purple sweet potato juice, and cherry juice, among other fruits and veggies, for color and flavor, along with other organic ingredients.

Organic OCHO Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs – A milk chocolate shell surrounds peanut butter; made in the USA with Fair Trade Chocolate.  Check out the caramel eggs while you’re at it.

Justin’s Organic Peanut Butter Cups – These are delicious and available at Whole Foods and in many food coops. I love the dark chocolate, but you can get them in milk chocolate and white as well. They’re also certified gluten free, kosher, vegan and dairy free! Buy them in a six or 12 pack for the best value.

Want a little something different? These UNREAL dark chocolate crispy quinoa peanut butter cups might be just the thing.

Another option is UNREAL gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO dark chocolate peanut butter cups, made from fair trade cacao, cane sugar and cocoa butter, organic powdered sugar, and sustainably sourced, organic palm oil.

Marshmallow Treats That Aren’t Peeps! – I always hated giving my kids artificially colored marshmallow chicks, though they loved them! I’ve since discovered these healthier DIY recipes from none other than Martha Stewart.

Now you can make your own “peep-like” treats at home. Sprinkle them with sugar or coconut, or dip them in chocolate.

NOTE: Big Green Purse has an affiliate relationship with Amazon, so we might earn a teeny tiny commission if you purchase using our link. Those commissions are too small to affect our editorial opinion, but they do help us bring you the expert content you need to lead the greener life you want. Thanks.

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How do you celebrate Easter? At our house, it’s a time to enjoy the rebirth of Nature, the renewal of our spirits, and the arrival of a long-anticipated Spring. We try hard not to get caught up in the commercialization of this holiday and don’t go overboard making big flashy Easter baskets or buying lots of junk. This year, I’m getting new ideas for green Easter decorations and treats from my green sister bloggers, who offer a wide variety of thoughtful ways to make green Easter meaningful.

Green Easter Tips

Lisa at Retro Housewife Goes Green suggests several natural alternatives to conventional egg dying – including using red cabbage and onions, and dying ceramic eggs for veganistas.

Kristina at the Greening of Westford offers a very useful, step-by-step guide for dying eggs using spinach, blueberries, coffee and chili powder. One smart suggestion: make the dyes early in the morning or even the day before. Another, especially for someone like me who is somewhat artistically challenged: wrap rubber bands around the eggs to make stripes and other designs on the eggs when you dye them.

If you don’t want to deal with dying eggs at all, how about covering them? Lisa at Condo Blues uses Japanese Washi paper to cover her eggs, something I think I’ll try this year after seeing a picture of how Lisa’s eggs turned out (photo left)

Ronnie at Eco Nesting has done something similar with beautiful old silk ties her father-in-law gave her. I never would have thought to use fabric like that, but it makes perfect sense!

If you prefer to give your kids small gifts rather than baskets filled with candy, Lisa at Retro Housewife Goes Green offers a few suggestions here.

Speaking of candy alternatives, check out Trina’s post at O’BoyOrganic. She and her husband put together Easter baskets full of toys and books that their boys can play with over and over.

Amanda of The EcoFriendly Family also suggests looking outside the candy aisle for items to tuck into an Easter basket, like natural bubble bath and beeswax crayons.

Michelle at Everything’s Abuzz suggests several fun and easy ways to green your kids’ Easter baskets. Here’s one useful tip: replace plastic “grass” with shredded paper from home, or buy grass made from recycled paper.

Brenna at Almost All the Truth has some smart suggestions for natural Easter baskets and toys, too. I appreciate the links to the organic chocolate bunnies!

Speaking of bunnies, don’t miss this sweet story of the bunnies that grew up under Karen’s back stoop over at Best of Mother Earth.

Shane at Environmental Booty gets her girls making crafts at Easter, especially if it overlaps with spring
break and the kids need something to do other than watch TV. Here’s a photo of the Easter Bunny change purse her daughter made out of recycled juice boxes. I never would have thought of that!

If you really want to get crafty, there’s a link to decorations you can knit in my Big Green Purse blog on making Easter Earth-friendly.

Meanwhile, Amber at Strocel.com also recycles at Easter, from decorations to Easter baskets. “My kids have had the same Easter baskets for years,” she reports. “During the year they live in a closet, and every Easter we leave them out for the Easter Bunny, like we leave out our stockings at Christmas.”

Betsy at Eco-Novice makes food the centerpiece of her Easter celebration. This year, she’s planning on serving up whole-grain pancakes topped with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Check out her blog to get the recipe.

Diane at Turning the Clock Back recommends shopping second hand if you need spiffy duds to wear to church or to dinner. This is especially good advice if you have small kids who will only wear a frilly dress or fancy pants this one time this year.

How do you celebrate Easter? Let us know!

The post “Green” Easter appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Make your own basket. Rather than buy one wrapped in cellophane and stuffed with stuff your kids will eventually throw away, create a basket that will last. Use baskets you may have received during the year and decorate them with ribbons or scarves. If you need to buy new, consider the beautiful hand made and fair-trade options at Pristine Planet.

“Green” your own grass. Skip that yucky shredded plastic stuff. Make your own “grass” by shredding paper (or the Sunday comics) or buy paper grass . Next year, get started three weeks in advance and grow actual grass you can fit in your basket.

Dye eggs the natural way. Warning: this method takes more time than just dropping a commercial dye tablet in a cup full of vinegar and water. But if you like do-it-yourself projects, give it a try. Use cranberry juice, pomegranate seeds, beets, raspberries, or red onion skins for pink and red. Saffron or tumeric will create yellow. Blueberries tint blue (naturally!). Yellow onion skins will create orange.

Break out the crayons. Don’t bother dying at all. Have the kids decorate their eggs using crayons and non-toxic markers.

Reuse refillable plastic eggs. If you buy plastic eggs, make sure to collect them so you can reuse them next Easter. Again for the do-it-yourselfer, use plastic eggs as a model to knit wool egg coverings that become family heirlooms.

Reconsider Easter treats. My kids’ aunt always created wonderful Easter baskets for them by filling their reusable eggs with delightful items they loved. Smaller eggs might contain colorful erasers, sparkly paper clips, hair ribbons, magnets, quarters and the occasional dollar bill. Larger eggs brimmed with small games and puzzles. Once, their eggs even contained balled-up kites! If you want to add some taste treats, fill the basket with organic chocolates and lollipops. Include a small potted plant the kids can either replant outside or tend to on a sunny windowsill inside. Be creative!

Include organic chocolate eggs and jelly beans. Whole Foods and other markets that sell organic food, Trader Joe’s and food coops sell  eggs, bunnies, and “carrots” made from organic chocolate, as well as organic jelly “babies.” Or look here for online options.

Have an outdoor Easter egg hunt. Get the kids outside on Easter morning by hiding their eggs around the yard.

The post Have an Earth-Friendly Easter appeared first on Big Green Purse.

These sugar-coated, marshmallow-molded, chick-imitating disasters masquerade as Easter candy. But truth be told, they’ve got to be the most disgusting option available for a child’s Easter basket — or his tummy, for that matter.

I’ve always wondered how long Peeps have been sitting on a store’s shelf, protected as they are in their overpackaged cardboard box and plastic wrapping. But it turns out, that’s not even the real issue.

Of greater concern is what these things are actually made of.

Peeps’ parents (i.e., the Peeps manufacturing company) claim they consist primarily of sugar and marshmallow.

But scientists at Emory University recently tried to melt Peeps…and they failed.

They couldn’t boil Peeps, either.

Even dipping a purple Peeps chick in liquid nitrogen didn’t phase the “candy.”

So…if fire, or liquid nitrogen, or boiling water can’t kill a Peep, how can our stomachs really dissolve it? Makes you wonder where a Peep goes once it gets inside you, doesn’t it?

What if you throw a Peep away?  CAN you throw it away? Or, as the Emory experiment implied, is a Peep indestructible? If Peeps do get loose in the environment, how long will they last? No one really knows.

If you don’t want to find out, this Easter, beat the Peeps. Buy some nice organic chocolate instead.

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