Toddler’s Fourth of July Basket

For this Fourth of July, our son Leo will be 17 months old, so he’s still a bit young for all the fireworks and late night celebrations. But he can definitely enjoy a gift basket with red, white and blue treats!

One of my favorite things about being a parent is getting to see the excitement and newness of things through your child’s eyes. It’s my job to make these days special, and I have so much fun doing it. One of the easiest ways I’ve found is by making celebration baskets for holidays — it’s not just for Easter!

I say this in all my “basket posts,” but these take basically no thought or effort to put together. Stores put their holiday merchandise out months in advance now, so all it takes is a trip to a few stores and you’ll probably find more than enough goodies to throw into a basket, or in my case, a bucket.

I always grab some obvious holiday things like flags or festive accessories, but then I also check the toy and snack isles. Just think of the types of things you know your kid already enjoys (like toy cars or sunglasses) and what things would stand out as being new or special (like Pop Rocks or flashing jewelry).

Everything I got came from the Target dollar spot, Dollar Tree, Five Below or Hobby Lobby, so it doesn’t take much to make a Fourth of July basket extra special. I think I spent about $30 on this entire basket, which isn’t too bad, especially because we aren’t spending money on fireworks or food for a bbq this year.

What to put in a Fourth of July fun basket

Sandbox bucket
Bubbles
Chalk
Small American flags
Temporary tattoos (these glow in the dark!)
Festive headband
Pop rocks
Balloons
Glow bracelets
Glow star wands
Star sunglasses (similar)
Flashing star necklace
Flashing light
Star sandbox toy
Red, white and blue cars (because my son always needs cars)

If you have an older toddler, adding candy, a simple craft or small fireworks like party poppers would be super fun too. Or if you’ve got a little girl, bows, headbands, jewelry, nail polish, hell even a tutu would all be great.

And don’t forget to look in other sections of the store — you can really put anything in these baskets. Not everything has to come from the seasonal Fourth of July section. Like the little cars I included, I just made sure to pick out ones that went with the red, white and blue theme. Super simple and they’ll be enjoyed long after July passes! (unlike the other stuff which will probably be packed up until next year)

If you’re the crafty type and want to do something extra, you could pull out a Cricut and personalize the buckets with your kid’s names — or even include some stickers so your kids can customize it themselves.

I think I need to “level up” my mom game a few notches and get a Cricut so I can start monogramming everything! But for now I just have a young toddler, and only one kid, so I’ll save that effort for another time (;