Time for filling Easter baskets

This time of year, I’m like the Easter bunny. Minus the cotton-ball tail and floppy ears. And instead of hopping along, I go shopping along.

OK, I’m really not like the Easter bunny at all. I just like to fill baskets, which is easy to do if you know where to look.

Like many other women I know (and several men), I’m a holiday fanatic. Decorating for Christmas wasn’t enough, so I branched out into Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, even Hanukkah. I’ve been like this for years, long before I owned a home, so over time, I’ve amassed quite a collection of perfectly useless but wonderfully decorative items for every occasion.

Easter remains one of my favorites, however. Maybe it’s the ham. Or the asparagus. But I think it has more to do with Peeps, jelly beans, chocolate bunnies and beautifully decorated eggs. My mom has a collection of sweet painted wooden eggs that she displays on a little tree, and I found a more elaborate take on the same concept at Ingrid’s European Imports in Bangor. The Germans do Easter right, and Ingrid has a selection of handpainted eggs (real ones) displayed on painted branches. The whole display was enough to make me want to buy one of each design, but even one would make a nice gift for Mom or an older child. And at $7.99, they’re an affordable treat.

Ingrid’s is an Easter oasis, by the way. Whether you’re looking for chocolate bunnies, German paper eggs, handpainted metal figurines or handsome wooden bunnies, you’ll find it there.

One thing you won’t find there are panoramic eggs – those sugary confections with royal-icing scenes inside can be found at Sanborn’s Fine Candies off Stillwater Avenue. Actually, you could fill your whole basket with candy there.

For fluffy bunnies, the cutest I’ve seen are at Rebecca’s in downtown Bangor. I bought an adorable little one for $6.95, and I also picked up an old-fashioned paper box with a chick design on the outside. It’s an alternative to the standard basket (because, really – sorry, Longaberger – who needs another basket?) and for $1.25, I couldn’t pass it up.

If you’d like to combine the two – basket and bunny, that is – Hallmark has you covered with a plush basket that looks like a furry purse. It costs $6.95. Target has tons of inexpensive little basket fillers. But if you’re doing a little holiday entertaining, head to T.J. Maxx ‘n More for china and candles and cookware bedecked with bunnies and chickies and eggs.

I, for one, am skipping the entertaining altogether. I could say it’s because I don’t feel like cooking, but the truth is, I don’t want to share my Peeps.

ShopGirl would love to hear from you! Send questions, comments or suggestions by e-mail to: kandresen@bangordailynews.net, by mail to: Kristen Andresen, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402-1329, or by fax to: 941-9476. Tune in to ShopGirl at 5 p.m. Fridays on WLBZ-2.