Is Costco's $80 'Deluxe' Easter Basket Worth It?

Just because it's a Costco offering doesn't mean it's a good deal.

When we think about the holidays consumers commonly splurge on, Easter doesn't necessarily come to mind. Sure, many of us rack up giant credit card tabs for Christmas, and Halloween can be expensive if you're handing out lots of candy and going all-out on costumes and decor.

Easter tends to be a more moderate holiday that doesn't have to break the bank. This holds true even if you have a tendency to put together Easter baskets for your friends and family members.

Now, if you're looking to shower your kids or loved ones with the ultimate Easter basket, then you may want to look at Costco. Right now, the warehouse club giant has what it calls a "deluxe" Easter basket available for $80 online. That's a $20 discount from its usual price, and that $80 includes shipping and handling.

But is the deluxe Costco basket a good deal? Or do you stand to save money by putting a comparable basket together yourself?

A potential source of savings

Figuring out the retail cost of Costco's deluxe Easter basket is tricky. The reason? A number of the products it contains aren't widely available for individual purchase, or at least not in comparable quantities.

Take Hammond's lemon cakes, a product from Spain. A simple internet search reveals that these aren't something you can simply buy on Amazon.

Now Amazon does sell a box of fancy lemon tartlets for around $11. But it's hard to compare the cost of that with the cost of a product that clearly seems to be a Costco exclusive.

Now on the other hand, Amazon does sell an Easter Tootsie Roll Fun Bank, which is one of the many products featured in Costco's deluxe gift basket. That product alone is $8 on Amazon. Considering that Costco's gift basket contains 17 different items, it's fair to say that putting a comparable basket together yourself will cost more than $80. And it will no doubt take up a lot of your time. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Costco's deluxe basket is a good buy, either.

Should you make your own scaled-down Easter baskets?

It's nice to want to treat your children or family members to something special on Easter. But the reality is that you don't necessarily have to spend $80, or anywhere close, to do that. You also don't need your Easter baskets to contain 17 distinct treats. For young kids, a variety of five or six items is probably enough.

Even if you're making a single Easter basket for your family to share, that $80 price point is pretty steep. This especially applies if you've been struggling to keep up with your bills during this ongoing period of inflation.

If you happen to love Easter and want to pull $80 out of your savings account to indulge your family with Costco's deluxe basket, go for it if money isn't tight. But realize that there are many other routes you can take here.

In fact, right now, Costco is also offering a smaller bucket of sweets for $30. It contains eight different sweets and comes with a cute bunny design. If you're not the creative type and would rather buy a premade Easter basket, this one reads like a much more reasonable purchase for the average consumer than the deluxe offering.