Forget plastic grass; there's time to grow the real thing for your Easter baskets.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Save some money on your Easter shopping this year by forgoing those cheap plastic baskets and that fake grass, which will just wind up decorating a landfill when the holiday is over. Dig through your closets and storage spaces for creative, recycled alternatives to plastic, and instead of buying grass, learn how to grow your own! It takes only a few days, and even if you don't celebrate Easter, you can use your fresh grass as a pet treat or houseplant.

Green Easter Baskets
If you have last year’s basket(s), dig them out (I’ve had some of the current baskets for 20 years and they are still going strong, since they spend most of the year tied up in bags). If not, swing by your local thrift store and pick up some natural wicker baskets. Vacuum any dusty ones, or wash really dirty baskets in warm water with a little dish detergent (test colored areas for colorfastness first), pat them dry with towels, reshape if necessary, and allow them to air-dry.

You can also recycle empty household containers into ecofriendly baskets. Plastic gallon beverage jugs are easy to cut into traditional basket shapes and quite pretty when decorated with cloth or paper scraps, glued on with nontoxic glue. You could even leave rabbit-ear-shaped tabs sticking up and decorate the basket with organic cotton balls. Two-liter soda bottles can be cut in half, with a ribbon strung through either side of the bottom half as a handle. Likewise, you can string a handle through any butter tub, large yogurt container, or anything else large and strong enough to hold little ones' Easter treats. For older kids who may not need to carry their baskets around, containers without handles, such as cookie tins or shoe boxes, work well, too. Creating these “baskets” is a great ways to get kids involved in recycling!

Keep reading to learn how to grow Easter basket grass.