Cardboard Easter Baskets for Springtime Treats

Why Cardboard Makes a Splendid Easter Basket

Every spring, the same thing happens in kitchens across the country: a delivery arrives, the box gets flattened, and someone eyes it up thoughtfully. Cardboard is one of the most underrated craft materials we have at home. It is free, it is sturdy enough to hold a dozen chocolate eggs, and it takes paint beautifully. Best of all, it is forgiving. If a strip tears or a measurement goes slightly wrong, you simply cut another one.

An Easter basket is a lovely first project because it is small, useful and finished in an afternoon. A woven cardboard basket has a charming, rustic look once it is painted in soft spring colours, and because it is light, even a three-year-old can carry it round the garden without tipping it over. This guide takes you through the whole thing, from a plain cardboard box to a basket ready for the egg hunt.

What You Will Need

• Cardboard: one sturdy double-wall box (the sort a supermarket delivery comes in) plus a thinner cereal box for the handle and tags
• Tools: a ruler, a pencil, scissors, and a craft knife for the adult to use on the slots
• Adhesive: PVA glue in a bottle with a fine nozzle, plus a roll of masking tape for holding pieces while the glue sets
• Paint: white emulsion or acrylic as a base, then pastel acrylics in duck-egg blue, soft lilac, mint, blush pink and daffodil yellow
• Brushes: a medium flat brush for coverage and a small round one for dots and details
• Trimmings: ribbon about 1cm wide, raffia or shredded paper, tissue paper, and a few stickers or paper shapes if you have small children helping

Set everything out on a wipe-clean tablecloth or a sheet of newspaper before you begin. Corrugated cardboard sheds a surprising amount of dust when cut.

Building the Basket: Base, Uprights and Weave

Start with a square base measuring roughly 15cm by 15cm, cut from the double-wall box. Mark and cut slots around the edge, about 2cm deep and 4cm apart, working around all four sides. Aim for sixteen slots in total.

Now cut sixteen uprights, each about 15cm long and 4cm wide. Cut these so the flutes run across the width, which keeps them stiff. Slot one upright into each slot and secure it with a bead of glue on both sides, using a small strip of masking tape to hold it while it dries. This is a good job for a child with steady hands, and you can chatter while you work.

Leave the glue for twenty minutes, then begin weaving. Cut weavers roughly 60cm long and 4cm wide, with the flutes running along the length so they curve easily around the basket. Weave the first strip in and out of the uprights, working all the way round, and glue the ends where they meet. For the second row, reverse the pattern so you go under where you went over. Three or four rows is usually plenty for a basket that will hold a handful of eggs.

Finish by trimming the uprights so they are level, then fold the top centimetre of each one outwards to make a neat rim. Glue the folds down and leave everything to dry properly. A basket rushed at this stage will feel flimsy on Easter morning.

Painting, Ribbons and Finishing Touches

Mixing pastels is easiest with a base of white. Add a small amount of colour at a time until you reach the shade you want, and test it on an offcut of cardboard first, as card soaks up paint and dries a shade darker than it looks when wet. Two thin coats always beat one thick one, which can warp the card and crack as it dries.

Paint the outside first, then the inside, then the handle. For a soft, washed look, brush on your colour and wipe most of it back with a cloth, letting the brown of the cardboard show through. For a bolder basket, paint the base white and let it dry completely before adding stripes, spots or a simple blossom pattern.

Ribbon does a lot of the decorative work here. Weave a length through the top row of the weave, tying a small bow at the front. Wrap another length tightly around the handle, gluing as you go, or wind ribbon in a spiral and secure both ends. A luggage-style tag cut from the cereal box, painted and threaded with string, adds a name to each basket. Small painted dots along the rim, made with the end of a pencil, look like tiny eggs and take only minutes.

Filling, Hunting and Looking After Your Baskets

Line each basket with tissue paper and add a nest of raffia or shredded paper so eggs sit snugly and do not roll out. A basket of this size comfortably holds eight to ten small chocolate eggs, or four or five larger ones. If you are using real eggs, glue a second square of card inside the base for extra strength and pop the eggs into a small tub first.

For an egg hunt, remember that cardboard and wet grass are not friends. If rain is forecast, seal the basket inside and out with a coat of diluted PVA glue, or simply stand a plastic tub inside before filling it. Handles should be checked before the children set off; a strip of card glued on both sides of the rim is much stronger than one glued to the outer face only.

Store the baskets flat and dry once Easter is over, and they will come out again next year. If a basket does get squashed, an iron on a low setting, used over a sheet of greaseproof paper, will flatten it out surprisingly well. Children who made their own baskets tend to look after them, which is a small reward all of its own.