How-To Throw an Easter Egg Hunt in 6 Steps

During the Easter break, it can be tough to keep the little ones entertained. With no school to keep them busy for the best part of two weeks and loads of Easter gifts to consume, how are you going to run the batteries down on those little bundles of energy? We hear you parents, and we are here to help!

Thankfully, there’s a fun family tradition ready to fill the gap. If you’re looking for an Easter activity that keeps your kids active, gets them out in the spring sunshine (don’t hold us to that) and involves the whole family, we have a timely suggestion. The absolute classic in springtime family fun - the Easter egg hunt!

Here’s how to put together an Easter egg hunt with your family this April.

Step 1: Choose Your Location

The first step is to decide where your Easter egg hunt will take place. For this, there are a few considerations. The good old English weather may get in the way of your attempts to take the hunt outside, so consider an indoor and outdoor option. On the day, you can look outside and decide where to start.

If the sun is shining, take your egg hunt into the great outdoors. It’ll get everyone some fresh air and gives you a chance to bring a massive increase in the fun-factor of everyone’s day. If you’re heading outdoors, consider your local park, giving you and your kids loads of opportunity to run around on the hunt for elaborate clues.

If you’re forced indoors by a spot of rain, staying at home can be just as much fun! The familiarity will help family members locate those eggs, so we’d recommend making the clues a tad more obscure to make it both challenging and rewarding.

Another option for an indoor hunt is at your local community centre. If you’re feeling ambitious, scale up the event would be to open the Easter egg hunt out to your children’s school friends.

You could always take a little bit of both and weave in and out of several places in and out of the house. Easter egg hunts are at their best when they explore several different places – so get creative with your locations!

Step 2: Plan Your Route

Once you’ve decided on a location, it’s time to get specific. Grab a pen and paper and draw a map of the route (just make sure your participants don’t see it!).

You know your house, local park, or community centre better than we do, but there are a few considerations. Big, spacious rooms in the house are always preferable to small spaces.

Consider the living room and bedrooms rather than the utility closet or the community centre’s cleaning room, as these could lead to accidents.

Plus, leave them out in the sun too long, or pressed up against a radiator, and you could end up with messy hands – or worse – a ruined carpet!

Just to be sure, you could lock the entrances to areas where children might be put in danger. If this isn’t a possibility, hang a notice on the door saying “Keep Out” – although we often find that this means the kids are more likely to go in!

Step 3: Decorate Your Easter Eggs

It’s almost time to put your plan into action, but one of the final hurdles is the eggs themselves. No one wants to work tirelessly solving clues only to uncover plain, standard eggs. If you’re deciding against using chocolate, get your craft cap on and let’s make those eggs sparkle.

This is a fantastic way of getting your children involved before the egg hunt even begins, building excitement for the big day and allowing you to spend time doing fun stuff with your kids.

But how do you decorate your Easter eggs? This can go as far as you and your child's imagination will take it. Just make sure you’ve got everything you need to make a variety of weird and wonderful Easter eggs:

• Paint

• Coloured pens

• Ribbons

• Glitter

• Sequins

• Stencils

If your egg hunt involves people from the wider community, challenge their creativity and run a competition. As a little side event to the egg hunt, set up a craft egg table and see what everyone can come up with – offering a prize for the best one.

You could even set up a theme. How about challenging everyone to create their favourite superhero? Or create a pattern that represents spring?

Step 4: Lay Out The Clues

Location – check! Route – check! Eggs - check! The planning phase is over and it’s almost time to launch your Easter egg hunt. Now you need to put your well thought out plan into action!

The final piece of the jigsaw is the actual clues which tie your whole operation together. Get your creative hat back on and try to whip up some fun, head-scratching conundrums to bring some challenge to the day.

For this, you need to consider your audience. If you’re working with toddlers or younger children, it could be hard for them to grasp any obscure clues that require a bit of lateral thinking. Same goes for actually finding the prize. Make sure it’s within reach of smaller children, not hidden up on any high up shelves.

For older kids, you could make your clues a little more testing. Get them thinking by not naming the exact location of the egg, instead using a riddle that will reveal it. Here are some examples:

Fridge – The Easter bunny has left a trail of gold. To start, she’s hidden a few treats where it’s rather cold.

Sink – For this one, you might have to think. But first, where might we go to get a drink.

Table – I have four legs but cannot walk.

You sit at me when using your fork. You’ve also got a decision to make on how you distribute the treats. Is there a small chocolate egg at each interval followed by a big one at the end, or do you wait until the final clue to hand out one giant prize?

Step 5: Create Some Ground Rules

Easter egg hunts are exciting, so it’s best to get some simple ground rules in place to stop children running around on a sugar hype. Consider:

The age of all participants. If you’ve got a broad range of ages, consider putting them in teams. The smaller children will struggle on their own, so give them an older partner and encourage teamwork.

Encourage everyone to play nice. To stop it becoming too competitive, try to ensure everyone remains calm and gets a fair share of the chocolate – no stealing other people’s eggs!

Think carefully about how much chocolate everyone is eating. You don’t want anyone feeling ill after a surge of sugary goodness.

Step 6: Enjoy Your Easter

The final step should hopefully be an easy one – enjoy it! Easter egg hunts are there to be enjoyed, even for the adults. Follow this step-by-step guide and you’ll have no problems running a seamless, exciting Easter egg hunt for everyone. For all your Easter card and gift needs, head to our Easter occasion page.