Popular Easter Gift Basket Ideas

Easter holiday abounds with sweets, sugar, chocolate, and unhealthy foods of all kinds. Of all the foods you could eat, eggs may be your best option. However, you needn't restrict yourself to the eggs alone in order to enjoy healthy alternatives to Easter's famous fattening foods. Choose better alternatives, and watch how the scale beams a better number at you than last year. While you're at it, consider giving out gift baskets with organic and healthy Easter items. If you think it's impossible to give Easter gift baskets that delight as well as energize, then consider these three healthy ideas:

Fruit Baskets

When filling up an Easter gift basket, fruits should be your first choice. They not only add color, but they help fill the empty space that would have been taken up by less-than-healthy alternatives. Plus, fruit costs less pound-for-pound than most of the holiday candy sold during the season. Consider apples, oranges, pears, and other round or egg-shaped fruits that fit with the Easter theme. If you're going to be adding in some things to satisfy the sweet tooth, then consider going with dried fruit.

Go Organic

If filling the basket with fresh fruits isn't practical, then try to stick to organic foods. Avoid highly processed foods as these tend to be empty calories. Instead, look for organic versions of crackers, pretzels, nuts, dried fruits, granola, and trail mix.

If you must include chocolate, then try some chocolate-covered raisins. They look like miniature Easter eggs and fit nicely into the holiday theme. Other items that fit nicely include organic pretzel dips, organic crackers and cheeses, coconut bars, sugar-free fruit jams, and organic licorice.

Dark Chocolate and Red Wine

Now before you start jumping up and down and crying wolf, consider this type of gift basket as a compromise. True, healthier choices exist. However, you may have relatives that just won't take kindly to rabbit food on bunny day. If that's the case, then consider some of the benefits of red wine and dark chocolate.

First of all, red wine contains chemicals, such as reservatrol, that lowers the risk of heart disease, blood pressure, and stress. Indeed, many people explain the French Paradox of having a high fat diet and low incidents of heart disease by giving credit to red wine.

Dark chocolate that contains 65% or more cocoa content can lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol when eaten in reasonable portions. Yes, chocolate does contain fat, but two of the three fats do not affect cholesterol levels and heart disease risk. So, you may end up doing your friends and family a favor by replacing their sweet tooth's desire with chocolate that's better for them.

Summary

Even though Easter tends to revolve around finding chocolate eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny, you can still include healthier alternatives when giving out Easter gift baskets to your loved ones. You now have a better idea of what to include in your gift baskets to keep away excess holiday pounds.

Updated August 16, 2010
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