Best DIY Easter Gifts

Easter’s almost here! 

Over the long Easter weekend, many of us will get together with friends and family to enjoy this special occasion. And what better way to celebrate than with one of our luxurious Easter Hampers, perfect for any gathering?

It’s a wonderful time to exchange gifts and, did you know, those Easter gifts DON’T have to involve chocolate (pleasurable as it is), or involve dodging shoppers at this busy time!

Home-made Easter gifts are always well-received. After all, they’ve taken time and effort to create. They’re thoughtful, personal and unique.

So, here are our best suggestions:

 DIY Easter gift ideas 

1. Bake a traditional Easter Simnel Cake

Simnel cake is a light fruit cake that has been eaten since medieval times as both a sweet delight and a symbolic ritual.

It has layers of marzipan, one on top and one in the middle and is decorated on the top with 11 balls of marzipan to represent 11 of the 12 disciples of Jesus.

Simnel cake goes particularly well with tea and an afternoon tea is a great activity for Easter Sunday. Either enjoy a cosy afternoon tea indoors or, if we’re lucky with the weather, enjoy a spring alfresco afternoon tea.

It looks pretty impressive (and is very tasty!). As it’s a very popular homemade Easter cake, you’ll find plenty of great recipes online. Just search, ‘simnel cake recipe’.  
 

2. Create Easter egg bathbombs
   
   Surprisingly, you really don’t have to be the ‘crafty’ sort to make these!
   
   This is a delightfully different Easter gift to the usual Easter eggs and chocolate. Your loved ones will be so impressed (just don’t tell them how easy they are to make!).
   
   There are lots of websites offering recipes for bathbombs– we used one called suburbanmom.

What you need:

Plastic hollow eggs – easy to buy online

1 cup baking soda

½ cup of citric acid

½ cup of corn starch powder

½ cup Epsom Salts

8-10 tablespoons of oil

2 teaspoons of essential oils (maybe lavender, peppermint or rose?)

6 – 9 drops of food colouring – your choice of 3 colours.

           How to make them:

Mix the dry ingredients together and divide into 3 bowls (for the 3 colours). To the first, add 2 tablespoons of oil and a couple of drops of chosen colouring. Mix as fast as you can. The mixture shouldn’t be saturated – you should be able to squeeze a handful of it into a clump but then be able to break it back into a crumble again.

Pop the mix into some of the eggs and squeeze the halves together tightly.

Open the eggs to remove the new bomb..…..take care when doing this, use an almost circular motion when undoing.

If it’s too crumbly add a bit more oil, put back into the egg again and repeat.

Lay on a towel to dry for a couple of days.

Package up (wrap in tissue paper and  place in an egg or gift box?).

How cute are they?!
 

3. Design Easter bunny cupcakes 

Don’t worry, there’s no great skill needed but the result is a deliciously sweet and funny gift!

Make a batch of cupcakes (or buy them if wish, just make sure they’re uniced), and frost or ice however you wish (buttercream’s a good idea).

Now the fun bit….cut up large marshmallows to form the ears of a rabbit and place on top in the icing. Then add eyes, nose and whiskers if wish by using chocolate vermicelli, choc chips etc.

This doubles up as a great Easter activity for kids too.
 

4. Make traditional Easter biscuits

Did you know, spiced biscuits were traditionally baked to celebrate the Easter festival?  They’re said to have originated from the south-west of England.

The original recipe used cassia oil as it was believed this was used to clean Jesus’ body after his crucifixation. Now cinnamon is used instead.

There are various recipes online.

You can always use an Easter-themed cookie cutter too….perhaps a bunny one?

It’s not a revolutionary Easter DIY gift idea, but it’s a lovely and delightfully old-fashioned change from a chocolate gift!

5. Build your own Easter hamper at British Hamper 

How delighted would your recipient be to be given a food hamper packed with goodies this Easter?

And you choose what goes in it!

On our website you can build your own hamper. First you choose either one of our wonderful gift boxes or a traditional wicker basket.

And then the fun bit…. choose from a wide selection of luxury sweet and savoury food  made by award-winning artisan producers from around Britain.

You can choose Easter eggs, chocolate chicks, Easter afternoon tea treats, savoury produce and plenty more.

We also have a great selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks you could include. At Easter many people enjoy drinking Pimm’s and lemonade, Prosecco, Elderflower Presse and tea and coffee.

Then add your gift message and relax whilst we deliver your Easter hamper straight into your loved one’s arms.

Build your own hamper – a DIY gift that we simply deliver for you!

6. Pick your own flowers
      Fresh flowers are always well-received and especially spring flowers!

              You might be lucky enough to have some in your garden.

  Did you know traditional Easter flowers include:

• • Lilies (especially white ones which are known as Easter Lilies) represent innocence and purity.
  • Daffodils – the uplifting daffodil represents the coming of spring.
  • Tulips – beautiful and vibrant.
  • Hyacinths – with their lovely scent and cheerful colours.
  • Crocuses –  a delightful early spring flower.
    
    
    What a happy, colourful and thoughtful Easter gift!

7. Fill some surprise eggs
    

An ideal gift for kids at Easter.

Fill hollow brightly coloured plastic eggs with small packets of seeds or sweets or indeed any little treat. Jelly beans, fudge, stickers, small toys, the list is endless!

This is such an exciting DIY Easter gift for kids as they open to discover what’s in them and a fun change from chocolate eggs.

 

Well we hope you’ve enjoyed these ideas for DIY Easter gifts. Easter is a time for giving and home-made gifts show your thought, appreciation and kindness.

If you run out of time to make your own Easter gift, you can always send one of our Easter hampers. Full of award-winning artisan treats and presented in keepsake hampers!

We hope you have a fabulous easter, but before you go:

Some Fun Easter Facts: 

• • 500m Cadbury Crème Eggs are produced every year, 2/3 of which are enjoyed in the UK.
     
• • On average, kids in the UK each receive 8.8 Easter Eggs every year.
     
• • Around 20 million hot cross buns are sold at easter in the UK.
     
• • 76% of UK’s people associate Easter with chocolate eggs.
     
  • The President of the U.S celebrates Easter by having an annual Easter egg-roll at the White House on Easter Monday. It was first held in 1878.
     
• • Until 2018 it was illegal to sell alcohol in Ireland on Good Friday.
     
• • The world’s most expensive Easter Egg is The Mirage Egg. Privately and anonymously owned, it was created by Manfred Wild and is worth £5m.
    
    There are thousands of diamonds in the shell and it has a 18 carat handcrafted gold globe in the middle. It also features a delicate rock crystal dove perched on a gold olive branch…..to symbolize world peace.