Religious (and cheap!) Easter Basket Stuffers

There will be jelly beans and chocolate bunnies galore at our farmhouse Easter morning- have no doubt about that. However, I don't want to completely loose Easter morning to the "Easter Bunny". He can visit, sure, but then he needs to go back to his burrow (or wherever the heck he lives) and let us celebrate the rising of Jesus from the dead! Yay!!! :-)

Of course your local Catholic Shop or Christian Bookstore will have some cute religious stuff that would be great for Easter basket stuffing, but that's not always a financial option for me. Also, I just made a trip to my local Catholic shop, and wasn't impressed with their selection for kids anyway. My favorite place to shop for cheap religious stuff is at the Dollar Tree. Check out the cheap and religious Easter basket stuffers I found at my local Dollar Tree! (Note that products can vary from store to store, although they seem to largely carry the same things. It depends on what was ordered for that particular store, so the bigger your Dollar Tree the better your chances of finding a wider selection of things).

Check out these chocolate crosses!

(I think these white chocolate crosses would also be great to 

decorate an easy Baptism cake with! Just ice the cake in 

pink or blue, and plunk one of these babies right on top!
They could make cute first communion cake toppers, too!)

Also find chocolate praying hands and smaller crosses.
(I also saw these at Giant grocery store).

Here's my FAVORITE religious Easter find at the Dollar Tree-

Inspiration eggs! Aren't they adorable?! Check it out- they're full

of little candy crosses! I love the Jesus Easter Egg! :-)

 Cute paschal lamb egg with flag and all! :-)

I also love these religious breath mint tins! The mints

inside of these are shaped like little fish!

Most exciting find- Catholic stickers at the Dollar Tree!
Some stores have 'em, others don't, but if yours does, stock up!
They come in Stations of the Cross, Lent, Mary, Jesus, Christmas,
and Mysteries of the rosary. They're not labeled, so you have to know
what you're looking at. They'll be with the Easter stuff.

I also think these little children's books would be a good 

religious Easter basket stuffer for $1 each.

Or even 2 for $1!

In fact, my Dollar Tree had a whole end cap display of religious and biblical stuff that was right in the Easter section, obviously meant for basket stuffing.

You can also get fake flowers galore!
Ever heard the Easter legend of the dogwood tree?
If not, google it, and then get some for $1! :-)

I also found some cute religious Easter basket stuff at Michale's craft store. They have some really affordable stuff in that $5 and under aisle! Check out these wooden crosses I got for $1, markers and all! They make magnets. :-)

Michael's actually had tons of wooden crosses for crafting.

They also had several religious Easter books for children.

They ranged from about $5-10 each.

(Also, Michael's coupons for 40% off one regularly priced
item are available for printing all over the internet. I'm signed
up for something where they email them to me all the time.)

Also, don't forget about the internet as a resource for free or cheap stuff! You can print free prayer cards, books, coloring pages- all kinds of stuff!

Catholic Easter Basket Stuffers to Order:

Here's a cool Catholic Easter basket stuffer- have ya'll seen these rosary eggs? My mother-in-law introduced me to these, and they're adorable! The rosaries are quite tiny (the eggs are only about half the size of normal eggs). Sometimes you can get them from Catholic shops, but you can totally order them online for only $0.75 each, and you can pick your colors! 

And of course, don't forget about homemade treats! I actually got this mold for making chocolate crosses and bibles at Michael's for just $1.99, and I can make as many religious treats as I want! (You can also order special molding trays for first communion pops as well!)

Religious cookies also rock, and I'm willing to bet you already have a cross shaped cookie cutter, and an angel, too!

 

Another great place to bulk order religious stuff (including craft kits) is from oriental trading. They have some seriously cute and affordable religious stuff for kids!

Celebrating the true meaning of Easter can be so much fun! Sometimes I run into people who don't want to ruin good fun by being all "religious" about it, but you can have so much fun with religious stuff! If you don't believe me, check out my Easter post from last year. My kids had so much fun making Easter story cookies! Like, the same amount of fun as they would have had making bunny shaped cookies- honest! Your kids will be happy to have religious Easter basket stuffers, too, just as long as you don't skip out on the jelly beans. ;-)

Hope ya'll enjoyed "window shopping" from your computer chairs today!

Disclosure- I am not in any way associated with the Dollar Tree, Michael's, or Oriental Trading. Just recommending stuff I thought you'd be interested in, but the links to Amazon are affiliate links. Thanks for your support! :-)
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Grotto Craft for Our Lady of Lourdes

Have you guys seen these Catholic grotto craft kits yet? You can get them for Our Lady of Lourdes, Fatima, and Guadalupe. I personally feel like they make most since for Our Lady of Lourdes because the grotto from that apparition is very famous! The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is coming up on February 11. Here are the grotto craft kits Lydia and I made:

This craft would be a great pair with the children's movie Bernadette, Princess of Lourdes.(I have and love that movie by the way- one of my favorites of the CCC collection!). I just love the story of St. Bernadette! (And if you're looking for an adult movie, you can try The Song of Bernadette). 

The grotto kits we made were soooo much fun, so easy, and the results are striking! I couldn't tell from the pictures in the catalog, but the finished project is actually very 3 dimensional and stands on it's own! Also, it came with a great explination of grottos and information about Our Lady that was awesome! The instructions were very easy to follow. This craft kit would make anyone look like a professional crafter.

What I also couldn't tell from the other pictures of this craft- these gem stones it comes with are just beautiful! Lydia loved them! (And I did, too!)

It was so nice to have everything ready to go for me. I think these kits would make excellent gifts for Catholic children (especially from Godparents) for sacraments and Baptism anniversaries! So cute! They recommend coloring the pictures with colored pencils, so I pulled out my all-time-favorite colored pencils... Prismacolor! They are a little pricey, but man are they awesome! I have been using them for more than 10 years and I would never pick up another crayola or rose art brand colored pencil. They're great for kids because you can get such rich colors from them without too much pressure. They're also great for blending and mixing.

Even though it said for ages 6 and up, Lydia is only 4 and this was an awesome craft for her! She did need help keeping the bottom flat, but she did the majority of this herself.

This craft kit was so much fun and kept Lydia busy for over 2 hours. We had a great afternoon making these together! I would fully recommend getting these kits for your kids! It's very relaxing to have everything ready to go without a million trips to the craft store- a real luxury! For more ideas for celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, see my post from last year.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this post, but I was provided with these kits for free from Catholic Child Catalog. Every recommendation you see on this site is 100% honest from me. This post does contain affiliate links which help support the costs of running this site. Thanks for your support!
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First Reconcilication Gift Ideas

Today I decided to tackle a reader question from Julie in Minneapolis:

I have a 2nd grade son making his first reconciliation soon..do you have any ideas or gifts (do you give gifts for that???) on how we can celebrate it? document it? they are just doing it during the school day so there is nothing sponsored by the church ..just wondering what people do for that..thank you!!

I was reading this email and thinking that as Catholics, we tend to wait for first communion to celebrate. I consulted this topic with my favorite Catholic forum and on my facebook page. I got some response that first reconciliation was more of an "inward accomplishment" so therefore not calling for the same celebration that other sacraments do. Given that I've never heard of a "First Reconciliation Party", I thought most other Catholic must feel the same way. Even so, first reconciliation is a sacrament, and could still be recognized as a mile stone... no?

Have you guys heard of first communion banners? (I'm pretty sure I was the last Catholic on the planet to hear of them). Anyway, I think it would be super cool to give your child a craft set to make his or her own First Communion Banner as a gift after their first reconciliation. That way, it can be a gift, but because they also use it at the First Communion it becomes a memory item for both! Catholic Child Catalog has quite a collection of first communion banner kits you can order. I like this "Lamb of God" one! Isn't it beautiful? Everyone can be a successful crafter with these easy-to-use kits!

A First Reconciliation certificate would certainly be a nice way to commemorate this special occasion, and you can print a free first penance certificate here! (Isn't it great to find stuff for free online?!)

I got sooooo many replies from families that went out for ice cream after their child's first reconciliation that I'm going to go ahead and proclaim it a Catholic tradition! (Do I have the authority to do that?) No matter. Whether you spring for Baskin Robbins or make Sundays at home with the kids, take it to the next level by making it symbolic- eat vanilla ice cream because it's white for "purity". :-)

Ok, I'm excited about this first reconciliation gift idea that came from a facebook fan- Give your child an eraser! I thought this was such a cute idea! I've seen these erasers "for big mistakes" at the Dollar Tree. This is a great way to recognize the sacrament in a symbolic way without filling your house with more dust collecting trinkets, or breaking the bank. This might be a cute gift idea to send to your God child for their first reconciliation. Let them know you haven't forgotten their important religious day!

If you're more of the "trinket kind", (and I know us Catholics like our trinkets) I like this Act of Contrition Wall Cross. It's classy looking and keeps the Act of Contrition in mind, which is awesome. :-) Anything with the act of contrition on it would be a great idea (such as a holy card or a wall plaque).

If nothing else, make your child a special dinner. You know, lay down a nice table cloth, put out some pretty china, the works! Just because you're waiting to break out the cake and balloons for your child's first communion doesn't mean you can't celebrate your child's first reconciliation. Anyone have one of these red plates? Crack that baby out of the china cabinet! Whoo hoo! ;-)

How does your family celebrate first reconciliation?

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Catholic Coupon Codes and Cool Catholic Gift Ideas!

Happy Cyber Monday- I've been working for you guys! I'm sure you all know how much I like a great deal, and if I can't find a great deal on something, I'll just make it myself! So I decided I wanted to put together a big Catholic Cyber Monday extravaganza for all of my readers today! FYI- Cyber Monday is when you order everything online that trampling someone at the Shop-and-Save didn't earn you on Black Friday. Several Catholic businesses (large and small) have offered some special deals for Catholic Icing readers, and I can guarantee that you and your friends don't want to miss out!

Autom has provided a coupon code to all Catholic Icing readers- 29% off for the 29th! For those of you who have never heard of Autom, I like to describe it as the "Catholic Costco". They carry more Catholic stuff than you have time to look at, and have great deals! The code can be used once per customer and cannot be combined with other offers. It expires Sunday December 5 at 11:59 PM EST. Autom Coupon Code: CATHOLICICING.

Our next Catholic deal comes from CCC of America. They have provided a coupon code for free shipping! This coupon code will be good to Catholic Icing readers from today through December 10 - that's 2 weeks of free shipping! I have a review of the Catholic children's movies they make here. These would make great stocking stuffers! CCC of America's Coupon Code: CCC120810. 

Catholic Child Catalog also has a coupon code for Catholic Icing readers for 15% off of everything! This coupon code works for today and tomorrow (November 29 & 30) and expires at midnight, so don't wait! Catholic Child Catalog Coupon Code: 159115

St. Luke's Brush has a deal for all of you, too! On orders of $75 or more, mention that you're a Catholic Icing reader and you will receive a free 3.5 inch St. Therese peg doll! These guys really would make great Christmas presents, especially the St. Nicholas doll!

Holy Heroes is offering a FREE Glory Stories CD! This link will take you to the page with the deal. It really is free, you just pay the shipping! This free Glory Stories CD includes the stories of  Blessed Imelda Lambertini & The Story of St. Juan Diego. Everyone can also get 20% off their products by joining Advent Adventure. It's free to join and great for your kids and you get 20% off your purchases!

You guys know the lego rosaries- the most awesome kid's rosaries ever that I'm totally in love with? Well, they're 10% off with Coupon Code CatholicIcing10!!! Also, Mark from Memento Moose says if you mention you are a Catholic Icing reader when you purchase a lego rosary, he will include a free single decade rosary! I seriously love these rosaries. Not just for the child in your life, but also for your awesome teenager or nerdy husband ;-)

Family Christian Stores is having a MAJOR Cyber Monday celebration including 25% off your entire purchase of regularly priced items with Coupon Code 123056301.

 For the next part of this Catholic Cyber Monday post, I'd like to feature some cool Catholic gift ideas I've been running across. Cyber Monday is an actual thing, so you might find some good deals for these things today, or you might find that they're simply awesome enough to pay full price for. ;-)

I saw this Veggie Tales: Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving and thought - "Hey, look! Catholic Veggie Tales!". Lol! I haven't seen this movie, but my friends said it was cute. I'm thinking about getting it for my kids for St. Nicholas day. I'm also considering getting my daughter the Veggie Tales Princess Movie. I think it looks really cute and like a great alternative to the Disney Princess movies. 

I keep seeing Silly Bandz everywhere! Apparantley, they're the coolest thing ever! Lol! Anyway, check out these Religious Silly Bandz. I think they'd be great for a stocking!

Have you guys heard of Hairbows 4 Life yet? Her hairbows are charming, affordable, and 10% of all sales go to the prolife community! I am in love with this sweet Christmas hairbow with a metal of the Holy Family in the middle! (She also has non-Christmas hairbows, and headbands for babies!). I'm thinking about getting one of these for my Goddaughter (who's mother totally reads this blog. Lol!) Over at HairBows 4 Life right now its 10% off whole store and Free Shipping! Deal ends Friday.

I love getting board games on Christmas to play in the afternoon (and all year)! There are soooo many cool religious games now including Apples to Apples Bible Edition, Outburst-Bible Edition, Scattergories-Catholic Edition, Guesstures-Bible Edition, Taboo: Bible Edition, Mad Gab Bible Edition, and you can even get Catholic-opoly! There are more, but these are my favorites. 

This is a new Catholic book that came out for boys called Tin Cups & Tinder: A Catholic Boy's Little Book of Fire, Food & Fun. I'm thinking about getting one for my 9 year old brother. You can read a review of it here. I think this book looks really cool! 

How adorable is this Plush Mary Dollwith baby Jesus?!
This would be a really cute in-mass toy. 

Looking for a funny Catholic gag gift?
How funny is this Holy Toast Stamper?

Check out this Nativity Chocolate Candy Mold! You could
make presents for everyone with just one of these! I want one!
Your kids could also use a mold like this with play dough. 

Totally Catholic has tons of neat stuff including these
cool Catholic pencils for kids.

Please email this link to all of your Catholic friends and spread the great holiday deals!

*Updates!* More Coupon Codes and Deals!

Adoremus Books has 15% off until midnight Coupon Code: Thank10

Additional deal added to Hairbows 4 Life (above)

Additional deal added to Holy Heroes (above)

Family Christian Stores coupon code added (above)

10% off lego rosaries and a free 1 decade rosary with purchase from Memento Moose! (above)

Loyola Press- Click this link for a different deal each day this week.

Catholic Books and Gifts from The Catholic Company - The World's #1 Catholic Store- free shipping with code FALLSHIP. 


...Keep watching for new deals and email me if you know of one not listed! :-)

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