Egg hunts are an Easter staple, but after a while, they can get a tad boring. Your kids learn all the good hiding places, and pretty soon it just becomes less of a “hunt,” per se, and more like “just a few minutes of climbing over each other to get to the goods.” But if you think neon plastic eggs filled with crappy candy is all that an egg hunt can be, think again. Amazing, creative Easter egg hunts for the whole family are out there — and fortunately, we’ve found the best.
My own family fills our Easter eggs with nips of alcohol, because we are all adults, but if you’re looking for a way to spice up your kids’ egg hunt this year, look no further. We’ve rounded up the most epic Easter hunt ideas you’ll wish you’d thought of years ago. Add these to some Easter games, a few tasty Easter treats, and you’re in business. Easter bunny, move over.
Easter baskets are getting out of hand- I recently saw a baby pool filled with toys and treats as an Easter basket. An entire. Pool. Does your kid seriously need all that stuff? Keep things simple with an awesome Easter bunny hat that doubles as an Easter basket. Fill it with a few treats, then hide it somewhere in the house. Tie a string to it, and meander on over to your kids room (wrapping around lamps, couches, tables and chairs along the way.) When your kiddos wake up, they’ll have to unwind all the string to find their basket. Use a different colored string for each child, and once they’ve emptied out their goodies, voila- a festive bunny hat they are obligated to wear until bedtime. Head over to The House That Lars Built for the step by step bunny hat tutorial.
In case your family is one of those who are just a tad competitive when it comes to your annual Easter egg hunt, up the ante by gracing the winner, loser, and everyone in between with these incredible egg hunt trophies. It will make finding the most eggs that much sweeter, and finding the least eggs just a little more bearable. Lovely Indeed has the how to on these beauties.
Not that you need an excuse to make a piñata, but in case you did, your Easter egg hunt is the perfect occasion. This Easter egg piñata DIY from the folks at The Merrythought is easy, beautiful, and unlike most piñatas, isn’t gaudy or neon colored. Have your kids collect empty eggs you’ve hidden, and have the treats been inside the piñata for them to bust open at the end of the search. The one who found the most eggs gets the first whack at it.
If you’re running out of hiding places for your egg hunt, try this covert option: botanical Easter eggs. If you’ve got a garden or the weather is cooperating for an outdoor hunt, hide these gorgeous eggs among the flowers and see just how cocky your kids are when the eggs aren’t shiny, plastic, and pastel colored. This requires a little time on your end, but if you are not artistically inclined, go to town on a seed catalogue and Modge Podge the pictures on. Then sit back, relax, and prepare to hear some complaints about hiding the eggs too well, because these eggs will be their own little disguise in your garden.
A little creepy, sure, but this is one way to make sure there’s no fighting because one person found all the eggs. A Subtle Revelry has the instructions on how to decoupage these family Easter egg pictures, so each child is only looking for the eggs with their face on them. Simply take some photos of your kiddos (the goofier the faces, the better) print them onto printer paper, and use some Modge Podge to glue them in place. The opportunities for these egg portraits are endless; you might even want to make a few of your boss to leave unsuspectingly in the break room fridge. Just a thought.
This bath bomb egg could go one of two ways; if you have younger kids, have their Easter egg hunt in the bath. Watch your toddler search through their bubble bath to find a few plastic eggs filled with bath toys, bath bombs, or those color fizzing tablets that turn the water different colors. If you have a teenager, these egg bath bombs could be one of many eggs for them filled with some self care items like a rolled up sleep mask, soothing lotion, or new nail polish.
If you have older kids who are over the Easter egg hunt thing, or younger kids who are willing to participate in a show of neighborly affection, this giant egg from The House That Lars Built is the perfect egg hunt replacement, and your good deed for the day. Instead of actually egging your neighbors house, leaving this giant egg on their doorstep filled with treats and the declaration ‘You’ve been egged!’ is a much more friendly and less damaging version of egging someone.
Scavenger hunts are fun, but scavenger hunts that involve smashing eggs on each others heads? So, so much better. This Easter egg scavenger hunt from The Merrythought is very straightforward and easy to execute, but is so much fun for the kids. Poke a hole in the bottom of a dozen eggs, blow out the yolk, and write the numbers one through twelve on each shell. Fill the egg with confetti, and a rolled up clue where they can find the next egg. To find the clue, whoever found the egg gets to smash it on the head of one of their siblings. I told you they’d love it. The last egg leads them to their easter baskets, or a sweet treat.
My sister used to make my siblings and I crepe paper surprise balls every Christmas filled with little trinkets and treasures, and these surprise ball carrots from the Queen of holidays, Martha Stewart herself, are an incredible Easter version. All you need is orange and green crepe paper and a handful of little goodies. Wrap the goodies in the crepe paper to make a surprise ball fit for the Easter bunny himself. You could also wrap the trinkets into the shape of an egg, which will make your Easter egg hunt the talk of the town.
A version of this article was originally published in March 2012.
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