The tradition of Easter egg hunts goes back many centuries. As a symbol of fertility and new birth, eggs planted around the home bring to mind the rebirth of Jesus. Incorporate that same feeling of joy into your hunt and make it fun for the whole family.
To generate the most fun, decorate the house in a festive ‘Easter’ style. Finding eggs is great fun, however sprucing up the home inside and out can really create a holiday feeling.
Before hiding any eggs or baskets, you will have to decide which kind of eggs to use and what should be in the baskets.
Eggs can be either real, artificial, or both. Real eggs provide all the fun of decorating. Families can spend time together making up and executing all kinds of interesting designs at a very low cost. Artificial eggs have the advantage of saving some time and being filled with all sorts of delightful surprises. Eggs can contain chocolates, jewellery and much more.
Similarly, baskets can be filled with anything that will fit. Everything from miniature flashlights or toys to puppies or kittens have made their way into the Easter baskets for kids to find. Stuffed or chocolate bunnies (my favourite), magic tricks or games all bring joy to young hearts.
You can have even more fun by making the basket the first thing to find. There are many creative ways to do that. Drawing a little maze or map for them to navigate is one way. Providing treasure hunt clues is another. Don’t spend too much time getting the children to look for the basket as they will want to move on to the egg hunt fairly quickly otherwise frustration may set in.
Once the ‘hunter’ has their basket in hand, the fun really begins. A mixture of easy-to-find eggs together with others that present a challenge provides a good balance. Easy to find items give the younger children incentive to continue, since they see rewards right away. The eggs that take a little more time and effort to find help draw out the game like an interesting movie in which everyone is eager to discover what comes next.
So our hint is to plan your Easter egg hunt well rather than just have a free for all where everyone searches randomly. The kids will have much more fun, and so will you as you watch their path to success.