Preparing for Easter helps us embrace the full meaning of this important celebration, but it's also time for a little fun and laughter with the little ones. Easter just isn’t Easter without an egg hunt. Now doing our own Easter egg hunt isn't something that we have actually done. We took our daughter on one a few years ago but I don't think she could really appreciate it at the time. Now that she is going to school and has been learning about the real reason we celebrate Easter, it's time for her to embrace the fun. The Easter Bunny!
As a child, the Easter Bunny didn't exist! We never did an Easter egg hunt. We used to go away with my parents and grandparents for a little holiday. So the whole Easter bunny and hunt thing didn't really interest us. However the same cannot be said for my bunny loving little girl, about a week or so before the school term ended the Easter Bunny was mentioned a few hundred times. So this year both my husband and I had to create a little Easter egg hunt in the garden, and make it a brilliant one at that. Good weather? Check. Cute little basket? Check. Eggs, eggs and more eggs? Check, check and check. So now it's time to plan an Easter egg hunt? For those that don't have a clue, don't worry use these egg-stra helpful tips, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t all go to plan and leave you with happy chocolate covered faces.
Easter Decorations...
Get your house ready by hanging pastel balloons outside your home and an Easter decoration on your door so everyone knows where they are going. You could go and hang some pretty pastel bunting, and anything bunny-esque. You don't have to go overboard decorating for the egg hunt. I have seen a lot of Easter trees in the supermarkets, I was tempted but I didn't want to go overboard with the decorations this year.
Eggs Galore...
Well, you can't really call it an Easter egg hunt without a few eggs, right? You need eggs galore. If your hunt will include more than one child, avoid the tears by colour coding the eggs and ask each child to search for only a certain colour. Or make everyone a list of the colour or numbered eggs they need to collect, so they tick as they go. As this is our first Easter egg hunt in the garden we went a little crazy with the eggs. We stocked up on these gorgeous pastel coloured eggs from the supermarket, and even managed to get hold of some Peter Rabbit Easter Hunt chocolate eggs, mini eggs and chocolate lollipops. In addition to these eggs, we also brought a couple of boxed eggs that are slightly larger in size and come with extra goodies. We couldn't wait to get our hands on the Lir Chocolate Egg that was beautifully handcrafted and decorated Belgian Milk Chocolate Eggs, and will be sold eggs-clusively in selected Tesco’s stores across the UK this Easter. Accompanied by an assortment of four uniquely flavoured chocolates from Lir’s hugely popular Discovery Collection, including Cinnamon and Cream, Salted Caramel, Hazelnut Gianduja and Coffee Crunch, these luxurious eggs are the perfect gift to treat both yourself and your loved ones this Easter.
You’ll Need a Basket...
As every egg hunter knows, preparation is everything and this means having a suitable basket or bag to collect all your sweet treats. You can buy these from craft shops or supermarkets to be used as it is, or you can customise with bows, ribbons and Easter themed stickers. But, if you don’t have time for baskets then don't worry a bowl or paper bag will be good enough. It’s all about what’s inside that counts here! CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE AND CHOCOLATE!!!
Now, Plan Your Route...
Everyone's house and garden comes in all shapes and sizes. But the most important thing to understand with the little ones is that the hunt has to be as safe as possible, ensuring that all children won't get lost or feel completely overwhelmed. If it's a beautiful sunny day, make sure that all children are wearing their sun hats and have plenty of sun cream on, if it gets too hot or too much for the little ones you could move the hunt to inside the house. Wherever the hunt take place, be prepared to stay with it for the long haul. Little people tend to take their time with things like this, or they are over excited and miss the directions or clues.
Hide Your Eggs, Be Creative...
With little ones it would probably be best to choose to use visual clues, rather than written ones. You could cut out arrows out of pastel coloured card to direct your little hunters in the right direction, it's always a great way to help you stay on track. Just bare in mind that making the hiding spots too tricky may unleash an almighty tantrum or make your little one super grumpy. So hide the eggs in obvious places rather than under or inside other objects. We plan on keeping our little hunt really simple and easy and picked up a pack of bunnies on sticks to guide our little egg hunter and used ready made pointers and directions. It was only £1 and I think that this will save up a lot of time, so we can indulge in a little chocolate. When it comes to hiding your eggs try and be as creative as you can with little ones. Planters and tree branches are some of the more obvious ones, and small baskets and bins make things a little more challenging.
Have Fun...
When all the eggs have been found, eaten or stashed away why not play some Easter themed activities, you could sing some songs about bunnies, ducks, or sheep. You could even play some games. A few games could include an Egg Dance where you place a few eggs on the ground and turn on the music. The whole idea of this game is to dance among the eggs while breaking as few as possible and the winner gets a prize. Another great game to play is Egg Tapping which involves two contenders holding hard boiled eggs, here each player takes a turn in tapping the other's egg without cracking their own. Bunny, Bunny, Hop which is like duck, duck, goose with a hop. It's the perfect Easter activity. Change the words to bunny as you tap each child and hop when one child is selected. Instead of running around the circle, players hop with their feet together. Egg Hunt Acting which is like the classic game charades, this Easter egg hunt idea is perfect for adults! Once the eggs have been found, gather inside for a festive Easter-themed acting contest. Divide into teams and see who can guess the most!
Lastly, Make The Eggs Last...
Even though it may be tempting to eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner, after all it is Easter. It's always a good idea to try and make the chocolate last as long as you can, so as soon as the hunt is over stash as much chocolate as you can away or at least out of eye level of little ones. I know that this year I will try and avoid the eggs as much as I can, so try and avoid dipping into the chocolate stash while the little ones are asleep too, even though it's more than tempting.
We abandoned ours this year as it was just too hot and our garden is a sun trap......might set it up when the weather cools next week
ReplyDeleteWe had to do ours last minute because of the heat this year! We did okay though considering.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I wish I was a kid again, I would love it!
ReplyDeleteWe still love a good easter egg hunt here, we also made some Easter treats and done some crafts too, the kids had great fun.
ReplyDeleteThese are all such lovely tips, whenever Easter comes round, I find myself always rushing around. Thanks for these tips.
ReplyDeleteWith older children (12 and 10) their 'egg hunt' is a really detailed, coded, clue-led trail that leads them to specific locations around the house, garden, garage, office and car to find their goodies. We've cut down on the amount of chocolate they find, so they find 'bits n bobs' on their trail - like a new t-shirt, fortnite duvet cover, speedometer for their cycles, a book ... every other clue is chocolate though!
ReplyDeleteWe had a joint Easter egg hunt with all our neighbours in our communal garden this year. I had planned to put out little clues etc but the older kids just went mad and raced through the garden grabbing at eggs. The younger kids didn't stand a chance. I think next year we'll set aside one part of the garden just for the little ones.
ReplyDeleteOh that's a wonderful idea.
DeleteYou can’t beat a good Easter hunt! We have so much chocolate it is crazy 🙈
ReplyDeleteOh yes a little chocolate crazy fun
DeleteWe have been to many Easter egg hunts this year, starting in March I think, but nothing beats grandma's egghunts!
ReplyDeleteAw how sweet. Nothing beats that I'm sure.
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