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One of the most memorable parts of Easter, for me, was having an Easter egg hunt. Usually that meant having one at my grandmother’s backyard and one year I went to a larger Easter egg hunt when we were visiting family in Los Angeles.

I still remember my younger cousin finding a golden egg, and being quite proud of herself. Squeaker does not quite understand the concept of Easter egg hunting though we will likely dye eggs this year. Next year, however, we will probably do an Easter egg hunt at home or participate in one at church.

Here are some tips and advice for how to plan an Easter egg hunt for different age groups.

For me, an Easter egg hunt was always one of the more memorable parts of Easter. Here's how to plan an Easter egg hunt.

Hiding Easter eggs is something families and many communities do to give the children something fun to look forward to.

We all know the basis of the Easter egg hunt – to hide eggs in difficult-to-find places and let the kids run around trying to find them. It’s great fun to see who will get the most eggs!

But if you’re lacking inspiration on how to make this as fun for them as possible, here are some Easter egg hunt ideas to get you going.

How to Plan a Memorable Easter Egg Hunt for Multiple Age Groups

Who will you invite? If you’re planning a neighborhood Easter egg hunt, you’ll need considerably fewer eggs than if you’re planning a large-scale hunt. However, if you’re doing a community Easter egg hunt, you may need more space for the egg hunt.

You may also want to consider an indoor venue for a back-up plan in case the weather doesn’t fully cooperate. 

What ages of children will be involved? You’ll want to have this information for a couple of reasons:

1. To know how much space you’ll need
2. To know how many areas you’ll need marked off
3. To determine how many eggs you’ll need

Determine where you’ll hold your Easter egg hunt. Consider holding it in your yard or several yards, at an unused parking lot, a local park, a soccer field, or a high school football field. The larger the area you have available to you, the larger the individual hunting areas can be.

How soon do you start advertising?

You’ll want to start advertising a minimum of three weeks before the event, but possibly as much as four weeks. For a neighborhood hunt, you can create flyers which are given to each home in your neighborhood. For larger egg hunts, consider placing them at grocery stores, public libraries, local businesses, local places of worship, and doctor’s offices.

Include on the flyer a form for the parents to fill out and get back to you the week before the hunt.

This should include the parents’ name, how many children will attend, and what age groups they’re in: 0-3, 4-6, and 7-9.

Once you have an idea of the ages of the children who will come to the egg hunt, break the area into three areas. You’ll then be able to determine how much space you need for each age group. Having a separate area for each age group will keep toddlers from being run over by older children.

How to Handle an Easter Egg Hunt with Mixed Ages

If you’re arranging an Easter egg hunt for a group of children all of different ages, then you should try to incorporate some Easter egg hunt ideas that’ll make it fair. Sometimes the younger kids aren’t happy when they end up with fewer eggs than everyone else!

One idea is to color code the eggs based on the age group. Buying and hiding chocolate or plastic eggs with different color wrappings, or real eggs with different color dyes, and assigning each color to an age group, means there are equal numbers of eggs to be found for all the age groups.

Other ideas include arranging different hunts for the different age groups (ex. easier to find eggs for younger children), or not having a “winner” for collecting the most eggs, but picking someone at random to get the prize. This helps to make it a little easier on the youngest!

You can turn the Easter egg hunt into a search for treasure by drawing a map or putting together a series of clues. You can then either leave an egg in the place that the clue refers to, or give them another clue or riddle to lead them to the next location. It helps add an extra element to the game.

And whether you decide to make it a treasure hunt or not, remember to set boundaries for the hunt! You don’t want disappointed children coming back to you an hour later to find out that they’ve been searching in the wrong place all along!

How Many Eggs Per Child for the Easter Egg Hunt?

Purchase 10-15 plastic eggs for each child who will attend. If your budget is less, aim for 5-10.

Of course, if you can get all parents in the neighborhood to help buy and fill eggs, it will be less expensive for you personally. You can also ask some other parents to find the prizes. Place change or $1.00 bills in other eggs for an extra treat. And, of course: plan to have extra eggs for those children who didn’t RSVP.

Standard Easter egg filler ideas: candy, age-appropriate toys, money. You may also want to consider Gluten Free options and having non-food options for children with food allergies.

Fill them with age-appropriate candy. Keep these separated so the smaller children won’t get hard candy they shouldn’t have. You’ll also want to have up to five prize eggs per age group. For prize eggs, put a coupon in with the candy that they can choose a prize from several. You may also want to give each participating child a ticket to try to win a large Easter basket.

As well as the standard eggs, you might also want to include a “golden egg” in the hunt. This is a larger egg that has something inside – it could be money, candy or anything else you can think of.

You’ll have to think carefully about where to hide this special prize, but you might not want to make it too difficult if you want to give the younger children a chance.

Don’t forget to decorate the egg hunting grounds. Have snacks and drinks available for the children, parents, and anyone working the hunt. As you can see, figuring out how to organize a fun Easter egg hunt isn’t difficult, but it will take time to ensure the children have a great day of Easter egg hunting.

These Easter egg hunt ideas are a great way to get started, but you’re only really limited by your imagination! If you’re planning a big hunt then it can become more difficult to organize, so you may want to start planning a few weeks in advance, and get a few parents to contribute to the eggs for the hunt.

Planning an Easter egg hunt may seem a little exhausting- especially if it’s for a larger group of children. What tips and advice would you share for planning an Easter egg hunt?

Download my free Easter Egg Hunt planner! A simple, one page printable PDF file to organize your thoughts and ideas.

Download the planner

 

The Easter egg hunt is usually one of the highlights of the day. Here are some tips for how to plan an Easter egg hunt that's fun for all ages.
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Kori

Digital Product Creator at Kori at Home
Kori is a late diagnosed autistic/ADHD mom. She is currently located in Albany, NY where she is raising a neurodiverse family. Her older daughter is non-speaking autistic (and also has ADHD and Anxiety) and her youngest daughter is HSP/Gifted. A blogger, podcaster, writer, product creator, and coach; Kori shares autism family life- the highs, lows, messy, and real. Kori brings her own life experiences as an autistic woman combined with her adventures in momming to bring you the day-to-day of her life at home. Kori is on a mission to empower moms of autistic children to make informed parenting decisions with confidence and conviction.

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7 years ago

[…] March 21 Kori at Home: How to Plan an Easter Egg Hunt […]