Easter Egg Hunt Ideas for Your Neighborhood Adventure

Have you ever been to an Easter Egg Hunt that was a free-for-all?

Where little kids are stampeded by big kids and someone ended up in tears because they didn’t get a single egg?

It’s happened to us and it’s no fun at all. easy diy easter egg hunt ideas

That’s why, when we started having a neighborhood egg hunt, I was determined to take away the tears and replace them with fun. And not hurt me in the process.

Here’s some of our best Easter Egg Hunt ideas.

Don’t want to plan your own Easter Egg Hunt?

No worries! If you’re in West Michigan, here’s where you can find an egg hunt near you. We also have great egg hunts near Kalamazoo and egg hunts near Lansing, too.

Choose a Time & Date That Works for You

Sounds trivial, but planning your date well in advance gives you ample time to prepare and be organized. If you’re catering to little ones who still nap, plan your Egg Hunt for the morning.

We typically get started around 9:30 or 10:00 AM.

Also, your Egg Hunt doesn’t have to happen before Easter or on Easter weekend. People appreciate another activity the weekend after Easter if that works best for you.

Egg Hunt Format Matters

In my opinion, setting up the structure is the most important of our Easter Egg Hunt Ideas.

Here’s a look at how we set up our event:

1 – Send Invitations

Be clear about your expectations on the invite. I require that all kids have adults present at the Egg Hunt to participate. easter egg hunt invitation

2 – Get Help With the Eggs

Parents RSVP to the Egg Hunt by dropping 12 PRE-STUFFED plastic eggs per child by the night before.

Let parents know what you’d like inside of the eggs or you may get unwrapped candies or other unwanted objects. (They sign a clipboard that I leave in my garage so I do not have sit there all day collecting eggs.)

3 – Find Out Ages

Parents tell us how old their kids are when they RSVP.

4 – Have Extra Eggs

Parents can choose to donate extra eggs if desired for children who cannot provide their own.

I always provide a few extra myself (plus the super special golden egg containing CASH!) because every year kids show up who were not able to contribute.

This way, there are enough eggs for everyone and no one is singled out or embarrassed.
easter egg hunt ideas - get help!

5 – Create Age-Specific Zones

Divide the participants into age groups and “hide” eggs in different locations around your yard.

We have three groups at our Egg Hunt: ages 0-3, 4-6, and 7+.

6 – Divide the Eggs

The night before the hunt, we count up all of the donated eggs and divide them into the different age groups.

Easter Egg Hunt Ideas: sorted by age zone

7 – Hide the Eggs

The morning of the hunt, adult helpers come over and help hide the eggs.

No kids are allowed at our house during this time.

Our own children help us hide the little kid eggs on the lawn, but then they are confined to the middle of the house so there’s no peeking.

8 – Give Clear Instructions

Once people arrive, I give instructions.

Kids are told to find 10 eggs and then to help other kids who don’t have 10 yet. Adults are NOT to find the eggs.

If everyone gets 10, then we’ll announce they are allowed to find 2 more.

Big kids need to be told to pick up whatever eggs they find and not just eat the candy and drop the eggs as they go.

Easter Egg Hunt

9 – Stagger the Start Times

We stagger the start times of each age group. The youngest group picks up eggs from the lawn first.

The second group goes next and hunts along the edge of our woods.

The oldest kids are told to wear rain boots and they go into the woods by our creek to find the “golden egg” – with money inside – as well as the candy-filled eggs. (The Golden Egg is another of our favorite Easter Egg Hunt Ideas!)

It usually takes the older kids 30 or more minutes to find the eggs in our woods, and the golden egg is always hidden really hard and is fun to try to find.

kids on egg hunt