What Goes in an Easter Basket Besides Candy?

What goes in an Easter basket besides candy?

A soft, food-shaped squishy is one of the easiest non-candy items to drop into an Easter basket, since it already looks like it belongs there: a peach, a strawberry, a gummy bear, something round and pastel that fits the spring theme without adding another chocolate bunny to a pile that already has plenty. It is quiet for an early morning basket reveal, needs no batteries, and gives a kid something to actually do with their hands once the candy count has been argued over. Candy still dominates the holiday by a wide margin. The National Retail Federation’s 2026 Easter survey projected a record $24.9 billion in total US spending, an average of $195.59 per shopper, with 92 percent of shoppers planning to buy candy versus 64 percent buying gifts of any kind. NRF does not track a specific “non-candy basket” category on its own, so there is no industry number for how many baskets go the squishy route instead, only the broader fact that gifts and toys already sit well behind candy in most baskets.

Why a squishy fits so naturally into a basket

Easter baskets already lean on fruit, pastel color, and softness as a theme, and a slow-rise squishy checks every one of those boxes without being edible. Our Peachy Slow-Rise Squishy and Berry Slow-Rise Squishy are shaped exactly like the fruit basket-fillers they are standing in for. Press one and watch the foam ease back slowly, which is a satisfying thing to hand a kid who has already eaten more chocolate than breakfast should have allowed.

There is a specific feel to it too. The slow press-and-rise of foam is a different kind of satisfying than a chocolate egg disappearing in one bite, and kids tend to come back to it across the whole day, pressing the same peach or bear a dozen times before lunch, long after the candy is gone.

A squishy also survives the parts of an Easter morning that candy does not. It does not melt in a warm car on the way to a grandparent’s house, and nobody has to ration it the way a chocolate egg gets rationed.

Does a squishy work inside a plastic egg, or just the basket?

It depends on the size. The full-size Peachy and Berry Slow-Rise Squishies are basket items, not egg items. They are too big to fit inside a standard plastic egg, so they belong sitting in the grass with the basket itself rather than hidden among the smaller finds.

The Mini Mochi Animals Squishy Set is built for the opposite job. Each piece is small enough to tuck inside a large plastic egg alongside a few jellybeans, which turns an egg hunt into more than a candy count and gives a kid a small surprise even in the eggs that come up short on chocolate. Splitting twelve mochi animals across a dozen eggs is also an easy way to stretch one set across a whole hunt without spending more.

Picking the right size for the age in the basket

Size matters more than theme once a very young child is involved. Infants and toddlers explore new objects by mouth, which is exactly why MedlinePlus, from the National Library of Medicine, advises keeping small-part toys away from that age group and choosing larger items instead. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s small parts rule, which governs toys for children under 3, is a useful line to keep in mind too: anything with a piece small enough to fit inside a choke-test cylinder is not meant for that age group at all. For an older child, from 3 up through 6, the same size part is not banned but requires a choking-hazard warning label on the package, and small balls specifically carry that label up through age 8, since a round shape is a higher choking risk than an irregular one. Every toy sold for children 12 and under, mini squishy sets included, is also required to pass third-party testing under the mandatory ASTM F963 safety standard. A full-size squishy like the Peachy or Berry Slow-Rise Squishy is a single, sizeable piece, which makes it a reasonable pick across a wide range of ages sharing one basket. A simple rule of thumb: if a piece would fit loosely inside a standard plastic Easter egg, treat it as a small-parts item and match it to an older child; if it needs the whole basket to itself, it suits a wider range of ages, including the youngest one in the house.

The Mini Mochi Animals Squishy Set is a different case. Each of the twelve pieces is genuinely small, built for a slightly older kid who is done putting new objects straight in their mouth, or for splitting across several baskets at an egg hunt rather than handing the whole pack to one toddler. Save the full-size squishies for the youngest basket in the house and let the mini set go to older siblings or a class egg hunt instead.

The quick picks, by basket

Who the basket is for	Pick	Why
A toddler’s basket	Peachy Slow-Rise Squishy	One large piece, easy to see and hold
An older kid who wants something jiggly	Sweet Bear Jelly Squish	Stretchy, springy, more texture to explore
A sibling set or egg hunt with several kids	Mini Mochi Animals Squishy Set	Twelve small pieces, easy to divide up
A basket that leans classic spring colors	Berry Slow-Rise Squishy	Bright red, familiar fruit shape

If there is only one basket in the house and the ages vary, the full-size squishy wins over the mini set every time. It is the option nobody has to think twice about.

What to skip or watch for

Skip leaving any squishy in a hot car or a sunny windowsill for long, since heat is generally not kind to foam and gel toys, and a basket that sat in a warm trunk on the way home is not the one you want to open on Easter morning. And because a food-shaped squishy is fun precisely because it looks like something to eat, it is worth a moment’s thought before handing one straight to a toddler who is still putting new objects in their mouth. If a hunt spans a big age range, keep the smallest pieces in the eggs handed to older kids specifically rather than scattering them at random, since you likely will not be there when each egg gets opened. None of this is a reason to skip the fruit-shaped squishies. It is just a reason to match the size to the age holding it.

Fill the basket, skip a few decisions about candy, and let a slow, quiet squish be the thing that lasts past breakfast. Calm in the palm of your hand, pastel and all.