Food & Entertaining

Planning The Ultimate Easter Egg Hunt

Planning The Ultimate Easter Egg HuntHave you ever wanted to host the ultimate Easter egg hunting party? Well, you’re in luck, because here are all the instructions you’ll need for super egg-hunting fun.

1. First, you need the right kind of location. A big outdoor garden with lots of nooks and crannies is a perfect place. A soccer field is not. Neither is a gym. There are simply not enough interesting places to hide stuff.

2. For each egg hunter, have their parents provide 18 filled plastic eggs a week before the big hunt. This will give the ones who forget their eggs some extra time to get their acts together.

3. When hiding the eggs, keep in mind the varying ages and skill levels of the egg hunters. Leave some in obvious places and others that would challenge any adult. Warn the older kids not to push or shove the little ones when looking for eggs.

4. Print out some clever clues on strips of paper and put them in a few eggs. Example: “The golden egg you will find/Not in front of, but behind!” Or: “A lucky person indeed who looks among the weeds!” Of course, these clever clues need to reference something in particular. Your clues may even send the egg hunter to another clue! This could be extended for quite a while, until the hunter finds a “special egg.”

5. People who find these “special eggs” could be entered into a drawing, or the “special eggs” could contain something like a $5 bill or a small toy.

6. For a unique twist, you could divide the children into teams. Afterwards, you could give “prizes” to the team with the most eggs, the team with the most eggs of a certain color, etc.

7. Give a nice “hard luck” prize to the person who found the least eggs, but don’t tell the contestants about this before the egg hunt.

8. Give a prize to the person with the prettiest/coolest egg-collecting basket.

9. You could host an adult Easter egg hunt with some variations…You would have to fill the eggs yourself. And you wouldn’t get to play, of course. Instead of a $5 bill, the special eggs could contain gift certificates to fast food restaurants or similar unexpected treats. Instead of candy, golf tees or nail polish. Use your imagination! You could even host such an event as a charity benefit, with donated prizes and a small entry fee for each egg hunter.

After the Easter egg hunt is over, have a nice brunch featuring egg-straordinary dishes like ham and Gruyere omelets, pear-stuffed French toast, fruit salad, and mimosas for the grown-up egg hunters. Or cream cheese scrambled eggs, biscuits, jam, and bacon for the younger hunters. That is, if anyone is hungry after all of their candy!

by Meredith Mooney