Benefit from After Easter Sales

I’ve just updated this blog post about after Easter sales. It includes after Easter deals and ideas for taking advantage of them. These should help you save some money with your shopping.

In 2024, Easter Sunday is March 31. So it’s early this year. You can expect to find all of these Easter markdowns starting on April 1st — and that’s no April Fool’s joke.

Strategies for shopping after Easter sales

You can approach after Easter sales the way you do for sales after Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Halloween — all holidays that have chocolate and candy that go along with them. You can stock up on candy that you can freeze for use during a later celebration.

Update: I went to Target, TJ Maxx and a few other stores on April 1. That was the day after Easter and let me tell you: Target was nearly cleaned out. This is what the candy aisle looked like.

Stocking up on Easter candy

For example, given the spring colors associated with Easter, any pastel-colored candy would work great at a future baby shower, wedding or even just a spring party. Or keep those chocolate candies in your freezer for baking at another time.

Speaking of candy, you can also stock up for next year’s basket or anything else you like to put in Easter baskets. Find a chocolate Easter bunny marked down to a crazy low price? Buy it and pop it into the freezer. No one will be the wiser in 2025.

Look for things like Easter chocolate, chocolate candy in Easter or spring colors and the like. Not sure if Peeps freeze but there were plenty of them left at Target on the day after Easter.

Easter decorations

Another thought: Easter wrapping paper can double as baby shower paper. Think about it — ducks, rabbits and lambs are what you find on decorations for Easter but they also work for a new baby. Plus, the colors all work, too — pink, baby blue, and yellow!

Same with Easter decorations. You’ll find similar themes in wall decals, streamers, balloons, napkins and more that would work for a baby shower.

I found that the after Easter deals were much better at TJ Maxx and HomeGoods than at Target. TJ Maxx had already marked everything Easter down by 50%, so half off. Plus, their store shelves were better stocked than Target’s were.

Easter egg hunt supplies

If you hosted Easter egg hunts this year, chances are you’re going to host one next year, right? And if the plastic eggs that we use on those hunts have seen better days, then an after Easter sale is a great time to restock your egg hunt supplies.

Target had a ton of plastic Easter eggs at the front of the store and also in clearance. So if you need to restock yours, definitely head to Target ASAP.

Build your garden with Easter flowers

What about all those flowers for Easter? I’m thinking of hydrangeas, lilies and daffodils. Many of them are perennials that you can plant in your garden and enjoy for years to come. Best of all they should be marked down starting the day after Easter. Maybe even the day before Easter since many stores are closed on this holiday.

If you buy them already in a pretty pot and can keep them alive until the end of the school year, you can give these as frugal teacher gifts for the end of the year. Otherwise, plant them in your garden.

Toys

Sure, Easter baskets are filled with delicious candies. However, they also likely have some kind of toys in them. Use these after Easter deals and sales to get non-holiday toys that you can use to stock your gift closet. I love having a gift closet that I can turn to when I need a last-minute birthday present or holiday gift.

Target was definitely sold out of Squishmallows but had plenty of other plush toys and other things that kids would love.

Stock up on housewarming/hostess gifts

My favorite place to shop after-Easter sales is Target. Last year, we found so much Easter stuff that was on sale. We had actually gone to Target because we need new oven mitts–we’re still using the ones with snowmen and menorahs on them. So, right at the Dollar Spot at the front of Target we spied employees putting out the marked down Easter products. We didn’t even have to hit the back of the store’s clearance aisle.

Included in them were two-packs of dish towels and oven mitts or pot holders. These tea towels and oven mitts were in Easter, pastel colors, but they didn’t not have Easter images on them. So, they were universal and could easily work in our kitchen or for a future housewarming gift. Best of all: they were marked down from $3 to just 90 cents!

Get Easter outfits on the cheap

Are your children young enough (and not so much fashionistas yet) that you could buy next year’s Easter clothing this year, during a spring sale and a few sizes bigger? Even better if your kids–namely your daughters–happen to like the colors associated with Easter, you can score lots of items for her closet or room during these sales.

I’m thinking about my younger daughter Annie who has loved purple since she was old enough to say the word “purple.” In college now it is still her favorite color. After Easter was my favorite time of the year to stock up on everything purple for Annie–things like gifts, clothing and decor for the rest of the year.

Buying Easter dresses at Target

When my daughters were little, we usually bought their Easter dresses at Target. Here’s a link to Target’s Easter page. Hopefully, you’ll find something you like, whether it’s before Easter or during those after Easter sales.

Also along the fashion lines: if you’re planning a wedding and will be having a flower girl or young bridesmaids in your wedding party, marked down dresses in after Easter sales could be a great way to keep those purchases on budget.

I’d love to hear from you how you take advantage of after-Easter sales and where some of your favorite places to shop are. Maybe you’ll inspire me to check them out, too.

Where to find the best Easter sales after the holiday

So, which stores do I recommend you hit up starting on the day after Easter for the best after Easter sales? Well, I’ve already mentioned Target. You can best bet I’ll be there on Easter Monday, stocking up on everything that’s been marked down.

Some other places you might find after Easter deals include:

• Best Buy: You could see markdowns on appliances since Easter is the last, big indoor cooking holiday event of the spring season — unless you’re Jewish. And then there is Passover.
• Walmart: Look for those Easter outfits, supplies for Easter baskets, toy markdowns and more here.
• Amazon: Every once and awhile you’ll find a post-holiday sale on Amazon. So, it doesn’t hurt to look.

Too bad Bed Bath & Beyond joined the list of defunct stores that no longer exist. It, too, was a great place to shop Easter clearance sales and find holiday season deals.