Apart from the fact that once a year we have a guilt free day to eat as much chocolate as we wish, I love Easter for the excitement and fun it brings. Easter for us is an occasion to gather family and friends with a hearty lunch, good laughs, and memorable moments. Most exciting of all is the arrival of the Easter bunny, that magical creature that surprises us with a chocolate hunt experience.
Every Easter our girls leave a note and sometimes a snack for their favourite Easter bunny. They can’t wait to wake up in the morning and hunt for their eggs.
When the girls were very young the egg drop of was easy as the hunt could be simple and obvious, but as the girls have gotten bigger the Easter bunny has had to get more creative about hiding the eggs.
Below are some of the ways our Easter bunny has delivered Easter eggs.
Can your bunny learn from ours, does your Easter bunny do the same?
Random Hunt
One hunt was a random house hunt, where the kids just had to hunt through the house and find the eggs. The easter bunny learnt very quickly that this is not an ideal way to hunt, the kids don’t know where to look, how many eggs to find and when the hunt is finished. Even though mom and dad told them the hunt was over, our girls wondered the whole day if they had found all the eggs.
Thankfully our Easter bunny realised this can be quite confusing, so our future hunts the easter bunny got very clever and all hunts now have clues or maps. This helped as it was very clear where to start, how many chocolates to find and ensured the girls knew when the hunt was over.
The Map Hunt
Our first map hunt appeared with an egg collection basket when my eldest daughter Kate was almost 3. The Easter bunny had to keep it simple and easy with pictures, thankfully the family also got involved to ensure egg collection success.
Basket and map in hand her hunt begun.
For future map hunts, where there is more than one child, the bunny got clever and used a computer to produce multiple copies of the same map and show the locations of the chocolate eggs.
The Activities Hunt
A family hunt can be quite a challenge in the sense that you want all the kids to participate, the hunt to be fair and cater for the different ages. This is where our easter bunny found out that an activity hunt works well.
Our easter bunny has used the activity hunt for a few years now with the activities changing year on year. The activities get everyone involved and the kids and adults alike have such fun.
The beginning
To start each child must paint and decorate their collection bag and paint some white chocolate eggs. These starter activities allow the easter bunny to hide the eggs for the hunt. The hunt is then guided through different clues discovered by completing activities.
Carrot Fishing Clue
Each child must fish for a carrot to reveal the clue on the carrot as to where a chocolate could be.
The carrot clue would be something like the Jungle Gym which directs them to go hunt at the jungle gym where each child retrieves a chocolate.
Balloon Pop Clue
Who doesn’t love a good balloon pop?
Each child gets to pop a balloon, if there is a clue inside then off, they run to get their egg. Some parent assistance could be required here, we found the smaller kids are not quite strong enough to pop a balloon, but they have fun trying.
The Cracker Clue
Each child gets a cracker that they pull open and a clue inside the cracker tells them where everyone must go and look for their next egg. Our Easter bunny used toilet paper rolls and coloured paper to make the crackers.
Puzzle Clue
Take pictures of the places where the eggs are hidden and print them on some paper. Cut the pictures up and use them as a puzzle. The kids rebuild the images which tells them where the chocolates are hidden.
The locations
The hiding spot can be anywhere from you garden, to trampoline or even in a swimming pool. At the end of the day, it’s about the hunt and the find together. Don’t make it too hard but also try not to over think it.
The Clue Hunt
The clue hunt is made up of multiple clues which are dependent on each other. The objective is one clue leads to a location of another clue which leads you to the next location and so on until the final clue is obtained leading you to the grand prize.
When our girls were around 8 or 9, we saw this hunt appear as reading is required to solve the clues. The easter bunny started the hunt with their first clue written on paper guiding them to the next clue. At each clue spot there was a small egg for them to collect but the aim was to find the final clue which incorporated a surprise with their chocolate eggs.
To really make this easy our easter bunny found loads of printable fun clues on Pinterest.
The Surprises over the years
You are never too old
When the girls were smaller pictures and images were used, as they started learning to read words were added and over time riddles. With the girls heading to their teens, the hunts continue but now involve deciphering mazes, morse code and using a cryptex to solve the clues.
When planning your next Easter remember the hunt can be big or small, it’s not the chocolates that are remembered, it’s the feeling, the fun had by all. Our easter bunny will continue evolving the hunt challenge, at the end of the day I think the Easter bunny has the biggest reward of all…
2 Responses
These all excite me now even at 42. 😛 Wonderful beautifully creative and enchanting
Love it. How wonderful and beautiful memories created for all.