For the past 16 years or so we have organized an Easter Egg Hunt for our nieces and nephews. What started out as a small activity for just a couple of youngsters has grown and expanded into a family affair that involves both sides of our family including 7 kids under 18 and 12 adults (yes, we even hide goodies for the adults). The entire clan wanders the trails and woods of our wooded property during the hunt and it usually takes a couple of hours.
We have hunted in sunny warm weather, in snow and rain. We have been blessed that we have never had weather icky enough to have had to postpone the event. We are lucky that our families all live within 30 minutes so it is not difficult to get together. Since we have a lot of experience planning Easter egg hunts we thought we would share our Easter egg hunt tips and tricks in case you are going to organize your own Egg Hunt.
13 Easter Egg Hunt tips
#1: Assign each child a different color of egg to find
From the very beginning we have assigned each child their own color of plastic egg to find. This is helpful for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being it keeps things fair. The older kids can’t scramble and find more eggs than the younger kids; each child gets the same amount of eggs. We have formed quite an impressive collection of plastic Easter eggs over the years and keep them stored in 2 storage totes in the garage.
Look for plastic eggs at garage sales where you can often find them very cheaply. You can also find them at thrift stores or end of season sales. Luckily the most popular colors for eggs are repeated by various manufacturer’s so even though the shades may be different they are pretty much the same colors (blue, pink, green, yellow, orange, purple, etc). What to do when the number of kids exceeds the amount of different colored eggs you have? Get creative! We have had the older children be half & half colors, for example their eggs may be purple and green like shown below. Or, spray paint works well too – one year we had 9 kids under 18 participating so we ended up having to spray paint eggs red for that 9th color.
#2: Provide bags or baskets or something to put the items in
At the beginning of each Easter egg hunt we call the family together for a meeting and pass out bags with their name on them and the color they are assigned. It makes it easy for them to remember what they are looking for.
#3: You don’t have to fill the eggs
Over the years we have found it harder and harder to find itty bitty things that fit inside the plastic eggs. It is tricky! What we have been doing for the past few years is having the kids redeem the eggs for a prize at the end of the hunt. For example, tell them that if they turn in 40 eggs (whatever number you choose – for us they need to turn in 90) and the end of the hunt you will give them a prize. This prize can be anything you wish – we keep it simple and offer cold hard cash. They love that!
#4: Hide things along with eggs
This tip is one of the best because once you allow your mind to entertain the idea of the kids hunting for items it makes figuring out what you are going to hide so much easier. You can hide anything! Some examples of items we hide are: Pringles, packs of gum, coloring books, balls, nail polish, body spray, bottles of juice, body wash, comic books, dollar bills, snack cakes (individually wrapped), candy bars, Capri Suns, books, hair ties, key chains, socks, gas cards, suckers, etc. You may be wondering how the kids know which items are theirs? We tag every single item with color co-ordinating paper, usually with their name on it. One easy way to do this is put the item into a plastic bag and slip the paper inside. The plastic bags make it easier to hide the items too because you can pop a hole in the bag and hang it on a branch for example. Use saran wrap to shrink wrap larger items.
#5: Divide up the area
We like to divide up our egg hunt into 3 areas. No one can emerge from area #1 until every single person has found their goodies in that area. It helps to keep the family together as a group and eliminates anyone from buzzing through the whole hunt quickly. It’s a nice time to get to chat to the parents too, as we wander through the area. Plus if a child ends up missing anything we can all work as a team to help them find it.
#6: Make a map
Everyone likes an adventure, and by making a map of the Egg Hunt it spurs curiosity. We pass out maps at the start of our egg hunt with each section clearly marked (we have 3 sections). On the map we note how many eggs and how many items they need to find in that area. No one moves on from an area until everyone has found all their required items. Why is this a good thing? Read tip #5 again.
#7: Include the adults
For the first 10 years we did not hide anything on the egg hunt for the adults but one year we decided it would be fun for them to have something to look for as they wander the trails with the kids. We buy scratch off lottery tickets and hide them in white envelopes for the adults. At the start of the hunt during the family meeting when we pass out the maps and bags to the kids we remind the adults that they can each find 2 envelopes. We hide these envelopes in silly spots to make it tricky for some of them. Every family has those couple of people that love a challenge so those people are usually the ones on a quest for the tricky ones. We spread the envelopes out in all 3 sections of our hunt.
#8: Put extra shopping bags out at the end of each section
The eggs and the things add up & get heavy and depending on how large your hunt is the kids may find it easier to empty out their goody bags into plastic shopping bags after each section. At our hunt the kids gather round and this is where they do their final count to check that they have found all the eggs and things for that certain area. The parents join in to help. Remember, it must all be found before we move onto the next section as a family. (If someone is missing anything we join in as a family to assist them at this point.)
#9: Don’t get too tricky when hiding
When we first moved from the city to our rural home we thought it would be really fun to hide the eggs & things in tricky spots. We were wrong – do not get too clever when hiding. It’s fun to have to search but when things are hidden too well it can become frustrating. We usually toss a few of the eggs out along the trail that are easily visible and then put some eggs and items in less obvious spots.
#10: Put the heavy things at the end
When you are hiding the things, put the heavier items like the juice bottles or body wash at the end so the kids don’t have to lug them around through the whole hunt. Those bags can get heavy!
#11: Preparation makes it easier
We start prepping for our egg hunt about 2 weeks before the event. Depending on the size of your egg hunt, it can take a long time to bag and tag everything. For example, we this year we have 7 kids who will each have 90 eggs and 20 things to find. That is 770 items, 140 of which are things that need to be tagged with their names. Usually our living room floor is filled with piles of stuff during the week leading up to the hunt. We hide the items the morning of the egg hunt and it takes us about 2 hours. Again this will depend on the size of your hunt. When we set out to place the eggs and the things we have already decided on how many eggs will be hidden in each section as well as how many things. We take small totes out to the 3 different sections with the correct amount of eggs and things per child and start placing them. The first years it was trickier but now we are seasoned pros; organization is the key.
#12: Capture the fun
Having the entire family together is a cherished time, don’t forget to take a nice group photo. We take ours before the hunt starts, when we gather for the family meeting to pass out the maps and bags. It’s also fun to have someone on the hunt in charge of photos. Jim is great at capturing the joy and wonder during the egg hunt.
#13: Gather the eggs for next year
We have learned that clean up from the egg hunt is easier when you keep out the bins that the eggs are stored in so the kids can put the eggs right into the bin at the end of the event. Because we don’t hide anything in the eggs they stay put together (see tip #3). If you do hide things in your eggs ask the kids to close them back up when they are empty and then put them in the storage bin. This will save you lots of time next year matching up the halves of eggs. Trust us, this is a big time saver.
So there you have it, our Easter egg hunt tips and tricks that help us host a successful Easter egg hunt year after year. We are looking forward to this year’s hunt!
