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How to Plan the Best Easter Egg Hunt Ever!
It’s Easter time! The daffodils are growing, the chicks are chirping, and the lambs are skipping in the fields... and everyone’s getting ready for their Easter goodies! Whether you’re filling a basket with eggs, having chocolate for breakfast or enjoying the outdoors, Easter is the perfect way to enjoy the start of Spring.
Send those you love an Easter card, a non-chocolate related Easter gift, and something fun for the kids too, with our Zip-Along plush.
Enjoy all those timeless and classic Easter festivities, such as an Easter egg hunt! Grab the little ones, invite your friends and bring the whole family together as you dive into the fun!
Let’s make this the best Easter egg hunt ever, with a few ideas and inspiration from us!
Inspired? Create and share by tagging @HallmarkUKI.
Name the time and place
Easter can be a hectic time, from egg shopping to activity planning, especially with the Kids off for Easter break! Planning it in advance will make sure everyone you want to be there can make it.
Pick a date
Find a day that works. Either the nearest weekend, or the bank holiday Monday. Since the British weather is unpredictable, make sure you have an indoor backup plan too!
Find a location
If you’re keeping your hunt to just your household, plant the eggs around your home and garden, but if you plan to go bigger and arrange a meeting with other parents, try the local park!
Create your own Easter-themed invitations, and be sure to let the other parents know:
- The time everyone should meet, the time of the hunt and any specific activities (egg and spoon race?),
- Whether guests should bring their own baskets, eggs or treats (is it a bring your own drink or snack event?),
- Ask for volunteers to help organise the kids, read stories and hide eggs.
- The dress code. This might sound silly, but should people keep a brolly in the boot just in case?
Pro-tip: Set boundaries
Whether you’re in your garden or a park, let parents and children know where to look—call out the no-go zones and spaces. Add in visual reminders, such as cones or create a map where X's mark the spots for eggs.
Gather your supplies
With all the excitement and planning, it can be easy to go overboard! Keep the day nice and simple.
Eggs
Traditionally, real eggs were used for small hunts, but there is a risk of the eggs getting lost and stinky! Though if you do choose to use real eggs, why not paint the eggs first? We have plenty of designs and inspiration for you to choose, right here!
Another (simpler) option is to use plastic eggs. They’re inexpensive and are perfect for larger egg hunts. There’s no mess, vibrant colours (so they can be seen in the grass), and they can be reused next year!
For younger children, have them find eggs and deliver a prize to them at the end. For older children, count out a few eggs for each child (pro-tip: colour co-ordinated eggs will help the children know which eggs are theirs).
The little egg-hunters may be perfectly happy playing with a single, empty egg, whereas the older kids may be more quantity driven, but you can solve this problem by setting limits on how many eggs each person must find.
Treats
If you plan to use eggs that can open and want to mix up the prizes, add a few other treats too! Most plastic eggs are big enough to be filled with treat-sized sweets packs. To keep the goodies from popping out, seal the eggs with a tiny bit of clear tape.
- Sweets!
Find multipacks of sweets in the shops, from sour worms to jellybeans! There’s no need to fill the eggs too much, a pack or two will do! - Tiny toys & trinkets
Think ‘party bag’ fillers, such as a little toy truck, and don’t forget about bouncy balls and bubbles too! - Messages
Write or print jokes, riddles and even drawings of their favourite cartoon characters with words of encouragement. - Arts & Crafts
Add arts and craft items into the eggs (such as googly eyes, bunny ears, smiles, noses etc) for the kids to turn their eggs into an Easter bunny (or go rogue and make Easter monsters!).
Baskets
If you’ve added a BYOB (Bring your own basket) suggestion to the invitations, it’s a good idea to have a few spares, just in case. You can also suggest bringing a bag or even a bucket!
Decorations
There’s no need to go out of your way to decorate for an Easter egg hunt, especially if you’re using an outdoor space that might get rained on. However, if you do want to decorate and go that extra mile, set the scene with a fun Easter-themed banner, maybe some festive table covers, and add a few springtime animals too.
Pro-tip: Add names to your eggs
If you’re keeping the egg hunt to your family home, add each participant’s name to a few eggs and encourage your family to hunt for their own eggs! This should help eliminate competitive kids having too many or too little eggs.
Plan the menu
The Easter period is a chocoholics dream, and an egg hunt is no different. Place out trays of fruit, veggies and dips for everyone to snack on, and have options of water and juice on the side. But don’t worry, even this is going above and beyond!
Prepare the Easter egg hunt
A learnt lesson from experienced Egg-Hunt organising parents: If the kids are released into the egg hunting zones before it starts, they will start to search early. So, unless there’s a ‘holding’ area, consider hiding the eggs once the guests have arrived.
Waiting for go time
Entertaining children when they know something exciting is about to go down can be tough! Try and keep the kids busy whilst a few volunteer bunnies get to work finalising the hunt, we suggest...
- Read an Easter story
- Sing fun songs and put some music on
- Get everyone involved in some Easter arts and crafts
- Play a game of Simon says
Hiding the eggs
Hiding the eggs is the most important part of a hunt! How easy or difficult do you want the hunt to be? Do you want the hunt to last a couple of minutes or an hour?
Here are some tips on how to hide the eggs,
- For Little Kids
Make the eggs super obvious and easy to find, whilst still letting the little ones stay independent. Place eggs on top of the grass, in their favourite spots and keep them in plain sight. - For Young Kids
Once they reach 3-5 years old, they become master hunters! Challenge them with eggs hidden in less obvious spots. Try eggs at the edges of bushes, under tables and in cupboards. - For Older Kids
Get them using their brains! Try hiding eggs in a cereal box, shoes, bookshelves, even the shed!
Pro-tip: Don’t make it inaccessible, and don’t promote the kids climbing up anything dangerous!
If you would like some ideas on how to make the hunt accessible for all abilities, here are a few suggestions to help...
- If you’re enjoying an egg hunt with children with visual impairments, use eggs that can beep, chirp and make noise.
- Hide eggs a few feet off the ground so they’re easy to reach for kids in wheelchairs, and make sure they’re located on wheelchair friendly surfaces.
- For children who need extra help, create a special zone so the hunt doesn’t feel overwhelming or noisy.
- Get the older kids and teens to help with the hunt, and make sure they know what kind of help is needed.
Release the hunting party
Get everyone ready, if your kids are older and know what to do, let them go. But if there’s a mix of age ranges and ability, here are a few ideas to get everyone settled...
- Age groups
Your younger kids will hunt slower and in their own time, whereas your bigger kids will be eager and in a race. To avoid tears, divide your group into ages and send the hunters out at different times. If your older kids get bored, get them to help the younger ones. - Extra Eggs
If your little ones start to struggle, have a few eggs with parents to drop in front of them and keep their confidence up! - Egg limits
Make it clear from the start how many eggs each participant is hunting for. If they carry on hunting once they’ve hit the goal, remind them to distribute their extra eggs.
Easter egg hunts for adults
Why should kids have all the fun? If you’re an adult-only household or want a fun night with your friends, make the hunt more adult-orientated! Here are a few extra ideas...
- Egg fillers
You can absolutely fill plastic eggs with children’s party fillers. You can also add products you’ll enjoy, like small bottles of alcohol, money or more expensive chocolate. - Time and place
As an adult egg hunter, make the search more fun. Have it take place at night (in a familiar location), extend the search to spread across your town, and have the final eggs located at your favourite restaurant or bar. - Have a single golden egg
Make the hunt that much more competitive with one prize and have a race to find it!
Make it extra-fun with Easter gifts.
After-party
If your egg hunt is kid-centered, the parents and other grown-ups won’t have the prizes to feast on. Add in a few extra snacks, sweets and a good brew, too. Take an extra photo or two for the parents to enjoy and soak up the success of the best egg hunt ever!
We hope these ideas inspire the best Easter egg hunt ever, and that your family and friends have a wonderful day too. Our fingers are crossed that the British weather holds out!
