by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: March 30, 2009   Last Updated: March 30, 2010

Easter is a great time of celebration for families across the United States. As we enter into the festivities this year, one always perks up the ears of little ones. Easter egg hunts will take place throughout communities come Easter Sunday. All of them will be a lot of fun for little children but there are others that will get their little feet moving even faster to search for those eggs.

Here are some tips on how to host the perfect Easter Egg Hunt:

Start the Day Right

Have an Easter Egg painting contest before hand. Each child gets one hard boiled egg to decorate. Have a special prize, such as a large chocolate Easter Bunny. The categories should be split according to age groups.

You could give a prize for things such as most imaginative or most colorful. This type of contest is a way to get the kids more excited about the impending hunt for those elusive eggs.

Separate Age Groups

Older children love Easter egg hunts as well as the little children do. Make sure to have an area for specific age groups. This will allow you to hide the eggs so that it is a challenge for the older children and easy enough for the younger kids to find them in their area. It isn't fair to allow the older children into the same hunt as the little ones. Little ones don't always understand what they are doing so they will not be able to get to the eggs as fast.

Good Treats

Kids love it when they find the plastic eggs. They always expect something to be in it. Be sure to put a treat in each one so that every child comes away a winner. Good treats can include small candy or gum. A nice break from the candy can be a quarter, penny, nickel or dime. After all, who doesn't like to get money. One or two of them could even have a dollar bill inside.

Difficulty

Although the age groups should determine how difficult you make the course, you don't want to make it too difficult. If you make it so hard that the children can't find eggs, they may give up in frustration. You also want to be certain that you don't put the eggs up too high, such as in a tree, where the children can't reach them or they would have to climb to get them. Broken bones on Easter are no fun.

The Site

Having an Easter Egg hunt at a place that has only a field makes it hard to hide the Easter Eggs well. Hosting the hunt should be done in a place that has trees that you can hide the eggs behind or other objects that you can hide it under.

If your only choice is a field, consider bringing some objects with you. The objects can include things like buckets that you could hide the eggs under. If you bring a lot of buckets, don't put the eggs under every one. There should be some element of surprise for the kids.

The Easter Story

There is a reason that we celebrate Easter. It is a great time of joy for Christians as this is the day that Christ arose from the grave. After the children have worn themselves out from running around, they should be ready to sit for a little while and listen to a story. This is a great time to reinforce the reason that we celebrate this time of year. Gather the children together and tell them the great story behind the Easter tradition. This is something they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Have a great time during the Easter Egg Hunt. Childhood is a very magical time and going for a day of hunting eggs is a part of the magical memories a child will carry with him/her for the rest of his/her life. Make it count.

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