Tatorthoughts 2022 Easter Basket Breakdown

This years Tatorthoughts Easter baskets include:

•Two dinosaurs from the target Dollar-spot

•Two grab and go color packs from the target Dollar-spot

•Two Crayola bath books from the target Dollar-spot

•One light up flamingo bubble gun from the target Dollar-spot

•Some bunny loves you book

•Leapfrog Leapland adventures video game

•Two sets of bunny ears from Pop shelf

•Two Usborne phonics books

•everyday kids brand satin-trimmed blanket

•American baby satin-trimmed blanket

•First years Take and toss cutlery set

•Two 2pack sets Chicco Insulated Rim Spout Trainer Spill Free Sippy Cup 9oz sets

•Two pairs of K KomForme Toddler Light Up patterned Rain Boots with Handles

These baskets were SO MUCH FUN to build!

The baskets themselves were made custom by Two incredible small businesses, both previous features on Tatorthoughts.com.

I guess you could say this mama is a little “EGG-stra”, but the way I see it is god gave ME the precious gift that is these incredible kids & I only get so much time with them young. It brings me so much joy to be doing the things I dreamed of and prayed for right now. 

I’m living my answered prayers!

Time moves so quickly and that fact is bittersweet but I’m thankful I get to simultaneously spoil my babies as I savor that precious time with them and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus this weekend. 

To many, it may seem like Easter baskets filled to the brim with small trinkets. For me, it’s a way of giving praise and thanks to the one who made it possible and speaking my love language of gift-giving and acts of service & togetherness to two small humans that light up my life. 

With that being said let’s dig into these baskets.

I chose these four retailers because they met both theme and functionality needs.

As per my latest post you know I’m new to pop shelf so the ears were a bonus but they were included in the baskets so they had to be featured here. 

We aren’t huge Usborne book readers however every once in a while we do make an exciting splurge purchase and I felt these phonics books made a great inclusion in their Easter baskets with “raccoon on the moon” being the phonics book for the letter R and “shark in the park” being the phonics book for letter S

Amazon is my go-to for a lot of things because it comes to me and if I have any issues I can make fairly simple returns so the fact that the majority of these items came from Amazon is a no-brainer.

I have no regrets on quality or prices here and I’ve got to say when it comes to these rain boots these shoes are pretty incredible!

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t trying to figure out a way to wicked stepsister my feet into these boots before my kids saw them I suppose it’s time for me to find some nice glitter rain boots for myself even if mine most likely won’t light up from heel to toe as theirs do. 

my kids love blankets and reading books so you really can’t go wrong there and for some strange reason we can never have enough silverware for adults or children.

I don’t get to shop at Target as much as I would like to but I do try to go at least a few times a year and Easter is always one of them the target Dollar spot is where it’s at for many things but Easter especially. 

We also got our entire family’s Easter outfits from target this year so it was easy during that shopping trip to grab and drop on our kid-free shopping spree to fill out those baskets. 

Don’t worry about the lack of candy pictured here, they will be getting plenty even if it’s not kept inside their baskets or hidden underneath what can only be described as the glitter of Easter decorations also known as plastic Easter grass. 

I guess I should HOP off here now and prepare for everyone’s favorite bunny to make his arrival and take all the credit for this show of love and pride that mom & dad put into things, ah but the years are so short so I digress. I suppose I don’t mind sharing credit for a while longer. 

I just hope I have some very happy grace-filled toddlers on Easter.

*I’ll report back with a quality update on any of these products later should one be needed.*

Happy Easter!

All my love, Tator. 


Pop Shelf : First impression Review

this week I visited pop shelf for the very first time with a really good friend of mine on what we have coined “mom‘s day out”

I had heard little of it before visiting myself, however, I chalked it up to them being fairly new. 

While my day out was fun I was only mildly impressed by this new mystical store I found myself perusing. (Think more colorful version of family dollar or dollar general here.)

Sure their cute seasonal setup was aesthetically pleasing and they have an array of items but I wasn’t immersed in wonder or jumping for joy. 

(To be fair, there is very little I would jump for.)

The item availability and quality seemed nice enough and their prices seemed fair but one item caught my attention specifically. 

Pink tax is real and in this moment that was evident. 

Being that my daughter’s birthday is in June and my son just had his birthday last month; I found myself browsing the party section filled with bags, gift wrapping, sashes, tissue paper, and birthday ribbons. 

The birthday ribbons I felt were a must purchase item until I saw that while one of each was gendered towards a boy and a girl and they were essentially the same generic birthday ribbons in pink and blue the pink one was TWICE the price of the blue for the same item in pink. 

I doubt very seriously it cost them anything more to make the pink ribbon than it did the blue and I found the price hike unfair but I digress.

During this visit, I picked up a few items and collected a very small Pop Shelf Haul. 

The process of shopping and self-checkout was simple enough and it wasn’t overwhelmingly crowded or busy which I enjoyed for my calm leisurely day. 

While my first encounter was brief and left me with a slightly sour impression of the brand I may go back if I’m in the area. 

Don’t get me wrong, Pop Shelf has the potential to be great especially if they start paying attention to slight oversights and gaps in marketing. 

During this trip, I purchased two different print sets of Easter ears to include in my children’s Easter baskets 

An extremely soft cupcake print baby blanket for my daughter because I call her “Cupcake”

*DISCLAIMER: I’ve yet to see how well it holds up after washing*

The Birthday pin Ribbon For her upcoming birthday (only after mentioning the price discrepancy to the employee before my purchase was made)

And a beautiful well-bound journal/ Notebook for myself and upcoming big events. 

In short: yes, I’d go back likely once a season max.. Or if it were the last time simi-decent store on earth. 

Moral of the story; gender price hiking for the same exact item is crap & good friends make even somewhat lackluster things great!  

Be kind today

Xx -Tator